Summary: When I was in high school, a friend invited me to participate in an event called “The 30 Hour Famine” where we would raise money for those lacking food by fasting 30 hours. To my 14-year-old stomach, however, the word “fast” was totally misleading since those 30 hours seemed like the slowest moving time of my entire young life.<br> Since then, my appreciation for the spiritual practice of fasting has grown considerably. The word “fasting” actually comes from the idea of being secure or firm. Sometimes we say things like “the ship held fast during the storm” or “the soldiers stood fast during the attack” to suggest a similar idea. And so “fasting” evokes the idea that when we choose to abstain from something that normally would sustain us (food, water, Netflix…) for a period of time, it will demonstrate and develop a certain “firmness” in our lives.<br> This week marks the first Sunday of Lent, which is the Church season leading up to Good Friday and Easter. During Lent, many followers of Jesus choose to fast in various ways. In the coming weeks, we will explore the Bible’s perspective on fasting, which is surprisingly powerful and diverse. The Apostle Paul reminds us that for followers of Jesus, fasting is optional… but it is also available (Col. 2:16). This week, we will catch our first glimpse of what, exactly, fasting makes available as we read Leviticus 16 together.<br> <br> DOWNLOADS<br> SEE IT // BE IT<br> (WEEKLY COMMUNITY GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE)<br> Title: Fast 1: Atonement // Scripture: Leviticus 16:1-34, 23:26-32 Hebrews 9:11-28<br> ARRIVAL / SOCIAL TIME 15-20 minutes Spend the first 15 minutes or so of your time together catching up and socializing with one another. Also find time to catch up together on how the assignments from last week turned out.<br> SERMON REVIEW 5-10 minutes<br> We began this year as a church concentrating on prayer, and for the last several weeks we have been focusing on how to Pray Like Jesus. This week we started a new series by doubling down on our commitment to prayer by beginning a new series on fasting. Fasting is about learning to abstain for a period of time from what usually sustains us. While fasting is only commanded once in the Bible, this week Jon showed us the way the practice of fasting opens up to us a different way of life. Fasting helps us reset, respond, and produce profound results in our lives and in our world as we take note of our grievous condition and God’s miraculous atonement. This year as we walk through Lent (a historical season of fasting between Ash Wednesday and Easter), we wanted to practice this spiritual discipline together for our lives, our community, and our world.<br> THE MAIN THOUGHTkeep this in mind as you facilitate discussion.<br> Fasting does not produce forgiveness, rather fasting is the response to forgiveness.<br> SEE IT – Questions 10-15 minutes<br> Picture (What is the story saying?): What is fasting? Why do we fast? (reset, response, result) What does fasting look like? What creative kinds of fasts have you heard of? What kinds of fasts have you participated in the past? How does fasting connect our body to our mind and spirit? What results have you seen or heard about from fasting? Where in Scripture do you see people fasting? What were the results of this fasting?<br> Mirror (Where am I in the story?): What places in your life need to be reset? What places in our culture need to be reset? What places in our community need to be reset? How do these grievous moments encourage us into a response of fasting? Where do these places need atonement (AT-ONE-MENT) from God? What might coming to AT-ONE-MENT with God in these places look like?<br> Window (How does the story change how I see those around me?): How does fasting keep us tender to our own needs, our community’s needs, and the needs of our world? How might living with this tenderness affect your life?
