Study guide Just Women, Fall 2010

Transcription

1 Study guide Just Women, Fall 2010 Introduction Welcome to Just Women! We hope this leader s guide will help you plan meaningful study sessions using the Fall 2010 issue of the magazine. The focus of this issue of Just Women is the recent Quadrennial Assembly, held in June in Greensboro, North Carolina. In the Fall 2010 issue of Just Women, you ll hear from women who participated in the Quadrennial and whose lives were changed by the experience. If you ve ever attended Quadrennial, this issue will bring back good memories. If you haven t, this issue might just inspire you to go to the next one. Preparation In prepare for the study sessions outlined here, make sure you have a sufficient number of subscriptions to the magazine, so that all members of your group have their own copies. If you need more, go to and click on Just Women magazine for information on ordering extra copies. Then read through the Fall issue and use the study questions here to spark discussion in your women s group. Ask your group members to read the same study materials before your first meeting, so you ll all be ready to participate in the study.

2 Session 1 Supplies Bibles, the Fall 2010 issue of Just Women Opening prayer AWAKEN ME Sometimes I feel like I'm just existing I'm not really living I'm only watching the time slip away I've forgotten who I am in You I'm not who I'm meant to be I'm drifting farther away from my destiny Awaken my heart, awaken my soul Awaken Your power and take control Awaken the passion to live for You, Lord Awaken me My soul is longing, my heart is searching I'm desperate for You to move give me a hunger, pull me closer I'm crying out to You Open my eyes so I can see Your presence Dwelling inside wake me up, 'cause I can't live another minute If I'm not shining Your light Lord, awaken me to live my destiny Lord, awaken me and shine Your light through me Lord, awaken me to live my destiny Lord, awaken me and shine Your light through me NATALIE GRANT

3 Icebreaker Ask group members to think about a time when they felt truly awake to God s love in the world. How did that feeling manifest? What inspired it? How did they act on the feeling? How did they share it? Scripture focus Ask someone in the group to read aloud Acts 2:4. Ask another person to read Quadrennial reflections on page 6 of Just Women. Questions Choose several questions to guide your discussion today: Lonnie Graves reflects on being awakened to awaken the world. How can you become fully awake in the world? How can you awaken others? Have you attended a Quadrennial Assembly? If so, share with the group your experience there. Were you inspired to make any life changes because of that experience? An old adage says, One woman can change anything. Many women can change everything. What can you do to affect change in the world as an individual? What can your group do to change the world? Who in your life has inspired you to work for change? Who can you be an inspiration for? What does it mean to be awakened? What does it look like to live fully awake? How can you maintain the energy of being awake in your daily life? How can your women s group help you to be awake? What do you need from your group? What can you contribute to the group? How do you share your experience of God s love in the group and with others? Closing prayer Offer your own closing prayer, or invite a group member to do so.

4 Session 2 Supplies Bibles, Fall 2010 issue of Just Women Opening prayer LORD, MAKE ME AN INSTRUMENT OF YOUR PEACE Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon: where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; for it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen. ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI Icebreaker Ask group members to reflect on how women from other cultures can enrich our faith with their stories. Scripture focus Ask someone in the group to read aloud Hebrews 13:2. Ask someone else to read Wanda Bryant-Wills article, International guests share journeys of faith, on pages 8 9 of Just Women.

5 Questions Choose several questions to guide your discussion today: Berthe Mzebe Kalombo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo came to Quadrennial to ask Disciples women to prod the U.S. government to help end the ongoing conflict in her country. How can you prod the government to do that? Kalombo noted that the conflict in the Congo derives from a battle over natural resources. Do Christians in North America bear any responsibility for the conflict? Why or why not? How can your group support Disciples women in the Congo and other war-torn countries? What can you do individually to help? Kalombo notes that many women and children have been raped during the conflict in the Congo. How can you support victims of sexual abuse in your own community? Juliana Temparja of East Timor spoke of being forcibly displaced from her home as a child. How can you support people who have been displaced by war? Are there refugees in your home community who need your help? How can you find out? Have you ever had the experience of being an outsider? Have you been in a place where no one spoke your language? How did that feel? Did anyone come to your aid? Closing prayer Offer your own closing prayer, or invite a group member to do so.

6 Session 3 Supplies Bibles, Fall 2010 issue of Just Women Opening prayer GO, TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN Go, tell it on the mountain, Over the hills and everywhere Go, tell it on the mountain, That Jesus Christ is born. While shepherds kept their watching o er silent flocks by night, Behold, throughout the heavens There shone a holy light Refrain The shepherds feared and trembled, When lo! above the earth, Rang out the angels chorus That hailed our Savior's birth. Refrain Down in a lowly manger The humble Christ was born And God sent us salvation That blessed Christmas morn. JOHN W. WORK Icebreaker Ask group members to reflect on how they first heard the good news of God s love.

7 Scripture focus Ask someone in the group to read aloud Deuteronomy 6:1 12. Ask another person to read Patti Case s article, Hungry for good news? on pages of Just Women. Questions Case compares the good news of Jesus Christ to a stack of blackberry pancakes. Is that an apt analogy? What would you compare the good news to? When have you experienced the good news of God s unconditional love? How can you share that experience with others? How do you tell people about your faith? Are you uncomfortable sharing your faith with others? Do we have a responsibility to share our faith? How can we do so in a way that doesn t offend other people? Case says, Sometimes, we are willing to share the goodness, but we want folks to pass our test, first. What kind of test is she talking about? Has someone ever insisted that you jump through hoops before receiving grace? What kind of tests do you place before people? Case writes of things that we substitute for God s goodness in our lives. Do you think it s harder to be a Christian in a culture of prosperity? Are the poor somehow closer to God? How can you cut away the excess in your life to make room for God? Closing prayer Offer your own closing prayer, or invite a group member to do so.

8 Session 4 Supplies Bibles, the Fall 2010 issue of Just Women Opening prayer FRIENDSHIP PRAYER I got down on my knees today, And said a prayer for you, For you are always in my heart, And I often think of you. I asked the Lord to send his angels, To protect my dearest friend. I prayed that all the joy and happiness, You have will never end, I asked the Lord to comfort you, When you are feeling blue. And when you have a tear, He'll wipe away that too, I asked the Lord to bless our friendship, So our ways will never part. For true friends always stick together, For we're in each others hearts. MELINDA TANNER Icebreaker Ask group members to think about a good friend who is male. What makes him a good friend? Scripture focus Ask someone in the group to read aloud Proverbs 27:9. Ask another person to read Can we be just friends? on page 27 of Just Women.

9 Questions Choose several questions to guide your discussion today: Maureen McCrae raises the question, Is it okay to have a man as your best friend someone other than your husband? How would you answer that question. In the movie, When Harry Met Sally, Billy Crystal s character says that men and women can never truly be friends, because sex always gets in the way. Do you agree with that? Why, or why not? Some women say that their husband is their best friend. Is that your experience? Why, or why not? What can a friendship with a man provide that friendships with women cannot? What is unique about having a male friend? What are the dangers of becoming too close to a man who is not your husband? How can you safeguard against those dangers? What can you do if you find yourself feeling too close to a male friend? How would you feel if your husband s best friend was another woman? Would you be all right with that, or would it make you uncomfortable? Why, or why not? Closing prayer Offer your own closing prayer, or invite a group member to do so.

10 Additional ideas 1. Spend a session on the Woman-to-Woman Worldwide Program study materials on pages of Just Women. Use the map/insert from the Summer 2010 issue to help in your study. What can your group do to support women in Colombia and Venezuela? How can you share their stories with others? What does it mean to be a woman of strength? How can you support other women in your community in becoming stronger? What do you do when you feel like your plate is too full? How can you make room on the plate for God s work? On page 16, Kaye Edwards writes about the difficulty of telling children about the bad things that happen in the world. How can you talk to the children in your life about violence and injustice? How can you help them work for change? 2. Spend a session reading and discussing Charisse Gillett s article, What do they call you? on p. 17 of Just Women. Gillett notes that in many African-American churches, the pastor s wife is identified by title. What do people in your congregation call the pastor s wife? What are some of the challenges a pastor s spouse faces? Are they different for men and women? How so? What can you do to support your pastor s spouse? What expectations do you have of him or her? What expectations do others have? Gillett notes that being called by name says, I see you. What does it mean to be seen? What is the opposite of that?

11 Suggested readings Here are some readings you can use to accompany the Fall 2010 issue of Just Women. Women awakening All of the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen (HarperOne). The Woman Awake: Feminine Wisdom for Spiritual Life by Regina Sara Ryan (Hohm Press). The Friendship of Women: The Hidden Tradition of the Bible by Joan Chittister (Bluebridge). The Friends We Keep: A Woman s Quest for the Soul of Friendship by Sarah Zacharias Davis (Waterbrook Press). The Faith Club: A Muslim, a Christian, a Jew Three Women Search for Understanding by Ranya Idliby Suzanne Oliver, and Priscilla Warner (Free Press). The Democratic Republic of the Congo A Thousand Sisters: My Journey into the Worst Place on Earth to Be a Woman by Lisa Shannon (Seal Press). Africa s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Disaster by Gerard Prunier (Oxford University Press). All Things Must Fight to Live: Stories of War and Deliverance in Congo by Bryan Mealer (Bloomsbury USA).