Download an outline of the Creed.
Go to the beginning of this study of the Creed.
Download the handout.

Table Talk:  One critique from non-believers is that faith is “just pie in the sky when you die.”  Even Christians sometimes wonder if the afterlife will be boring or what we will be doing there.  How might you respond to those descriptions of Christianity?

[“Table Talk” is an opening question or topic for discussion at the beginning of our time together.  The intent is to help group members (around tables, with four to six at each table) build connections with each other, as well as to guide thinking in a direction related to the passage.]

We began our final discussion about the Creed with our thoughts or expectations about heaven.  Those ideas ranged from meeting and talking with other saints (Moses, Paul, David, etc.) to the ability to travel in space.  One person commented that we will be quite busy relationally with all those who have gone before us.  Another expectation was that we will find the perfection of all that is beautiful here – majestic mountains and the rest of nature and everything else that is good and wonderful here.  Job describes all we see as only the “edges” or “fringes” of God’s ways (Job 26:14), and C. S. Lewis called all earthly blessings “a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage” of what is to come.[1]  Those suggestions should excite anyone who believes in and desires heaven. Continue reading →

Download an outline of the Creed.
Go to the beginning of this study of the Creed.
Download the handout.

Table Talk:  How might each Person of the Trinity be a part of the forgiveness of sins?

[“Table Talk” is an opening question or topic for discussion at the beginning of our time together.  The intent is to help group members (around tables, with four to six at each table) build connections with each other, as well as to guide thinking in a direction related to the passage.]

As has happened on many occasions, the sermon we heard just before our group met was remarkably relevant to our discussion.  In fact, before we met I changed the “Table Talk” based on a statement from the sermon, “A full realization of grace leads to a fruitful relationship with God,”[1] and asked for comments. Continue reading →

Download an outline of the Creed.
Go to the beginning of this study of the Creed.
Download the handout.. 

Table Talk:  “For many people the church is little more than the weekly meeting of Jesus’s Facebook friends.  It is merely a gathering of religious consumers with a common interest, much like a group of people gathered together at an Apple Store or those waiting for their connecting flight in the lounge of an airport.”[1]

Comments?  Has this ever been true in your experience?

[“Table Talk” is an opening question or topic for discussion at the beginning of our time together.  The intent is to help group members (around tables, with four to six at each table) build connections with each other, as well as to guide thinking in a direction related to the passage.]

Our opening discussion suggested that Michael Bird’s comment (in the Table Talk question) usually does not apply to whole churches (although it might).  Rather, the common experience among our group was that while we do encounter people with that attitude, there are important exceptions.  There are people who we have formed connections with, maybe over several weeks, maybe over several decades.  Those people we seek out.  They are the ones with whom we experience some form of “the communion of the saints.” Continue reading →

Download an outline of the Creed.
Go to the beginning of this study of the Creed.
Download the handout. 

Table Talk:  What have been your experiences in different churches when the topic of the Holy Spirit is brought up?  Have you seen disagreements? Why do you think the Holy Spirit seems to be more of a source of controversy than the Father or the Son?

[“Table Talk” is an opening question or topic for discussion at the beginning of our time together.  The intent is to help group members (around tables, with four to six at each table) build connections with each other, as well as to guide thinking in a direction related to the passage.]

Before our group met, I was in a conversation with a person who does not attend the group but occasionally reads this blog.  When I mentioned that the day’s topic was “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” the immediate response was, “Oh, what a controversial topic.”  The brief chat continued with lament that so much discord should grow out of such an important topic. Continue reading →

Download an outline of the Creed.
Go to the beginning of this study of the Creed.
Download the handout. 

Table Talk:  Do you ever think about Jesus coming back?  What circumstances prompt you to think about that?  What effect do those thoughts have on you (if any)?

[“Table Talk” is an opening question or topic for discussion at the beginning of our time together.  The intent is to help group members (around tables, with four to six at each table) build connections with each other, as well as to guide thinking in a direction related to the passage.]

Our “Table Talk” time covered three different directions of thinking about Jesus returning.  One person thought immediately of persecution, “things will be a mess” with natural disasters and a variety of other forms of distress, especially for believers, but including all the earth.  Continue reading →

Download an outline of the Creed.
Go to the beginning of this study of the Creed.
Download the handout.

Table Talk:  Without checking your Bible, what is the Old Testament passage that is most quoted or echoed in the New Testament?

[“Table Talk” is an opening question or topic for discussion at the beginning of our time together.  The intent is to help group members (around tables, with four to six at each table) build connections with each other, as well as to guide thinking in a direction related to the passage.]

Our group began with the “Table Talk” question that came from Michael Bird’s book, What Christians Ought to Believe.  Several suggestions included Psalm 23 (“the Lord is my shepherd”) and Isaiah 53 (“He was pierced for our transgressions”).  The Shema from Deuteronomy 6 (“Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is One”) or a prophecy from Joel 2 (“I will pour out my Spirit”) or Isaiah 6 (“I saw the Lord sitting on a throne”) were other candidates.  Several of these were consistent with Bird’s report, but none was the correct answer: Continue reading →

Download an outline of the Creed.
Go to the beginning of this study of the Creed.
Download the handout.

Table Talk:  If we did not have Luke’s account of the ascension, what other ways might the story of Jesus’ earthly ministry have ended?

[“Table Talk” is an opening question or topic for discussion at the beginning of our time together.  The intent is to help group members (around tables, with four to six at each table) build connections with each other, as well as to guide thinking in a direction related to the passage.]

 When is the last time you heard a sermon on the ascension?  As we approach the season of Lent and then Easter, we will hear a lot about the last days of Jesus’ earthly life, His crucifixion, and His glorious resurrection.  Those are fitting topics.  But what about the ascension?  What difference does the ascension make?  What if we had no record of it?  What would the story of Jesus look like without the ascension? Continue reading →

Download an outline of the Creed.
Go to the beginning of this study of the Creed.
Download the handout.

Table Talk:  How often do you think about death?  In general?  Of others?  Of your own?
How do you react when you think of death?  Fear?  Sadness?  Panic?  Try to think of something else?

[“Table Talk” is an opening question or topic for discussion at the beginning of our time together.  The intent is to help group members (around tables, with four to six at each table) build connections with each other, as well as to guide thinking in a direction related to the passage.]

Talking about death is awkward and uncomfortable at best.  Since the Creed makes a bold statement about the dead, our group started by considering how we think about and how we react to thoughts about death. Continue reading →

Download an outline of the Creed.
Go to the beginning of this study of the Creed.
Download handout.

Table Talk:  How do you respond to silliness?  When someone says something absurd or illogical that makes you want to roll your eyes, how do you react?  Embarrassment?  Annoyance?  Impatience?  Do any examples come to mind?

[“Table Talk” is an opening question or topic for discussion at the beginning of our time together.  The intent is to help group members (around tables, with four to six at each table) build connections with each other, as well as to guide thinking in a direction related to the passage.]

Our previous discussion explored the genuine humanness of Jesus, the result of His birth to a human mother, the Virgin Mary.  This week we began with the other non-divine human mentioned in the Creed, Pontius Pilate. Continue reading →

Download an outline of the Creed.
Go to the beginning of this study of the Creed.
Download the handout

Table Talk:  “Uneducated people in pre-scientific times could believe in things like the virgin birth, but now we know better.”  How would you respond to that statement?

[“Table Talk” is an opening question or topic for discussion at the beginning of our time together.  The intent is to help group members (around tables, with four to six at each table) build connections with each other, as well as to guide thinking in a direction related to the passage.]

Our discussion began with the “Table Talk” question above, the modern skeptic’s view of the Virgin birth (and possibly of all miracles).  The Bible itself illustrates the false and even foolish assumption behind the question.  Pregnancy was not exactly a mystery in the first century.  Both Mary (Luke 1:34) and Joseph (Matthew 1:19) were confused (“how can this be?”) or even alarmed (“he planned to send her away secretly”) at the news.  Modern education and science add nothing to what Joseph and Mary knew.  The difference for them (and for Christians) is faith in God’s ability to do the impossible (Luke 1:37). Continue reading →