Rev. Christopher Chandler
This week we return to our series Open Doorway. To overcome shame we must walk through the open door. As we begin to take our first steps through the doorway, acknowledging we are powerless in many ways, we often start grieving over our past – “I wish that hadn’t happened… I wish I hadn’t made those dumb decisions… I wish I hadn’t had that bad response…” And we start to grieve over time wasted, energy wasted, guilt, shame, resentment… all wasted. And we begin to grieve, at this point God takes us further in the open door and opens our eyes to Hope.
In preparing yourself for worship and our celebration of the Lord’s Supper this weekend, consider the following questions:
Can you think of a time when you felt utterly powerless? Describe your experience.
What gifts have you experienced as a result of acknowledging your powerlessness?
What barriers keep us from admitting our powerlessness?
In your experience with the Scriptures, have you found anything within the text that relates to your personal experience with powerlessness? How did reading that passage affect you?
What experiences have you had of God’s power being a power that restores, a power that heals–the power of love and grace?