Forgiveness Leader Guide: Finding Peace Through Letting Go - Softcover

Hamilton, Adam

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1501870688 ISBN 13: 9781501870682

Verlag: Abingdon Press, 2018

Inhaltsangabe

In his passionate and life-changing book Forgiveness: Finding Peace Though Letting Go, bestselling author Adam Hamilton shows the same insight that he brought to his popular books Why? Making Sense of God’s Will and Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity. In this new book, Hamilton explores forgiveness in our relationship with God, with our spouses or romantic interests, with our parents and siblings, and with others in our lives. This comprehensive Leader Guide, when used with the DVD, provides everything you’ll need to hold a four-session study of Forgiveness with your group. Inside you’ll find session plans, discussion questions, and activities, as well as suggestions of ways to make the study a meaningful experience for any group.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Adam Hamilton is senior pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, one of the fastest growing, most highly visible churches in the country. The Church Report named Hamilton’s congregation the most influential mainline church in America, and he preached at the National Prayer Service as part of the presidential inauguration festivities in 2013.Hamilton is the best-selling and award-winning author of The Walk, Simon Peter, Creed, Half Truths, The Call, The Journey, The Way, 24 Hours That Changed the World, John, Revival, Not a Silent Night, Enough, When Christians Get It Wrong, and Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White, all published by Abingdon Press. Learn more about Adam Hamilton at AdamHamilton.com.

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Forgiveness Leader Guide

Finding Peace Through Letting Go

By Adam Hamilton

Abingdon Press

Copyright © 2012 Abingdon Press
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-5018-7068-2

Contents

To the Group Leader, 
1. The Divine Answer, 
2. For Better, for Worse, 
3. Seventy Times Seven, 
4. The Dreamcoat, 
Epilogue, 

CHAPTER 1

The Divine Answer

Getting Started

Session Goals

This session is intended to help participants

• reflect on God's forgiveness and what it means for us;

• discuss the meaning and application of forgiveness, sin, and repentance;

• focus on the burden involved in carrying unforgiven sin and on the process of letting that burden go;

• address and discuss issues related to understanding forgiveness with "head" comprehension — as contrasted with experiencing forgiveness in the heart and soul.

Opening Prayer

Begin this session, and all sessions, with a prayer for illumination. Recognize that the Holy Spirit is already present in your group, so your prayer is for group members — and you — to open hearts, minds, and souls to the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Here is one such prayer that you might use:

Almighty God, by and through your love you have surrounded us with your Holy Spirit. But we confess that often we do not open ourselves to the presence of your Spirit. Help us in this time of study to be open to and aware of your Spirit with us that our thoughts, words, and actions might enlighten, enable, and illuminate. We pray in the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.

Opening Activity

Distribute paper and pencils or pens. Ask each person in the group, working individually, to write on one side of the paper — for the writer's eyes only — the name of a person she or he needs to forgive and to describe briefly the reasons why this person needs to be forgiven. Also jot down at least one reason why forgiving this person is difficult.

Turn the paper over and write the name of a person whose forgiveness the writer wants and needs. Include a brief description of the reasons why the writer needs this person's forgiveness. Jot down why seeking this person's forgiveness is difficult.

Acknowledge that some group members may have to write the names of persons who may no longer be living or who may be unreachable for various reasons. Make it clear that these papers will not be distributed, discussed, or made known within the group in any way at any time.

When all have completed this assignment, suggest that group members fold their papers carefully and carry them in pocket, purse, or Bible for the duration of this study.

Learning Together

Video Study and Discussion

Play the video for Session 1.

Running time: 11:19

Forgiveness

Ask group members to form teams of three persons each and share quick definitions of forgiveness. Then ask the teams to think about and discuss this question: How is God's forgiveness of us like — and unlike — our forgiveness of one another?

Afterward, reconvene the large group and ask for brief reports from a few of the teams. Then discuss this question: Does forgiveness deal more with the past or the future? What is the immediate effect of forgiveness? What is the long-term result of forgiveness? Why do you answer as you do?

Sin

Can we understand forgiveness without a clear understanding of sin? Ask group members to define sin. Note that sin as described in the Bible is not so much individual acts or specific things we do or don't do, but missing the mark or straying from the path.

Pose this question for discussion by the whole group: What happens in life when we miss a mark or stray from a path and become lost? (Think in terms of shooting an arrow or trying to score in basketball.) Help group members recognize that when we miss a mark, we try to aim more accurately but sometimes overcompensate and miss the mark on the other side. Or, if we stray from a path and fear that we've become lost, our tendency might be to look for a shortcut and become even more lost. What do these life examples suggest about our response to sin?

Pose this question for brief discussion by the whole group: How does this definition of sin compare with your understanding of sin? Is this definition what we learned in Sunday school as children? Give examples and illustrations for your answers.

Repentance

Divide the group into pairs and discuss the meaning of repentance. Ask them to consider this question: What is the difference between contrition and repentance?

Afterward, ask for brief reports from several of the pairs. Help the group understand the difference between feeling sorry for our sinfulness (contrition) and turning around and getting back on the right path (repentance). What does this discussion say about experiencing God's forgiveness and experiencing forgiveness in our human relationships?

Book Study and Discussion

The Divine Answer

Theologian Paul Tillich describes forgiveness as the divine answer to the question implied in our existence. Tillich's statement suggests a single, basic question. Ask group members to suggest what that single question might be. Jot down responses for the group to consider, but do not evaluate these questions in detail yet. Keep the list of single questions for use in later sessions of this study.

Ego

"Healthy autonomy turns to unhealthy ego." Ask the group to consider the meaning of this sentence from Chapter 1. What is its biblical context? How does it apply to us? How can healthy autonomy coupled with an unhealthy ego create a widening gap between people, or between people and God? Must healthy autonomy always turn to unhealthy ego? How can we prevent that from happening in our own lives?

The Path

When we ask for or offer forgiveness, we are seeking restoration of a relationship that was severed through our sinfulness and failure to follow God's path. Discuss whether this is always the case. Does experiencing forgiveness — the forgiveness of God and of those we have wronged — always bring us back to the right path? Give reasons and illustrations for your answers.

Forgiveness as a Process

The process of forgiveness begins with our awareness of sin. A key word in this sentence is process. What does the use of this word say about forgiveness?

As a group, discuss some examples of Jesus forgiving sinners. How do these examples illustrate forgiveness as a process rather than as an instantaneous event? How might we experience that process, and how do we know when it is complete? How does failure to recognize that process impede the reestablishment of broken relationships with God and others?

Head or Heart?

Adam Hamilton writes that God's forgiveness "is something we know in our heads, and yet we often struggle to accept it in our hearts." In teams of three, discuss the differences between understanding the concept of forgiveness and experiencing actual forgiveness.

How can we move from understanding to experiencing? What factors might impede that movement? Encourage the teams to share personal examples of moving from "head" knowledge of forgiveness to "heart" experience of forgiveness. Do not ask for full reports from each team of three, but if a team is eager to share an insight, encourage that team to do...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Abingdon Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2018
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1501870688
• ISBN 13: 9781501870682
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 32
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: preigu; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; 49078; Deutschland