We are providing questions that tie back to the preceding Sunday's primary reading and sermon each week. Feel free to think about these on your own, to discuss with a family member or friend, or to use these within your small group.
Reflection for October 18 ~ Matthew 22:15-22
“We are accepted and affirmed by God and so do not need to prove ourselves to him. We have been set free, and our liberation is total and comprehensive—it includes being set free from political, social and economic structures that are oppressive and unjust, since these would enslave us and make us less than God intends us to be. There is little about “pie in the sky when you die” in the gospel of Jesus Christ, for Christianity is the most materialistic of the major religions. There is nowhere that the writ of God does not run, for everything belongs to him. Caesar must be accorded what is appropriate for him, and God must have all—including Caesar’s domain; otherwise there would be a part of the universe, of life, that did not fall under God’s control.”—Desmond Tutu [Desmond Mpilo Tutu, Hope and Suffering, ed. John Webster (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), 58-59.]
1. When was the last time you “gave it your all” for a project, person, or event? What made it feel like you “gave it your all?” What was the outcome?
2. Do you live your life more compartmentalized or more with a synergistic flow? What are the strengths and limitations? How do you integrate your life with those around you?
3. What might be God inviting you to see in your life as “belonging to God” – what does it look like to offer this aspect of your life to God – what limits making that offering and what supports making that offering?
4. God asks the church to be living signs of hope and to be little Christs in the world. What ministries have you connected most deeply with in the Atonement faith community and how has being in that ministry impacted your walk as a person of faith?