Worship Tools

Worship Outline

Additional Scriptures 

Genesis 29:15-28; Psalm 105:1-11, 45b; Matthew 13:31–33, 44–52 

Prelude  

Welcome and Sharing Time  

Light the peace candle 

The Prayer for Peace will be read as the Closing Prayer.  

Hymn of Gathering  

“Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart” CCS 48  

OR “O Holy Dove of God Descending” CCS 44  

OR “Breath of the Living God/Soplo del Dios viviente” CCS 43  

Encourage participants to sing in a language other than their own.  

Call to Worship Responsive Reading  

Leader:  How can we—as one small group—be fully open to the wonder of a new creation within our gathering?  

People:  May we see God creating a living wholeness vibrant with joy, energized with discussions of hope and new visions.  

Leader:  May we be open to learning through disagreements, open to seeing fresh possibilities. Let us sense the blessings that come from birthing new directions.  

People:  May our fears transform into the hard work of building, letting our hearts move our hands to embrace diversity and plans that free our dreams into reality.  

Opening Hymn  

“As God Is Joy” sing twice CCS 366 

OR “Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love” CCS 367  

Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own.  

Prayer of Invitation  

Response 

Spiritual Practice: Dwelling in the Word 

Romans 8:26–28  

This scripture passage will be read three or four times.  

• Choose someone to read the whole passage directing participants to just listen to the flow of the message and how it rests on their heart.  
• Choose another voice to read the passage a second time directing participants to listen for understanding, meaning, and deeper comprehension of the message it brings. 
• Choose a different voice to read the passage for a third time. Direct participants to listen for what God’s invitation is calling to them to do or be. What are they feeling?  
• If time permits, have the passage read a fourth time directing participants to just rest in God’s presence and to “lean into” its message for them.  

Moment of Silent Meditation  

Hymn of Healing and Wholeness  

“Come Now, You Hungry” CCS 227  

Encourage participants to sing in languages other than their own.  

OR “Healing River of the Spirit” CCS 232  

Message  

Based on Romans 8:26–39  

Disciples’ Generous Response  

Scripture Reading: Psalm 105:1–4, 45b  

Statement  

Time spent in prayer and contemplation yield multiplied benefits in ministry. There is no substitute for choosing deliberately and regularly to commune with God. 

In communing with God, we realize that God I generous by nature. God creates. God gives. God gives generously and consistently. All of God’s creation bears testimony of abundance and increase. From an abundance of possibilities all of nature breaks forth with new creativity and energy. This universal generosity, which emanates from God’s being, calls us to be generous as well. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we give of ourselves generously because we have taken on ourselves the nature of Christ. By nature, we give out of the abundance we have experienced. 

—Walking with Jesus: Disciples in Community of Christ, Herald Publishing House, p.72, adapted 

Blessing and Receiving of Local and Worldwide Mission Tithes  

Hymn of Commitment  

“At the Heart of Sacred Calling” CCS 509  

OR “All Are Called” CCS 606  

OR “O Christ, My Lord, Create in Me” CCS 507  

Prayer for Peace as Benediction  

God of our struggles, our hearts are heavy for the children who go without food every day. We hear the deafening silence of those voices who yearn to be heard and relieved of their suffering. We also hear the cries for peace and justice as all creation groans with the heaviness of greed and careless consumption of valuable resources. We long for peace…your peace. 

God of Understanding, we grieve because we cannot meet everyone’s need or resolve every injustice in our world. We weep for those who have lost their way, and hold close the ones who are starving for knowledge of your love and grace.  

God of Compassion, today we feel the warm embrace of your Spirit as we let down our walls of doubt, pride, and guilt. As we become more attentive to the gentleness of the touch of divine grace through your Spirit, we seek sacramental vision so that we will see others with new insight as was taught by your son, Jesus, the peaceful One. May we come to know your loving nature and remember that you are a God of miracles and the warm center of our being. When we choose to live according to your Spirit, our eyes and our ears will become attuned to the sacredness in our sisters and brothers. The spaciousness within your welcome continues to expand and gives hope for the unfolding future.  

O Searcher of our Hearts, may we come to realize that the sacredness that dwells within the very nature of who you are, also dwells within each of us and gives us life within you. May we go into the world this day and be the very breath of your peace.  

We pray this in the name of your son Jesus, the peaceful One, Amen.  

—Cheryl Saur, Used with permission 

Sending Forth: Doctrine and Covenants 163:11a  

May we answer the call to be that community and offer the ministry of Jesus Christ to our friends and our neighbors, to the poor and the homeless, to the immigrant and the refugee. We are commissioned to serve. Go in peace.  

Postlude 

Sacred Space: Small-Group Worship Outline

Gathering

Welcome

Ordinary Time runs from Pentecost to Advent. This part of the Christian calendar is without major festivals or holy days. During Ordinary Time we focus on our discipleship as individuals and a faith community.

Prayer for Peace

Ring a bell or chime three times slowly.
Light the peace candle.

Today’s Prayer for Peace is inspired by the hymn: “The Peace of the Earth” Community of Christ Sings 647, a Guatemalan Song.

“Deep peace falling over you; God’s peace growing in you.”

Creator God,

Thank you for peace in all its forms. The roaring peace of rivers, the crashing peace of oceans, the constant peace of the earth’s gravity, the mysterious peace of the heavens.

Help us pursue peace in all its forms. The still peace in our hearts, the just peace in our society’s systems, the calming peace of reconciliation in relationships, the humbling peace of treating our earth with integrity.

As we pursue this peace, plant it deep within us God, so that it can begin to grow within us, working within us to become a new creation.  As we feel that peace growing, help us cultivate it in others so that they can sense the growing peace of your presence.  Then as we go out together with this new expression, we might draw others to you so that they can grow peace within their hearts too.

In the name of Jesus, the giver of deep peace,

Amen

Spiritual Practice

Loving Kindness Blessing

Read the following to the group.

Today’s Enduring Principle focus is Worth of All Persons. This principle states, “We seek to uphold and restore the worth of all people individually and in community, challenging unjust systems that diminish human worth.” By practicing a loving kindness blessing, we remind ourselves of the worth of each individual.

For the blessing I will say a phrase, and you will repeat the words after me in your mind.

Take a few moments to quiet yourself. If you are comfortable doing so, close your eyes and simply become aware of your natural rhythm of breathing.

Allow the words of the meditation time to resonate in your heart and mind.

May I be blessed with loving kindness
May I be blessed with health.
May I be blessed with true happiness.
May I be blessed with peace.

Pause.

Think of someone who is beloved to you. Visualize the person as you pray. If you wish you may insert the person’s name into the prayer as you allow the words to silently rest in your heart and mind.

May my beloved be blessed with loving kindness
May my beloved be blessed with health.
May my beloved be blessed with true happiness.
May my beloved be blessed with peace.

Pause

Now think of a close friend. Visualize the person as you pray

May my friend be blessed with loving kindness
May my friend be blessed with health.
May my friend be blessed with true happiness.
May my friend be blessed with peace.

Pause

Think of someone with whom you are in conflict or has harmed you. Visualize this person. Breathe deeply and lovingly pray this blessing.

May the one who harmed me be blessed with loving kindness
May the one who harmed me be blessed with health.
May the one who harmed me be blessed with true happiness.
May the one who harmed me be blessed with peace.

Pause

Think of the Earth and all creation. Visualize all creation. Breathe out love in your blessing to all of creation.

May the Earth be blessed with loving kindness
May the Earth be blessed with health.
May the Earth be blessed with true happiness.
May the Earth be blessed with peace.

Pause

Invite people to share the thoughts, emotions, reflections, and images that emerged during this spiritual practice. Offer a brief prayer of thanks for all that was shared during this time of blessing.

Sharing Around the Table

Romans 8:26-39 NRSVue

²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And God, who searches hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

²⁸ We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

³¹ What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? ³³ Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? ³⁶ As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
    we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

—Romans 8:26-39 NRSVue

This scripture is one of the weightier and more controversial passages. Divisions in beliefs and churches exist today because of their interpretation of these verses. This resulted in various beliefs regarding which group of individuals would be categorized as mostly holy, glorified, or righteous. 

Thankfully the end of this passage lends some clarity. “…In all of these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us”. As we focus on who Jesus is and how Jesus lived, including the hope found in the resurrection, we can have a greater resolve, strength, and example for how to live our lives. While some have used this passage as a fear tactic to force others to believe a certain way, these final verses tell us —n spite of that—all are included and valued as the beloved of God. 

Questions

1. How would you respond to someone who tells you they believe that God loves only those who believe a certain way? 
2. How do you see the all-inclusive love of God present in Community of Christ beliefs and practices? 

Sending

Generosity Statement

Faithful disciples respond to an increasing awareness of the abundant generosity of God by sharing according to the desires of their hearts; not by commandment or constraint.

—Doctrine and Covenants 163:9

The offering basket is available if you would like to support ongoing, small-group ministries as part of your generous response. This offering prayer is adapted from A Disciple’s Generous Response:

God of our discipleship, As we navigate our world of debt and consumerism, help us to save wisely, spend responsibly, and give generously. In these ways may we prepare for the future and create a better tomorrow for our families, friends, the mission of Christ, and the world. Amen.

Invitation to Next Meeting

Closing Hymn

CCS 258, “Shall Tribulation or Distress”

Closing Prayer

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Optional Additions Depending on the Group

• Communion
• Thoughts for Children

Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper

Communion Scripture

Choose one scripture to read from this selection: 1 Corinthians 11:23–26; Matthew 26:17–30; Mark 14:12–26; Luke 22:7–39.

Invitation to Communion

All are welcome at Christ’s table. The Lord’s Supper, or Communion, is a sacrament in which we remember the life, death, resurrection, and continuing presence of Jesus Christ. In Community of Christ, we also experience Communion as an opportunity to renew our baptismal covenant and to be formed as disciples who live Christ’s mission. Others may have different or added understandings within their faith traditions. We invite all who participate in the Lord’s Supper to do so in the love and peace of Jesus Christ.

We share in Communion as an expression of blessing, healing, peace, and community. In preparation let’s sing from Community of Christ Sings (select one):

• 515, “In These Moments We Remember”
• 516, “Coming Together for Wine and for Bread”
• 521, “Let Us Break Bread Together”
• 525, “Small Is the Table”
• 528, “Eat This Bread”

Bless and serve bread and wine.

Thoughts for Children

Materials: two strong magnets whose exposed side attracts the other’s

Say: Today’s scripture passage reminds us that nothing can separate us from God’s love. Not the choices we make, not the things we are embarrassed about, not skills we don’t have. NOTHING can separate us from God’s love.

Sometimes, it can be hard to imagine what God’s love feels like so I brought in something that I think might help give us an idea. 

Show participants the two magnets. Invite them to pull the magnets apart and feel the resistance the magnets give. 

Say: God’s love for you is like a magnet. God doesn’t want to be separated from you. Just like an invisible magnet force, God’s love is always present, even when you feel like you are separated from God.

Next time you feel separated from God, remember these magnets and remember that the invisible force of God’s love is always around you, inviting you to connect with God. 

Note: some of your super science-y participants might note that magnets can also repel each other, or—if the magnets get too far apart—will no longer pull towards one another. Acknowledge their brilliant scientific mind and use their observation to note that those things don’t happen with God. God will never push you away and there is no where you can go where God’s love can’t reach you.

Sermon Helps

Exploring the Scripture

Today’s text includes one of the most controversial passages of Paul’s writings and one of his most significant affirmations. Either topic is worth exploring in a sermon, class, or private meditation.

Paul began with human limits (weakness), expressed in our inability to pray adequately (v. 26). God’s animating Spirit (the breath of God) prays through us with sighs (breaths) deeply centered in our lives beyond our grasp. But God knows and understands our hearts. God understands the Spirit sighing that prays through us on our behalf. The Spirit moves at the impulse of the will of God and according to God’s overall purposes. God’s purposes encompass everything that good, including those who love God and are called. Paul described God’s purposes in these terms:

1. God knew us before birth and predestined us to be formed in the image of Christ, as
   firstborn in the family of God.
2. God also calls those who are predestined.
3. Those who are called are also justified.
4. Those who are justified by faith are also glorified (receive resurrection life).

“What then are we to say about these things?” (v. 31). What, indeed? Church leaders have tried for centuries to understand predestination as Paul outlined it, with resulting schisms that continue today. Some theologians argue that God selects only an elite group of faithful followers and then engineers their life experiences to empower a life of faith, ministry, and glory. They use this passage and Paul’s reference to “God’s elect” in verse 33 to support their interpretation. It is an understanding which focuses on personal, individual salvation.

When Paul wrote, however, individualism was not part of the culture or expectation. Salvation, repentance, and mercy referred to the entire community, nation, or people. From the beginning, God’s purposes pointed toward redemption. Predestination suggests that God intends all humanity to be formed in the image of Christ. This hope may or not be lived through any one lifestyle. As a firstborn son bears a likeness to the head of the household, humankind (or God’s inclusive community of people) bears within itself the image of Christ and becomes the family of God. God’s grace is extended to every soul; God calls every person; God yearns to justify each person’s faith and trust, and God gives resurrection life to all. In support of this interpretation is the great affirmation that ends this lectionary passage: “[nothing] can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 38-39).

Being a Christian is not easy. It is human to fear pain and suffering. Paul himself experienced hardship, distress, persecution, famine. So did many other Christians. But suffering cannot separate us from the love of Christ. We can embrace a life free from fear, whatever we face. Neither death nor life, neither good nor evil, nor powers of any kind, can separate us from God’s love. Even divisions within the faith community can’t separate us from God’s love. Could a God with such all-encompassing love arbitrarily separate us into the blessed and the cursed before our lives even take shape? No. God’s purposes stand sure, and by grace, we are enfolded in those purposes as surely as in God’s love through Christ.

Central Ideas

1. The animating Spirit of God prays through us, trying to align our wills with the will of God to bring about God’s purposes.
2. God’s intent for all humanity is to be formed in the image of Christ and joined into a Divine, inclusive family.
3. God calls, forgives, and justifies, and finally offers salvation to humankind through grace.
4. Nothing can separate us from the love of God, not even God’s “predestination” of salvation for humankind. That salvation is available to all.
5. God’s purposes stand sure. We are enfolded in those purposes as surely as in God’s love through Christ.

Questions for the Speaker

1. How has your prayer life been enriched and transformed by an awareness the Spirit of God prays through you?
2. How would you express Paul’s idea of predestined salvation for all humankind in terms that can be understood in today’s individualistic world?
3. When have you felt separated from the love of God? How did you and God overcome that separation?
4. What would it be like to live without fear?
5. How does your congregation fit into God’s purposes for all of creation? How do the ideas of discernment, vision, mission, agency, and faith fit into God’s purposes?

Lessons

Adult Lesson

Focus Scripture Passage

Romans 8:26–39

Lesson Focus

Nothing can stop God from being in relationship with us.

Objectives

The learners will…

• understand that predestination in Paul’s writing applies to the Body of Christ as a whole, within the expanse of eternity.
• reflect on how the Spirit supports them in their weakness.
• consider some of the circumstances and powers they imagine can come between them and God and acknowledge God’s omnipotence.
• imagine how they can spread the news that God is with us even in challenging times.

Supplies

• Bible
• Article: “Von guten Mächten treu und still umgeben” by Jane Gardner (see note below)
• Board or chart paper, marker
• Community of Christ Sings (CCS)

Notes to Teacher

In preparation for this lesson, read “Exploring the Scripture” for Romans 8:26–39 in Sermon & Class Helps, Year A: New Testament (with focus on the Letters), pp. 91–92, available through Herald House.

Prior to the class, ask a participant to read “Von guten Mächten treu und still umgeben” by Jane Gardner (at the end of the lesson) and to prepare a one- to two-minute retelling of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s story prior to the singing or reading of “By Gracious Powers” CCS 268 as a class.

Gather

Hear the one- to two-minute story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer prepared by a participant.

Sing or read together “By Gracious Powers” CCS 268.

Engage

This well-known text contains passages that are often challenging for readers.

Note: Monitor the time spent on these two issues to ensure there is time to consider Paul’s dominant theme.

Read together Romans 8:28–30.

Some glibly use verse 28 to suggest that everything will turn out all right for individuals who love God. This line of thinking can quickly descend into the what-is-necessary-to-show-that-you-love-God rabbit hole, and, by extension, implies that if things are not turning out well for individuals, they must not love God enough. According to The New Oxford Annotated Bible, the earliest manuscript yields the translation, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” as used in the New International Version. “Paul means, not that all circumstances of this life are good for us (the lament in 8.36 is genuine), but that amid all these things God’s purpose prevails” (Michael D. Coogan, ed., The New Oxford Annotated Bible: New Revised Standard Version, 4th ed., [New York: Oxford University Press, 2010], 1605).

Of further concern is the application of the text to the circumstances of individuals when Paul is clearly addressing the Body of Christ as a community. This impacts our understanding of verses 29–30 and their references to predestination also.

Paul’s letter is addressed “To all God’s beloved in Rome…” He uses plural pronouns “us,” “we,” and “those” in this section. According to The People’s New Testament Commentary, “Biblical language of predestination often applies to groups and categories, not to each individual within those categories” (M. Eugene Boring and Fred B. Craddock, The People’s New Testament Commentary, 1st ed., [Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009], 489). Paul does not suggest that individuals were pre-selected by God in a previous existence to be part of God’s family. He is painting a picture of God’s ultimate redemption of God’s children that will not be thwarted.

Concepts of time are another obstacle to understanding Paul’s use of predestination language. It is used “as assurance to believers that they participate in God’s saving plan that stretches from eternity to eternity” (Boring and Craddock 488). We understand time chronologically. God’s timing is eternal. Past, present, and future co-exist for God who is always the initiator—even of our choices (Boring and Craddock 489).

• Have you heard Romans 8:28 used to pacify or reassure people who are suffering?
• In what context could we use the passage constructively?
• Does trying to grasp time as eternal help you deal with the idea of predestination?
• Does it raise other questions?

Paul did not include exclusionary language, suggesting that some are set apart to receive only bad outcomes. He was writing to early Christians. His concerns were for those within the Body of Christ. It is not fair to apply his words beyond his intentions, but the question to ask is: Who did God not “foreknow”? (v. 29)

Respond

Take a deep breath and set aside the conundrums of verses 28–30. Paul conveys an invigorating, reassuring, sustaining message in Romans 8:26–39.

Read verses 26–27. Once again Paul reminds us of the Spirit’s role as enabler. We are sometimes weak, unwise, ignorant, but the Spirit is so intimately involved with us that our communication with God is seamless. In fact, some people have testimonies of the Spirit’s intervention precisely at those times of deepest need.

Read verses 31–39. Notice the categories of things Paul delineates that cannot come between us and God. List the categories on the board or chart paper.

• Now pretend to be members of a little house church existing under Roman persecution. Discuss what you imagine this whole text would mean to your community.
• This passage uses the verb “justify” several times. It is the verb for setting relationships right, creating the state of the noun “righteousness.” Skim the passage and notice the references to relationships.

When we step back, Paul’s message is simple:

God will continue in relationship with us.

Nothing can stop that.

What was preordained was God’s plan to bring us all into relationship.

Our ignorance can’t stop it.

Judgment plans people concoct can’t stop it.

Our ideas about winning can’t stop it.

Misfortunes in this world can’t stop it.

Cosmic powers can’t stop it.

God will continue in relationship with us.

Send

Paul expects that the Roman saints will experience trying times. His reassuring message is that God will be with them. That message has been preserved and passed on to us. How can we share that message with others this week?

Bless

As a prayer of faith, sing or read together stanza 1 and the refrain of “By Gracious Powers” CCS 268.

“Von guten Mächten treu und still umgeben” “By Gracious Powers,” By Jane Gardner

“I’ll live each day in hope, with you beside me, And go with you through every coming year.”

—Dietrich Bonhoeffer
English translation by Fred Pratt Green
© 1974 Hope Publishing Company

So ends the refrain of the poem “By Gracious Powers”—a fitting sentiment to begin a new year. Bonhoeffer penned this expression of faith in a Nazi concentration camp and sent it in a letter with new year and birthday greetings to his mother on December 28, 1944. It was the last letter and poem he wrote before his execution on April 9, 1945.

Bonhoeffer studied at the University of Tübingen and Union Theological Seminary, and he earned a doctorate in theology at the University of Berlin in 1927. He spoke against Hitler’s rise to power and temporarily moved to London to pastor two German-speaking churches. He returned to Germany in 1935 and he was forbidden to teach at the University of Berlin the next year because of his continued activism and work at an underground seminary. He briefly moved to New York in 1939 but returned to Germany after only two weeks.

Although his friends tried to pressure him to stay away from Germany, he rejected this safe option, saying that if he was going to be a voice for reconstruction of the Christian church in Germany after the war, he had to be present to experience the difficult times. Back in Germany he worked in military intelligence and became a messenger for the resistance movement. He was arrested in 1943 and, after being linked to a failed plot to assassinate Hitler, was executed in 1945, just a month before the end of World War II in Europe.

Von guten Mächten treu und still umgeben (translated as “By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered” by Fred Pratt Green) begins hopefully but moves in the second stanza to describe some of the horror and evil Bonhoeffer encountered around him. In the third stanza, he alludes to the suffering of Christ and declares that bitter cup is to be taken “thankfully and without trembling”—an amazing declaration considering his situation. The refrain expresses that Bonhoeffer felt “protected” and that God was “so wonderfully near.” It brings each stanza to a hope-filled conclusion.

As we read this poem, we can suppose that Bonhoeffer was struggling with his almost certain death, while also professing his confidence and firm belief that God always goes with us. Bonhoeffer’s life, witness, and death give special meaning and authority to this text which testifies of his hope in Christ.

The melody was written in Germany by Otto Abel in 1959 specifically for this text. It has been arranged much like a folk tune by Pam Robison, Community of Christ staff organist, exclusively for Community of Christ Sings. There is a lilting, dance-like quality to the music.

This hymn is often sung as part of New Year services in Germany. Bonhoeffer’s courage brings hope for each new year. It also offers us solace and comfort for the difficulties experienced in current times. At the beginning of this year, whether we find ourselves frazzled or hopeful, grieving or peaceful, lonely or loved, let us sing Bonhoeffer’s poem, grateful for his life and testimony. May we find it to be the blessing Bonhoeffer intended in this new year.

Youth Lesson

Focus Scripture Passage

Romans 8:26–39

Lesson Focus

Nothing can stop God from being in relationship with us.

Objectives

The learners will…

• reflect on how the Spirit supports them in their weakness or suffering.
• explore obstacles in the scripture passage.
• define terms: predestination, justify, righteousness.
• understand nothing can stop God from being in relationship with us.

Supplies

• Bible
• Community of Christ Sings (CCS)
• Way to watch the video Dark Night of the Soul, at www.youtube.com
• Image: Dark Night of the Soul sculpture (end of lesson)
• Board or chart paper and markers

Note to Teacher

In preparation for this lesson, read “Exploring the Scripture” for Romans 8:26–39 in Sermon & Class Helps, Year B: Old Testament, pp. 91–92, available through Herald House.

Gather

Watch the video Dark Night of the Soul from the Temple Tuesday Series at www.youtube.com

In this video, Joey Williams describes the three-figure sculpture along the Temple Worshiper’s Path titled “The Dark Night of the Soul.” The sculpted figures depict the three phases of the dark night of the soul: despair, emptying, and transformation. Even faithful disciples may experience a dark night of the soul, a crisis of fear, suffering, and doubt, when God seems distant. Amid this despair, we empty ourselves, making room for the transforming presence of the divine in our lives. The video ends with singing the hymn “O Lord, Hear My Prayer” CCS 192. (This is our closing hymn.)

Engage

This well-known text contains passages that are often challenging for readers.

Read together Romans 8:28–30.

Obstacle 1: Loving God does not mean we’re free from suffering.

Some use verse 28 to suggest that everything will turn out all right for those who love God. It implies that if things are not going well for someone, they must not love God enough.

• How would you feel if someone used Romans 8:28 to pacify or reassure you during times you are suffering?

Obstacle 2: It’s not about individuals, it’s about community.

Another concern is applying the text to the circumstances of individuals. Paul is clearly addressing the Body of Christ as a community. This also affects our understanding of verses 29–30.

Paul does not suggest that individuals were pre-selected by God in a previous existence to be part of God’s family. He is painting a picture of God’s ultimate redemption of God’s children that will not be stopped.

• How does understanding you have a place as one “within a large family” (v. 29) inform how you live your discipleship?

Obstacle 3: God’s time is eternal.

Concepts of time are another obstacle to understanding. Paul’s language assures believers they are part of God’s plan that is eternal. We understand time chronologically. God’s timing is eternal. Past, present, and future co-exist for God.

• Does trying to grasp time as eternal help you deal with the idea of predestination (that all things are prearranged by God to happen a specific way and that some people receive salvation, and some don’t)?

Paul did not include exclusionary language, suggesting that some are set apart to receive only bad outcomes. He was writing to early Christians. His concerns were for those within the Body of Christ. It is not fair to apply his words beyond his intentions, but the question to ask is: Who did God not “foreknow”? (v. 29)

Respond

Read verses 26–27.

Once again Paul reminds us of the Spirit’s role as enabler (one who makes something happen). We are sometimes weak, unwise, ignorant, but the Spirit is so intimately involved with us that our communication with God is seamless. In fact, some people have testimonies of the Spirit’s intervention precisely at those times of deepest need.

• Invite the class to share examples they’ve encountered of God’s Spirit in action.

Read verses 31–39. Notice the categories of things Paul delineates that cannot come between us and God. As you read, list the categories on the board or chart paper.

• Now pretend to be members of a little house church existing under Roman persecution. Discuss what you imagine this whole text would mean to your community.
• What does it mean to you?
• This passage uses the verb “justify” several times. It is the verb for setting relationships right, creating the state of the noun “righteousness.” Skim the passage and notice the references to relationships.

Send

Paul’s message is simple:

God will continue in relationship with us.

Nothing can stop that.

What was preordained was God’s plan to bring us all into relationship.

Our ignorance can’t stop it.

Judgment plans people concoct can’t stop it.

Our ideas about winning can’t stop it.

Misfortunes in this world can’t stop it.

Cosmic powers can’t stop it.

God will continue in relationship with us.

Ask: How might you engage with your “dark night of the soul” or help someone else experiencing that condition? Consider writing notes of encouragement to yourself or to another person.

Bless

Invite the class to think about the burdens they carry or stress they are managing. After a few quiet moments sing together “O Lord, Hear My Prayer” CCS 192. Sing this prayer several times.

The Dark Night of the Soul

Children’s Lesson

Focus Scripture Passage

Romans 8:26–39

Lesson Focus

Nothing can separate us from God’s love.

Objectives

The learners will…

• explain they cannot be separated from God’s love.
• apply the scripture passage to life.
• retell the Mission Initiative of Develop Disciples to Serve.

Supplies

• Candle and a way to light or turn on the candle
• Poster board or large paper and marker, crayons, colored pencils to decorate a classroom poster with the words: Nothing can separate you from the love of God!
• Coloring pages and tools (crayons, colored pencils, markers) for each student (end of lesson)
• Heart Craft materials (see notes in the Send section)
• Bibles (same version, one for each learner, if possible)
• “Avery Lives with the Holy Spirit” (end of lesson)

Notes to Teacher

In preparation for this lesson, read “Exploring the Scripture” for Romans 8:26–39 in Sermon & Class Helps, Year A: New Testament (with focus on the Letters), pp. 91–92, available through Herald House.

Gather

Greet students and ask how they’ve been and what new things they’ve been doing.

Place a candle in the center of the table or in a worship center. Light the candle. As a practice of following Jesus, the peaceful One, invite children to share conditions that need the peace of Christ. Invite someone to offer a prayer for peace.

Engage

Note: Read the scripture verses from a child-friendly version. The International Children’s Bible is a good choice.

Invite students to find today’s scripture passage in their Bibles. Read together:

But in all these things we have full victory through God who showed his love for us. Yes, I am sure that nothing can separate us from the love God has for us. Not death, not life, not angels, not ruling spirits, nothing now, nothing in the future, no powers, nothing above us, nothing below us, or anything else in the whole world will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

—Romans 8:37–39, ICB

Notice the list of things Paul says cannot separate us from God’s love: death, life, angels, ruling spirits (rulers), things now or in the future, no power, nothing above or below us, or anything in the world.

This is Paul’s way of saying we cannot be separated from God’s love for us. That was his testimony. In his work for Jesus, Paul experienced many things, some good and some bad. But he also experienced the love of God through all of them.

Create together or show a premade poster “Nothing can separate you from the love of God!” and post it on the classroom wall as a reminder of God’s love. Invite students to read the words aloud together.

Distribute coloring pages so learners can color during the story and discussion.

Say: In our story this morning, let’s see how what Paul is saying applies today. The story is about a student named Avery. Let’s see what is going on with Avery this week.

Read the story “Avery Lives with the Holy Spirit” and discuss the following:

• What is the evidence that God is present with Avery? (feeling warm inside, wanting to do good things, wanting to serve God)
• How did Avery know that God always loves, no matter what? (promised in the Bible, Paul’s testimony to the Romans)
• What if a person doesn’t feel different inside after being baptized? What are other ways God show love?

Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing. That’s why being part of God’s family is good; we have people who will help us and love us like God does.

Discuss the words on the coloring page.

Respond

Christ’s Mission Is Our Mission!

Community of Christ has identified five Mission Initiatives that reflect the purposes (the mission) that Jesus came to do for humankind as found in Luke 4:18–19 below:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Develop Disciples to Serve is one of the Mission Initiatives. It says:

Develop Disciples to Serve—Equip individuals for Christ’s mission

We are poised to equip men, women, and children to be true and living expressions of the life, ministry, and continuing presence of Christ in the world.

Develop Disciples to Serve is what we do here in Sunday school. Can you think of other ways we are prepared or developed to serve? (worship, youth camps, reunions, youth groups, reading the Bible, spiritual practices)

You are learning about Jesus so you will know how to be part of Jesus’s mission where you live. You can share what you learn about Jesus with friends and family. You can serve others and help make life better for someone by visiting with them, helping with projects, caring for creation, and many other ways. The Holy Spirit will be with you as you grow, learn, and help in Christ’s mission.

Send

Heart Craft

Completing the craft will result in a heart with the words “Nothing can separate us from God’s love!

This craft can be as simple or complex as you desire and as time allows: a simple heart cut from colored construction paper or card stock; multi-layered hearts with different colored paper for each layer; and so on.

Depending on your choice and desired decorations, provide paper, scissors, glue, markers, crayons, colored pens or pencils, pom poms, etc.

Bless

Invite students to gather in a circle. Say each person’s name and offer a brief statement that reflects the lesson of the day.

Avery Lives with the Holy Spirit

Avery was worried. Since being baptized and confirmed, something that felt like a fire was burning inside. Avery felt able to do anything. Avery wanted to do things for God, like cleaning up the playground at school. Avery no longer wanted to find trouble to get attention at school or at home.

One evening at dinner, Avery shared these new feelings. Avery’s mother smiled and said, “I noticed that, too. I especially like the not needing to find trouble.” Avery’s father said, “It is the Holy Spirit in you. Remember at your confirmation you were promised the Holy Spirit would be with you? How you are feeling is one way it works with you.”

Later, Avery thought about what they had said, and wondered if the other kids had the same experiences.

At Sunday school Avery shared these feelings: “I’m most happy when I am doing things for others. And I don’t want to do bad things anymore. My principal doesn’t frown at me anymore. The other day he said he missed seeing me and I should stop and talk to him. I’m going to tell him about this Holy Spirit thing.” Then Avery frowned and asked, “The only thing is, what if I go back to my old ways? And if I forget and do something bad, will God kick me out of the family?”

The teacher responded, “I don’t think you need to worry about that. The Apostle Paul wrote about that very thing. We will look at it later, but I have a surprise this morning. Two guests are coming. They will be here at, oops, right now!” There was a knock at the door.

The door opened and two of the pastors walked in. “Good morning,” one of them said. “We have wanted to visit your class since you were baptized. Things worked out this morning and here we are. May we sit down?”

“Sure,” everyone said at once. There was a shuffle of chairs. The teacher said, “We were just talking about the Holy Spirit and what it does in our lives. Avery, would you tell them what you told us?”

Avery shared about feeling different inside and repeated the concern about doing something wrong and getting kicked out of the family or the church. The other students listened closely, nodding their heads.

The pastors took turns responding. “Your teacher is right,” they said. “It is right here in Romans chapter 8. People in the church asked Paul the same question and he said,

I am sure that nothing can separate us from the love God has for us. Not death, not life, not angels, not ruling spirits, nothing now, nothing in the future, no powers, nothing above us, nothing below us, or anything else in the whole world will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

—Romans 8:38-39, ICB

“That’s good news!” everyone exclaimed. “It sure is,” one of the pastors said. “Let’s pray, thanking God for the love that God has for us: Loving God. Thank you for promising to love us no matter what. Amen.”

Questions:

• What is the evidence that God is present with Avery? (feeling warm inside, wanting to do good things, wanting to serve God)
• How did Avery know that God always loves, no matter what? (promised in the Bible, Paul’s testimony to the Romans)