SESSION 6 (2026)
LEG 1 (Monday, 1/26 - Sunday, 2/8)
READING
Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Chapter 1: Community
Chapter 2: The Day With Others
Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren
Chapter 9: Calling a Friend: Congregation and Community
WATCHING
Listen or watch our sermon on Loving Your Neighbor from our series The Measure of Maturity from February 2024.
REFLECTING
Reflect on the following questions regarding the reading, writing in your journal:
Bonhoeffer writes in his chapter on community that, “Only in Jesus Christ are we one, only through him are we bound together…Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done…Because Christ stands between me and others, I dare not desire direct fellowship with them.” (P24,25,34) His point is that we relate to one another as followers of Jesus in and through our union in Christ.
a. Reflect on a relationship where you were prone to relate more directly to someone, rather than through Christ, and how this negatively impacted your relationship.
b. How might relating to them through Christ have positively impacted your relationship with them?
c. Reflect on a relationship where you were prone to relate more indirectly, through Christ, and how this positively impacted your relationship?
Bonhoeffer writes in his chapter on commuting that, “When a person becomes alienated from a Christian community in which he has been placed and begins to raise complaints about it, he had better examine himself first to see whether the trouble is not due to his wish dream that should be shattered by God; and if this be the case, let him thank God for leading him into this predicament.” Now let’s first acknowledge he is not talking about a truly abusive environment, but one in which we might say, “I just don’t feel connected.”
a. Reflect on a time when you have felt a lack of connection, preferably in a church setting or one with other Christians. How might you have had unfair, idealized expectations of this community that led to your lack of contentment and connection?
b. How might this even be true now, here at Redemption? What barriers might you have created or come across that are preventing this deeper sense of community that you desire? How might a lack of trust - either in God or in others - be a contributing factor?
c. What steps might God be leading you to take in the midst of any discontentment to pursue a greater sense of connection and community?
How has reading Bonhoeffer’s opening two chapters of Life Together changed your perspective of the communal aspect of the Lord’s Supper, where we come to the table together, united in and through Christ, for fellowship?
Tish Harrison Warren writes, “We work out our faith with these other broken men and women around us in the pews.” (p126) While this common brokenness can at times potentially create a barrier to community, it can also contribute to a deeper sense of community. Reflect on how you have experienced this deeper sense of community through fellowship with other “broken men and women around [you] in the pews.” How was this brokenness - either your own or that of others - a blessing that fostered community?
PRACTICING
New To You
Meet someone “new to you” each Sunday and text the name of who you met and something about them to your Formation Group on Sunday after service.
Letters
Write a handwritten note of gratitude to someone who has played an influential role in your spiritual formation.
Write a handwritten note of encouragement to someone else regarding their spiritual formation.
LEG 2 (Monday, 2/9 - Sunday, 2/22)
READING
Introduction to a Journey by M. Robert Mulholland
Part 4: Companions Along the Way: Corporate and Social Spirituality
Emotionally Healthy Discipleship by Peter Scazzero
Chapter 7: Make Love the Measure of Maturity
WATCHING
Listen or watch our sermon on Loving My Enemy from our series The Measure of Maturity from February 2024.
REFLECTING
Reflect on the following questions regarding the reading, writing in your journal:
What is one step you can take today to quiet the noise in order to listen more attentively to the voice of Jesus and slow down in order to live more faithfully to the way of Jesus? (EHS-WB, p26)
Fill in the blanks: What I am beginning to realize about God this week is _______. What I am beginning to realize about myself this week is _______. (EHS-WB, p34)
In your spiritual life right now, do you experience it to be more of a privatized thing or as spiritual pilgrimage you are taking together with others in the body of Christ? How do you respond to the idea that holistic spirituality enables us more and more to be agents of God’s grace for our sisters and brothers in the body of Christ? (I2J, p210)
Reflect on a time in your life where you were more isolated from other Christians, either by choice or by circumstance. This may have been a season where you were not part of a church - or not actively participating in a church. How was this isolation detrimental to your spiritual formation, hampering and limiting your growth?
After reading Mulholland’s section on corporate and social spirituality, how do you now see this corporate dimension of the spiritual ie so essential to the practice of our spiritual disciplines and pursuit of our spiritual growth? What aspect of corporate worship and community do you find most beneficial to your spiritual growth? What aspect do you find least beneficial, and why might that be? How might God be leading you to participate in this, in pursuit of greater wholeness?
How has your growth toward wholeness in Christ nurtured others into their own wholeness in Christ? How has their growth nurtured you? (I2J, p211)
As you read the descriptions of the seven churches in John’s vision in Mulholland’s chapter on social spirituality, which one(s) resonate most with you as a description of churches you are most familiar with? Which resonate most with you, and why? (I2J, p212)
What barriers are you currently experiencing that are preventing you from a deeper sense of community? Are these barriers you have created or circumstantial barriers? How might God be leading you to step over or around these barriers? Or, might these barriers be placed in your life by God to slow the pace of your life (but not restrict you from community)?
Who is someone you find yourself relating to more as an “it” than as a “thou”? Why is that? How could you pursue loving them through listening to story and learning their situation?
One way to practice the presence of people in everyday life is to ask three questions: “Am I fully present or distracted? Am I loving or judging? Am I open or closed to being changed?” What makes judgement easy and curiosity difficult for you? What does curiosity require of you? Intentionally engage in a conversation with someone during this leg, practicing incarnation listening practices Pete describes. HINT: It’s ok to let them know you’re doing this. ANOTHER HINT: It’s ok to do this with someone in your formation group. After all, these should be safe spaces to explore and learn and grow together.
PRACTICING
New To You
Meet someone “new to you” each Sunday and text the name of who you met and something about them to your Formation Group on Sunday after service.
Hospitality
Host someone in your home who is familiar with your home
Prepare by asking the following questions in anticipation of what is to come:
WHO am I going to host?
WHEN am I going to host them?
WHERE in my home will I host them?
WHAT will we eat, drink, and do?
Remind yourself WHY you are hosting them
Reflect by asking the following questions of what took place:
What one thing did you most enjoy about your time together?
What worked well? How will you incorporate next time?
What did not work well? How will you adjust for next time?
What did you prepare? How will you prepare differently for next time?
LEG 3 (Monday, 2/23 - Sunday, 3/8)
Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life by Henri Nouwen
Forward
Introduction
Chapter 4: Creating Space for Strangers
Chapter 5: Forms of Hospitality
Chapter 6: Hospitality and the Host
WATCHING
Listen or watch our sermon on Hospitality in our series Distinctives from August 2023.
REFLECTING
Reflect on the following questions regarding the reading, writing in your journal:
“But still - that is our vacation: to convert the hostis into a hospes, the enemy into a guest and to create the free and fearless space where brotherhood and sisterhood can be formed and fully experienced.” In your life, what are some of the obstacles to turning a hostis into a hospes?
What sort of image or ideas does “hospitality” bring up for you? How many of those are the result of what we see in culture? How many of those are the result of what we read in Scripture? How are those two ideas different from each other?
What challenges do you see in trying to create a “friendly emptiness”?
How does a lack of margin (time, finances, emotional capacity, etc) in our daily lives impede our ability to become hospitable hosts or free guests?
Think of ways you can more effectively practice hospitality in your home or place of work / study.
Think of ways you can more effectively practice hospitality in your church.
What was the most impactful line / paragraph from the reading in this second movement from hostility to to hospitality? What about this line / paragraph struck you? Did it challenge you, teach you something new, or encouraging you with something known?
PRACTICING
New To You
Meet someone “new to you” each Sunday and text the name of who you met and something about them to your Formation Group on Sunday after service.
Hospitality
Host someone in your home who is less familiar with your home, possibly even never been in your home.
Prepare by asking the following questions in anticipation of what is to come:
WHO am I going to host?
WHEN am I going to host them?
WHERE in my home will I host them?
WHAT will we eat, drink, and do?
Remind yourself WHY you are hosting them
Reflect by asking the following questions of what took place:
What one thing did you most enjoy about your time together?
What worked well? How will you incorporate next time?
What did not work well? How will you adjust for next time?
What did you prepare? How will you prepare differently for next time?
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, January 20, 2026, at 12:12PM
UPDATED: -