Thoughts on being in a small group...

In my life's-walk in both the community of recovery and in Christian faith communities, I've found a couple core truths, which I throw out for what value you may find:

+ Wherever two or more gather, God is also present (Matthew 18:20). Small groups are where I first learned how to read the Bible; how to pray; how to meditate. Small groups were where I could ask the seemingly-heretical questions that I would never dare to ask in public. I hope you find this community - both in our gatherings, and in this place on-line - to be a safe place to "take a chance on God."

+ My first ministry professor used to say, "Do yourself a favor - stop trying to save God from God's kids!" What that meant to me was that God did not need me to save God from anyone's ideas, anger, fears, or doubts (nor did God need anyone else to save God from my own rantings). In fact, I'm incredibly grateful to loving, sensitive pastors who encountered me in my anger or doubt, and pointed me to the psalms of lament. Those Scripture passages showed me how Biblical authors managed to question and shout and yell and get mad at God, and yet didn't get struck down for it. (Don't believe me? Check out this classic passage, and this one, as well.)

And lastly, two that really need no explanation:
+ There is nothing that looks, sounds, smells, or tastes so bad that we can't talk about it in love; and
+ Pain and struggle shared is almost always pain and struggle halved.

I'm grateful for these experiences - and I hope you find them as we go through this study together!