Generosity: Week 10 (Dec 19-26)
Generosity Practice: Week 10| Week of Dec 19-26
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 the Week: As we finish this series, we will spend time focusing on how gratitude changes your heart and aligns it with what the Father desires for you.
15 Minutes Before Start Time : Arrive + Set Out Food
45 Minutes : Welcome, Pray, Eat, + Mingle
15 Minutes : Review of last week’s practice experience
Last week’s practice: Personal generosity of time, audit of your time, considering your own Community’s needs, etc.)
How did this practice go? What did the Holy Spirit stir/prompt in your heart this past week?
Does gratitude come more naturally for you, or is it more challenging?
45 Minutes : Introduction of Practice + Discussion
Have you noticed these past few weeks that gratitude is often a choice, a chosen posture of your heart, mind, spirit, and body? The desire behind the spiritual practice of gratitude has been defined as “to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s prompting to live with a grateful heart, cognizant of God’s work in my life and my abundant resources.” (Adele Calhoun) The heart of gratitude doesn’t always originate in “blessings” - for the follower of Jesus, it’s surrendering to the way of Jesus, delighting yourself in God and his good will. This is the heartbeat of thankfulness and gratitude. In every season, God invites us to “not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” (Phil. 4:6)
In this season of Advent, which represents a holy waiting for our coming King Jesus, many of us may have specific asks/requests/prayers/needs that we are waiting on. Gratitude may be a more difficult practice for some of us in this season, especially if you’ve been suffering for a long time. It’s easy to start thinking that pain, grief, and loss is all that is ahead for your future. Gratitude, love, and the pure goodness of God brings light to the darkness of that lie. God sees you, knows you deeply, and cares about every longing and desire of your heart.
Gratitude—a deep sense of who God is and what he is giving to us in the most ordinary moments—helps us to make sense of our lives. On airplanes and in taxi cabs, amid family dinners and grocery store errands, while managing professional commitments and parenting children who are growing up too fast…the willingness to make space for gratitude opens up dimensions of reality that we would otherwise miss. Gratitude is a lense that sharpens our ability to see the gifts and the graces of our lives as more real than the material world to which we are often tethered. Gratitude energizes us for living more fully in the middle of the life we have been given as we become more practiced at finding God there. When practiced as a spiritual discipline, gratitude is an inner dynamic that enables us to recognize Advent—the coming of Christ—in the ordinariness of our own lives which is where we need him most.
Discussion questions ideas:
In this Advent season, where have you encountered God’s peace and presence in the ordinary moments? Where do you need it most?
How has gratitude changed your heart towards God and others?
Have you had an experience of unexpected kindness, compassion, protection, or provision that you now recognize as evidence of God’s presence with you?
Beyond your story, where have you seen generosity come through people’s lives this season?
How and to whom can I embody and reflect God’s generosity this week?
5 Minutes : Ways to Practice Gratitude for Week Ahead
For some of you, the practice of beginning a gratitude journal or writing letters of thanks to someone who has touched your life in the past year/month/week will be a great place to start. Consider how gratitude might be an antidote to being addicted to criticism, analysis, or negativity.
For those who are experiencing great pain and loss in this season and waiting for healing, breakthrough, or relational reconciliation, start small. Consider asking a trusted and loving friend to pray and intercede on your behalf to the Father. Invite them in to your “waiting,” and offer a heart of gratitude to God, knowing that he promises to be with you, (Matthew 28), never against you (Deut. 31:8), always listening (John 14:13-14), and gives you his peace in the waiting (John 14:27).
Plan a night in which people in your Community bring extra money they are able to donate to needs in or outside of your Community. When you come together, decide on a need inside or outside of the Community to give that money to.
10 Minutes : Pray for One Another + Close
Consider praying as a whole group or in triads for personal prayer requests. Encourage the group to pray that God would give insight and creativity to the Community about what it would look like to shepherd generosity in others. Consider praying into how you want the Community to grow in the area of gratitude and generosity.
Merry Christmas dear friends!