Session2:  Faith History.

Starting Prayer (10 minutes)

Design as you wish.See suggestions in the introductory notes.It could include an invitation to people to share anything striking in the days since the last meeting, or to share something from their journal.

Reflection (20 minutes)

Make a list of the main events in your life starting from when you were born up to today.Then take a large sheet of paper, draw a line across the middle (your “lifeline”) and put these things on the line.Divide the line up into ten year sections if it helps.

Now using the lower half of the paper write single words or phrases that fit with your feelings about the main events in your life.Give each event a high spot or a low spot as your feelings seem to require, and join these spots up so as to make a graph.Then using the top half of the paper jot down in the same way your feelings about God at these times.You may want to add any other significant events which come to mind.As before, join up the high spots and the low spots to make a graph. “No praise, no blame, it just is so!”

Sharing (allow 15 minutes)

Share with a neighbour, or in threes, anything from your lifeline work and your two graphs which you want to share; decide how much you feel comfortable with sharing with others.(This will clearly take a long time if the sharing is done round the whole group.Most groups by this stage will be ready to break into pairs or threes.It is important that each person “tells their whole story” to someone as fully as they wish to do within the time constraint).

Notice what you have chosen not to share.Pause for reflection; is it possible for you to “tell God the way it is?” if not, do you have a sense of why this might be so?

Experience from the Church (15 minutes)

We will use parts of the story of the Christian community which is drawn from the psalms and also the story of the Emmaus road on the evening of the first Easter Day:

Someone reads out the following:

The psalms are full of “telling God the way it is”!No punches are pulled when it comes to declaring anger, abandonment, confusion, and all the bundle of strong emotions and moods which are part and parcel of being human.The psalms are also full of praise, thankfulness, jjoy and contentment.

Typically, and at a time of apparent abandonment, the writer starts with “telling God the way it is”; goes on to work with the reality of the conflict; recalls God’s work in the history of the people; the conflict resolves into hope and confidence at bringing to mind God’s work- but without denying the reality of the present experience.

Working on your own, read through the sections below from different psalms.Look out for verses or bits of a verse which most nearly fit your feelings towards God at different points in your life. You might want to write them on your life-line.

The Lord is my light and my salvation whom then shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid?

 

If an army encamp against me my heart shall not be afraid; and if war should rise against me, yet will I trust.

 

For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; and conceal me in the shadow of his tent and set me high upon a rock.(from Psalm 27)

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O Lord rebuke me not in your anger, nor chasten me in your fierce displeasure.

 

The tide of my iniquities has gone over my head, their weight is a burden too heavy for me to bear.

 

I am numbed and stricken to the ground, I cry aloud in the yearning of my heart.

 

O Lord all I long for is before you, and my deep sighing is not hidden from you.

 

My friends and companions hold aloof from my affliction, and my kinsmen stand far off.

 

Those who seek my life strike at me: and those that desire my hurt spread evil tales and murmur slanders all the day.

 

For in you Lord have I put my trust: and you will answer me O Lord my God.

But I acknowledge my wickedness; and I am filled with sorrow at my sin.

 

Forsake me not O Lord go not far from me my God: hasten to my help O Lord my salvation.(from Psalm 38)

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I will lift up my eyes to the hills: but where shall I find help?

 

My help comes from the Lord: who has made heaven and earth.

 

He will not suffer your foot to stumble: and he who watches over you will not sleep.

 

The Lord himself is your keeper: the Lord is your defence upon your right hand; the sun shall not strike you by day: nor shall the moon by night.

 

The Lord will defend your going out and your coming in: from this time forward for evermore.(from Psalm 121)

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Praise the Lord O my soul: and forget not all his benefits,

 

Who forgives all your sin: and heals all your infirmities.

 

The Lord works righteousness: and justice for all who are oppressed

 

The Lord is full of compassion and mercy: slow to anger and full of great goodness.

 

He will not always be chiding: nor will he keep his anger for ever.

 

As a father is tender towards his children: so is the Lord tender to those that fear him. (from Psalm 103)

 

 

O Lord you have searched me out and known me: you know when I sit or when I stand you comprehend my thoughts long before.

 

You discern my path and the places where I rest: you are acquainted with all my ways.

 

For there is not a word on my tongue: but you Lord know it altogether.

 

You have encompassed me behind and before: and have laid your hand upon me.

 

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me: so high that I cannot endure it.

 

Where shall I go from your spirit: or where shall I flee from your presence?

 

If I ascend into heaven you are there: if I make my bed in the grave you are there also.

 

If I spread out my wings towards the morning: or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

 

Even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me (from Psalm 139)

New Directions (20 minutes)

Talk with the same people as before about anything from this work which has emerged for you.

The last 5 minutes of this section may be used for anyone to share with the full group any important insights.

Allow 30 minutes for the next section.

Somebody reads out the Emmaus Road story which happened on the evening of the first Easter day:

That very same day, two of the disciples were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking together about all that had happened.Now as they talked this over, Jesus Himself came up and walked by their side; but something prevented them from recognising Him.He said to them, “What matters are you discussing as you walk along?”They stopped short, their faces downcast.Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered Him, “You must be the only person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things which have been happening there these last few days”.“What things?”He asked.“All about Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered, “who proved He was a great prophet by the things He said and did in the sight of God and of the whole people: and how our chief priests and leaders handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and had Him crucified.”

 

“Our own hope had been that He would be the one to set Israel free.And this is not all; two whole days have gone by since it all happened; and some women from our group have astounded us; they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels, who declared He was alive.Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of Him they saw nothing”.

 

Then He said to them, “ You foolish men!Slow to believe the full message of the prophets!Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into His glory?”Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, He explained to them the passages throughout the Scriptures that were about Himself.

When they drew nearer to the village to which they were going, He made as if to go on; but they persuaded Him to stay with them.“It is nearly evening,” they said, “and the day is almost over”.So He went in to stay with them.Now while He was with them at table, He took the bread and said the blessing; then He broke it and handed it to them.And their eyes were opened and they recognised Him; then He vanished from their sight.Then they said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

 

They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem.There they found the Eleven assembled together with their companions, who said to them, “Yes, it is true.The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised Him at the breaking of the bread.

What was preoccupying the two Friends on the Emmaus Road?How did the stranger help them “to tell things the way they are?”… Did he give them advice… blame them… listen… or… ??

How did the stranger help them to bring their present experience into relationship with the experience of the faith community?Are there any similarities between what happened between Jesus and the two companions in this story and what we have done together in this session?

Talk together about these things.

Ending Prayer (10 minutes)

Return to the prayer focus.Become aware of your breathing.Breathe in the Vital Breath of the Holy Spirit and breathe out all that hinders the Spirit’s action in your life.Recall in God’s presence the experiences of this meeting which have been particularly helpful… rich… difficult… a new insight… express these moods simply by the way you breathe.

You might want to spend most of this time in silence.You might want to offer some informal prayers leaving people free to speak when moved to do so.End by saying together the Lords Prayer and the Grace, or another suitable prayer.

Between meetings

During the week try to linger with those moments when you get a flashback to the work of this meeting.What was it that activated the memory… a situation… a day dream… a person… in prayer… an image… or… ??

Keep a private journal to record your ongoing reflections and connections you make to the work of this course in the time between meetings.You might want to work with other Psalms.When you feel satisfied that you have found the verses or parts of verses which most closely fit your feelings towards God in all the significant events of your life, you may wish to write out those verses in your journal, in the order they come on your lifeline.This then is your Psalm, your feelings towards God in your history, just as for the original writers, the Psalms expressed their history.