Gratitude: Week 8 (Dec 5-11)
Generosity Practice: Week 8| Week of Dec. 5 - 11
Communities @ Grace
Overview of the Night:
15 Minutes Before Start Time : : Arrive + Set Out Food
45 Minutes : Welcome, Pray, Eat, + Mingle
15 Minutes : Review Last Week’s Practice
45 Minutes : Introduction of Practice + Discussion
5 Minutes : Practice for Week Ahead
10 Minutes : Pray for One Another + Close
Goal for Week: As we focus on the practice of generosity, we will be talking about gratefulness for hardships.
45 minutes: Welcome, Pray, Eat + Mingle
Is there a situation in your past where you are grateful you didn’t get what you desired?
When are you most comfortable around strangers?
15 Minutes : Review of last week’s practice experience
(Specific times to stop and give thanks to God, pick a way to show gratitude and use it repeatedly all week, note how it feels to receive gratitude from others.)
45 Minutes : Introduction of Practice + Discussion
Henri Nouwen, Dutch Priest
“Gratitude… claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.
Gratitude as a discipline involves a conscious choice. I can choose to be grateful even when my emotions and feelings are still steeped in hurt and resentment.”
What steps can you take to see the “gift” in a hard situation?
What step can bring you out of feeling resentment in a situation?
God’s intentions for gratitude
God wants us to be connected to Him, and He lavishes love on us. We worship him by telling Him how grateful we are to Him for all things. Some people are naturally attuned to their feelings and how they react in situations. Others, maybe most of us, are less aware and thinking about just getting through the activities of our day. We don’t register what’s happening or our reaction to it. But if you did make gratitude a practice, you would have a more positive perspective about every situation in your life. You’d be more able to handle the “tough” situations.
Read Romans 5:2-5 It tells us to rejoice in suffering as it will ultimately bring us hope. God brings every situation in our life “for our good”.
What about the daily grind makes you grumpy, not grateful? Why?
What situations naturally create gratitude in you?
How do you feel about seeing and expressing more gratitude in your life?
What’s the connection between gratitude and the character trait of resilience?
Sunday’s sermon focused on the passage in Luke where Gabriel visits Mary to tell her she's been chosen to be the mother of Jesus. Read Luke 1:34
Mary would be an outcast as an unwed mother. Sit in that space for a moment, what emotions has she wrestled with over this news?
When hard news comes your way, what is your stumbling block to being grateful for it? What situation trips you up?
How did Jesus handle it when he was facing hardship?
How would you be changed if you could cultivate a thankful heart in hard situations?
Sometimes you are put in a hard situation that is not directly about you. When has God asked you to “play your part” in a hard /messy situation to advance His plan? What did that teach you?
5 Minutes : Practices for Week Ahead
What do you feel grateful for about being in this community?
What is challenging about it, and what have you done to overcome it?
Some ideas for practicing gratefulness in community this week:
Throughout the day make it a practice to tell others when you feel grateful.
Adopt a phrase you can silently utter when you become frustrated, something is hard to handle ie: “It’s for my good, This too shall pass, I know you love me Lord,” or “What’s the lesson here?”
Psalm 138:1 (The Message translation) “ Thank you! Everything in me says “Thank you!” Angels listen as I sing my thanks.” When do you feel like singing praises to God? Try doing it when it’s a difficult situation. Does it help?
10 Minutes : Pray for One Another + Close
Consider praying as a whole group or in triads for personal prayer requests.
End on time in order to honor everyone’s time.