B-Sides | Scripture: Romans 1:18-23

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles.

Questions

What?
1) How’s everyone doing? Check in with the group.
2) What was your reaction to Lucas’ stories about Salmon, Orcas, and the Elwha dam?

So What?
3) Think about a mundane task you completed this week. Now see if you can write down two or three other people, creatures, entities that your action affected.
4) Do you think anything we do happens in a vacuum? i.e. It doesn’t affect someone else?

Now What?
5) Paul emphasizes the prevalence of God’s grace, and how forgiveness is always available. So why should we care about what we do? Should we at all?
6) What sort of responsibility do we have as humans? How does grace free us up to carry out our duty?



“God designed a world in which we are all downstream. A world where it matters what we do. It matters how we love, and it matters how we care for the least of these. .”
—Rev. Lucas Jones

B-Sides

Scripture: Romans 1:16-17
For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.


Questions

What?
1) How’s everyone doing? Check in with the group.
2) Depending on your background, “being saved” could look like a variety of things. What does this phrase of “being saved” mean to you?

So What?
3) Dawn talks about our innate desire to compare ourselves to others. C.S. Lewis once said that “comparison is the thief of joy.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?
4) What is your reaction to the story of Antionette and the active shooter?

Now What?
5) How can we “disarm one another with love?” Why is this difficult to do?
6) Why do you think Christians worry so much about who is saved or who is going to heaven? Is that helpful? Is that was Jesus called us to do?

“Ultimately when we make claims about who is worthy of God’s grace in the gospel, we are concerned with our own salvation.”
—Rev. Dawn Hyde

B-Sides

Luke 1:39-56

Questions

What?

1) How’s everyone doing? Check in with the group.

2) Charles talks about the significance of greetings. What is significant about the greeting between Mary and Elizabeth? 

So What?

3) What do you think it was like for Mary to receive the blessing from Elizabeth? 

4) When has someone seen you or some potential in you? 

Now What?

5) Charles encourages us to intentionally greet those who come in our path. How might we greet someone in a way that matters?

6) Charles says we all hold something of God within us. What if instead of imagining what the future holds out there, we manifest what God is doing within us. What do you see is held inside you or inside someone else?

“They believed in what the future held because they held the future within them.” 

—Rev. Charles Weathers

B-Sides

Scripture: Isaiah 52:7
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

Questions

What?

1) How’s everyone doing? Check in with the group.

2) Dawn opens her sermon saying “The Gospel moves through our feet.” What does “The Gospel” mean to you?

So What?

3) Dawn talks about the importance of distinguishing between the message and the messenger, the peace of God, and our bodies which are called to proclaim it. Why do you think that is? Have you ever been in a community where that line was blurred?

4) Reread Isaiah 52:7. What does “peace” mean? What does “peace” look like? 

Now What?

5) The Hebrew word shalom, could mean “completeness, health, prosperity, soundness, welfare, peace.” How might the verse be changed if you substitute one of these other meanings besides “peace.” 

6) Why do you think DOWNTOWN CHURCH values people? How can we value and empower our people even more?

“We are the ones carrying the gospel. We are the ones pointing each other beyond our brokenness, or perhaps, through it, to Jesus, who is the only one who knows our unique sufferings who is the only one who can proclaim peace in a way that all of us are desperate to receive. 

—Rev. Dawn Hyde 

Scripture: Mark 1:1-3

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
    who will prepare your way;
 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
    ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”

Questions

What?
1) How’s everyone doing? Check in with the group.
2) How long have you been coming to DOWNTOWN CHURCH?
3) What led you here? 

So What?
3) Amos talks about “the wilderness” as a place of God’s revelation. What does “the wilderness” look like to you?
4) “DOWNTOWN CHURCH is not the sum of all of the yeses, but it’s what happens when you never stop asking the questions.” What questions do you have about God that you still need/want to ask?

Now What?
5) “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ won't be coming through a delicately constructed sermon from a professionally trained preacher, it's going to be born in the people crying out from the dark.” Have you ever found yourself crying out from the dark? What was that like?
6) What do you hope for the future of DOWNTOWN CHURCH? 
7) How can you be a part of it? 

“Here on this second Sunday of advent, while we're giving thanks to God on the tenth anniversary of the church you've come to call home, the gospel writer of Mark has interrupted our hallelujahs to deliver hastily scribbled directions for where we should go to confirm that God didn't forget about us. Go to the wilderness and talk to the people with nothing to lose..”

—Rev. Amos Disasa 

Scripture: Matthew 9:35-36

35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Questions

What?
1) How do you define “compassion?”

So What?
3) Has there been a time in your life where your initial judgment from a far was proven wrong by a close encounter?
4) Lucas talks about a few ways that downtown church tries to connect: over meals, asking questions, or going camping. In what ways or places do you most easily connect with someone who might be different from you?

Now What?
5) Lucas says “we cannot know someone fully from a far. We cannot know someone from Fox or CNN, from facebook or instagram. “you cannot understand the most important things from a distance. We have to get closer.” Do you find yourself using media to try to know everything you can about a person/group of people? Why might this not tell the full story?
6) Why is compassion so difficult? Why do you think Jesus calls us to have compassion for others?

Activity: Listen to this poem from Anis Mojgani entitled: “Come Closer.”

https://youtu.be/ATC5OGh3adg

What images stick out to you?
What do you think he means when he says “come closer?”

Prayer

Take a moment to pray for people, groups of people that you normally would not prioritize. How does this feel?

" Jesus’ compassion was not only a personal emotional reaction, but a public criticism in which he dares to act on his concern for others against the status quo of numbness.
—Dr. Walter Brueggemann

B-Sides
Scripture: Matthew 6:10
“Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Questions
What?
1) How do you take your coffee? And if you don't drink coffee, what is your beverage of choice?
2) Who do you want to have coffee with (dead or alive)? What questions might you ask them?

So What?
3) What is the longest time you have sat with someone over a cup of coffee? What kept the conversation going?
4) What does “God’s Kingdom” look like to you?

Now What?
5) Every time you take a sip of coffee, you are entering a long supply chain that begins in Ethiopia, Columbia, or elsewhere. Have you ever considered this? Does this change the way you live your life here?
6) Dawn talks about the slow process of making coffee, and the intentionality that echoes all throughout what DOWNTOWN CHURCH tries to do. Do you find yourself slowing down or speeding up? Are you leaving room for the Holy Spirit to meet you and others around cups of coffee?

Prayer
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily cups of hospitality. Help us to share our meals and beverages with others. Forgive us from our selfishness, and help us to forgive those who are hardest to love. Lead us not into isolated silos, but encourage us to sit down with strangers and friends, to listen more than we speak, and to passionately love more than we remain apathetically silent. For this is your kingdom, and your glory, forever and ever. Thank you for letting us be a part of it. Amen.

"Our church grows one cup of coffee at a time, one conversation at a time, one person at a time."
—Rev. Dawn Hyde

B-Sides

Scripture: Genesis 18:12-15

So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’
Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”


Questions
What?
1) How’s everyone doing? Check in with the group.
2) Do you have a favorite comedian? Or what’s your favorite funny movie that you know will get you laughing no matter how many times you’ve watched it?

So What?
3) Dawn says that Sarah “laughs to conceal her real feelings.” Have you ever used humor to deflect from your real emotions?

Now What?
4) Dawn talks about how humor is in the “DNA of DOWNTOWN CHURCH.” Do you agree? Why or why not?
5) Dawn says “We value humor because it has a way of connecting to one another. It’s a way of exposing our vulnerabilities and asking God to be with us in our pain.” Have you ever connected with a stranger over humor? Tell us about it.
6) Has humor ever helped you heal?
Prayer

Loving God.
You laugh with us. You laugh at us. We laugh at ourselves. We laugh at your will. We laugh at what you call us to do; Because what you call us to do is hard. Love is hard, but we thank you for your love. Equip us to laugh with this world, to love this world as fiercely and unconditionally as you first loved us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

And God isn't just inviting Sarah into a new chapter of her life. God is asking her to be vulnerable with him.
God wants to meet Sarah in her fear, and her anger, and her sadness, and her disbelief. God welcomes all those symptoms of her humanity.
—Rev. Dawn Hyde

B-Sides | Scripture: Psalm 24.

The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it;
for God has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.
Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?
Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.
They will receive blessing from the LORD, and vindication from the God of their salvation.
Such is the company of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in.
Who is the King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.

Questions

What?
1) How’s everyone doing? Check in with the group.
2) Take time to name any saints who have died. If you’d like, share what you imagine heaven to be like for that particular person.

So What?
3) What does it mean to you that “the earth is the Lord’s and all that’s in it”?
4) What gets you through times of sorrow? Has there been a time when someone carried you through the loss of a saint?

Now What?
5) Where do you find hope amidst death?
6) Are there ways you can embody hope for someone else?


“When that hole in your heart is too raw to be mended by a theological promise, look around and know that this community, this church, the Body of Christ is there to sit with you in your doubt.”
—Rev. Lucas Jones

Scripture: Matthew 8:23-27

 And when Jesus got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but Jesus was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

Questions

What?
1) How’s everyone doing? Check in with the group.

2) What does the word “save” mean when you use it in a daily way? What does it mean to you when referring to Jesus? How are those different or similar?

So What?

3) Jesus and his disciples are caught in a pretty nasty storm. It is there where they realize their dependence on Jesus as their savior. Have you ever learned something in a metaphorical or literal storm that you couldn’t have realized on a calm day? 

Now What?

4) The disciples probably tried for a while to keep the boat from being “swamped” by waves on their own to no avail. Where in your life are you trying but realizing that your control has run out? Where is it that you ask for God to walk beside you? To save you?

5) How does Dawn’s story of Sherryl resonate with you? Has there been a time where you were afraid and Jesus acted through a stranger or friend? 

6) As most people know, there are times when we ask for God’s salvation and it does not come in the manner of how we ask it. The cancer isn’t healed, the child doesn’t live, the marriage doesn’t last…. What does this reveal about who God is and how God might view salvation?

Prayer

Lord, Save us. It is the simplest prayer we can utter. It is the most necessary prayer we ought to say. Save us in our weakness. Save us in our anger.  Save us in our anxiety, our fear, our failure. Remind us that you are in our boat, feeling our feelings, knowing our thoughts, and calming the storms of our lives and this world before we are even aware. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

“Faith is something we profess. It’s what we sing. It’s what we pray. It’s what we exhale in moments of crisis or in the moments of relief right afterwards..”

—Rev. Dawn Hyde

Scripture: Galatians 3:23-29

 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore, the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

What?
1) How’s everyone doing? Check in with the group.
2) Share a bias or prejudice that you once held but no longer do. Be honest. 

So What?
3) What interrupted your bias/prejudice and caused you to change your mind?
4) Paul’s letter to Galatia challenges the deep divisions that existed within the early Christian community of Galatia: specifically 

Now What?
5) Charles talks about how God’s love exceeds our labels. How do you feel about God loving people who you have a hard time loving?
6) How can faith be an interruption in your own life? Can those interruptions be painful or humbling?

Prayer
God free us of our love of labels. Free us of our desire to call people “others.” Interrupt our lives with faith in a God who was ultimately an outsider. Interrupt our fear, interrupt our hatred, interrupt our ignorance and walk with us as we learn to be more like you.  Amen

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19  Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. 2 A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”

What:

(1) Check in with yourself. How are you doing?
If you're up for it, ask someone how they're doing or share with your home group.
(2) What nicknames can you think of for Zacchaeus?

So What:

(3) Zacchaeus is seen for his role in the community and for his net worth. How do you think you are seen by others?
(4) What would Jesus comment on in your home if he came to eat dinner with you?

Now What:
(5) What potential do you think Jesus sees in you that no one else sees?
(6) Who in your life sees something in you that you don't quite see yet?
(7) What might you try in response to what Jesus sees in you?

Prayer
Jesus, you interrupt us. You interrupt our identity and the stories we tell to reveal who we can be through you. Help nudge us to live into the callings you have given each one of us. Help us support each other as we try new things. Amen.

"Jesus sees him for his potential. Not for what he has done, but for who he will become."

B-Sides
Scripture: Luke 8:42b-48

As he went, the crowds pressed in on him. 43 Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years; and though she had spent all she had on physicians,[a] no one could cure her. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his clothes, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. 45 Then Jesus asked, “Who touched me?” When all denied it, Peter[b] said, “Master, the crowds surround you and press in on you.” 46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; for I noticed that power had gone out from me.” 47 When the woman saw that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before him, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. 48 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

Questions

What?

1) How’s everyone doing? Check in with the group.

2) 12 years is a long time. What types of things have you done for 12 years? 

So What?

3) Despite all her reasons not to, the woman decided to touch Jesus’ cloak. Can you think of any reasons why she shouldn’t have? What do you think her internal dialogue was like immediately before she reached out for Jesus?

Now What?

4) Dawn talks about how Jesus’ grace is free, but it encourages a response from us. How do you feel called to respond to the gift of grace? Is this something you have ever considered?

5) Physical touch is a complex issue. When wanted, it can be so positive for our wellbeing. We need hugs from friends. However, when not wanted, it causes deep emotional, spiritual, and physical pain. Talk with your group or someone else about the importance of boundaries in our shared lives as followers of Jesus. 

6) The woman reached out. What does this look like in your life?

Prayer
God you saw the woman. When no one else wanted to see her, to acknowledge her pain, to heal her, you did. Empower us to be like the woman: to be bold and determined. Empower us to be like you: to heal and love even when it the world tells us not to. Amen.

“It happens quietly, but when it does, it requires a great deal of us.

When we receive God’s grace, we must make changes in response..”

—Rev. Dawn Hyde

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B-Sides | Dropped Stones

Scripture: John 8:2-11

Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them,  they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.  Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”  They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”  And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground.  When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.  Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”]

Questions

What?

1) What’s the weirdest question you’ve been asked or asked recently?
2) At first glance, who do you identify most with in this story (no wrong answers). Why? 

So What?
3) How do you feel when you get interrupted with a question? 

Now What?
4) Rather than judgment, Jesus gives this woman and this crowd grace. Where in your life are you most needing grace? Where in your life is it most difficult to give grace?

5) Lucas talks about the complicated nature of being human. He mentions how maybe some of the crowd didn’t want to stone the woman. He borrows Lutheran language saying we are simultaneously “sinner and saint.” How does that definition match up to your own understanding of who you are? 

Prayer
God of interruptions, we are people filled with questions. We are people filled with love. We can also be people filled with hate. Help us to choose the former. Help us to ask questions that lead to transformation. Equip us to see your interruptions as holy experiences to both experience and pass on your selfless grace. Amen. 

“Questions interrupt. They interrupt our days, our slope-side lessons, and ultimately our lives. Questions interrupted both Jesus, this vulnerable woman, and this misguided crowd.“

—Rev. Lucas Jones

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B-Sides

Holy Interruptions

Scripture: Luke 5:17-26

17 One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting near by (they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. 18 Just then some men came, carrying a paralyzed man on a bed. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; 19 but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. 20 When he saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, “Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?” 22 When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? 24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the one who was paralyzed—“I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home.” 25 Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God. 26 Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”

Questions

What?

1) What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen this week?

2) How do you feel about Holy Interruption at DTC? 

So What?

3) When was the last time one of your plans was interrupted? It could be big or small. How did it make you feel in the moment? Did those feelings change later?

Now What?

4) Dawn writes “When Jesus gets interrupted, healing happens… stuck things change” Where do you need healing? Where are you stuck?

5) The scripture and sermon finish with the phrase, “We have seen strange things today.” How would you define strange? Can it be a good thing? 

Prayer God of interruptions. You interrupted a blank void with creation. You interrupted an enslaved people with an exodus. You interrupted a world crying out in pain with a Savior. Equip us to be aware of the interruptions in our own lives: The strange moments where we might feel your love, learn to love you, and feel the call to love one another more deeply. Amen. 

“We are interrupting ourselves...from our own agendas;
from our own plan; from our own worries and fears.

—Rev. Dawn Hyde

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Title: That's a Honeybun!
Scripture: Exodus 16:2-4, 31-32 (NRSV)
16:2 The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

16:3 The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.

31 The house of Israel called it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, in order that they may see the food with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

What
(1) How are you doing? Check in with your home group or call someone up and let them know what's going on with you.

(2) Dawn jokes about a picture of paradise including honeybuns that fall from the sky. What does paradise look like in your imagination?

(3) What do you think it was like to be an Israelite wandering in the wilderness for 3 months?

So What
(4) Manna is what feeds us spiritually. Dawn describes a few kinds of manna: communal worship, a baby coo, getting outside. What is manna for you?
(5) Why does it matter that manna direct you toward God?

Now What
(6) Now that you know what your manna is, where are you going to put it so you can see?
(7) What story will you tell when an unassuming stranger sees what is manna for you and asks you about it?

Prayer: God, you send manna for us today. May we get up in the morning and collect it. May it be our spiritual fuel for the day. May we not get confused about what is manna and what is a really great hobby. May we always return our thanks to you for providing not what we want, but very much what we need. Amen.

Quote: "For the person who has been cheated on, manna may be the cup of coffee shared in a breakfast nook. Not quite forgiveness, but a willingness to enter the day together." — Rev. Dawn Hyde

B-Sides | 9.5.21

Scripture: Ezekiel 37:1-6

The Valley of Dry Bones
The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 
He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 
The Lord said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” 
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 
I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

Questions
What?
1) How’s everyone doing? Check in with the group. 
2) Why do you think God leads Ezekiel through the dry bones of Israel?
3) Why do you think God asks Ezekiel if the dry bones can live?

So What?
3) What dry bones are you staring at? 
4) Why do they seem hopeless?

Now What?
5) What would it take to look at those dry bones with new eyes?

Prayer
Lord God, there are dry bones in our relationships, in our offices, and in our city. We need you to help us see them with new life. We need you to breathe among them and make us as flesh. Thank you for always surprising us with new life. Amen 

“I speak these words to you today not as a hopeful wish for our community, but because I have lived it.” 
— Rev. Dawn Hyde