Week 1: Play the Love Song

Opening Questions

  • What stood out most to you from the daily Scripture readings this week? Did you learn anything new? Did you have questions? Did you gain insight to share with the group?

  • If you were to choose a musical instrument that best represents how you are playing God’s love song right now, what instrument would it be and why? For example:

    • 1st fiddle in the spotlight belting out the melody

    • Drums providing the rhythm

    • Tuba whose music might not be very elaborate, but provides the foundation on which other instruments can build

    • Something else…?

Watch the Video Below

Reflection

Beautiful music is played with love.

“[Love] is the language Jesus spoke, and we are called to speak it so that we can converse with him. It is the food they eat in God’s new world, and we must acquire the taste for it here and now. It is the music God has written for all his creatures to sing, and we are called to learn it and practice it now so as to be ready when the conductor brings down his baton.”

N.T. Wright, Surprised By Hope

In what ways have you experienced God’s love in your life?

Beautiful music is played by musicians focused on Jesus.

“Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

A.W. Tozer, In Pursuit of God


What makes it difficult for you to keep your eyes on the Conductor?


Practicing Community: Offer Song

Beautiful music requires rest.

“Music is pleasing not only because of the sound but because of the silence that is in it: without the alternation of sound and silence there would be no rhythm. If we strive to be happy by filling all the silences of life with sound, productive by turning all life’s leisure into work, and real by turning all our being into doing, we will only succeed in producing a hell on earth. If we have no silence, God is not heard in our music. If we have no rest, God does not bless our work. If we twist our lives out of shape in order to fill every corner of them with action and experience, God will silently withdraw from our hearts and leave us empty.”

Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island


Next Steps

How might God be inviting you into a place of rest this week? How do you want to respond?

How can this group support you? End your meeting in prayer for each other.