Luke 24:50-53 // Acts 1-2:4
Our prayer for you this week: May the God of creation and companionship bring to you a community of loving people.
WEEK 1
CONGRATULATIONS! You are beginning your journey as a family. We encourage people, who are in this phase of the lessons, to do this with a group of 3-4. If you have more, great! But if you are all new to each other, feel free to take a smaller group to build your relationships.
In the following, we're going to ask that you take, at the least, 5, and at the most, 30 minutes, to pray for and with each other the following statements. Choose one person to read the statements out loud.
For the reader, please pause for at least a minute and a half to let yourself and everyone else absorb the statement and process its content, letting your mind meditate on these things.
Note: You can either meet up somewhere, conference call each other, or pray apart but at a designated time. Discuss with your group the most appropriate method. Feel free to be creative.
DAY 1
Read: Luke 24:50-53
Take at least 5 minutes alone and meditate with some time on the following statements. If it helps, have a timer next to you to give yourself space in between each statement.
I am grateful to God for the big and small things in my life.
I am grateful for His activity in my simple and complex encounters with people and my environments.
If there are any activities that I need to add, omit, or improve on, I ask that God show me what they are.
I ask God for forgiveness if I have been neglecting the call toward these things.
I thank God for calling me in this way.
I recognize God's call and answer it. What is my answer?
DAY 2
Read: Luke 24:50-53
Take at least 5 minutes alone and meditate with some time on the following statements. If it helps, have a timer next to you to give yourself space in between each statement.
I am grateful to God for the big and small things in my life.
I am grateful for His activity in my simple and complex encounters with people and my environments.
I ask God to show me what healthy relationships look like.
I ask God for forgiveness if I have fostered any kind of unhealthy practices in my relationships.
I thank God for giving me these moments and ask him to show me where I can move forward from the unhealthy.
I recognize God's movements with me in these things.
DAY 3
Read: Acts 1:2-14
Take at least 5 minutes alone and meditate with some time on the following statements. If it helps, have a timer next to you to give yourself space in between each statement.
I am grateful to God for the big and small things in my life.
I am grateful for His activity in my simple and complex encounters with people and my environments.
I ask God to show me what grace looks like.
I ask God for forgiveness if I haven't shown grace where grace was necessary.
I thank God for giving me opportunities to show grace and recognize his grace for me.
I recognize God's grace and envision how I can take the next day to practice that grace.
DAY 4
Read: Acts 1:2-14
Take at least 5 minutes alone and meditate with some time on the following statements. If it helps, have a timer next to you to give yourself space in between each statement.
I am grateful to God for the big and small things in my life.
I am grateful for His activity in my simple and complex encounters with people and my environments.
I ask God to show me the spirit in my relationships.
I ask God for forgiveness if I haven't either seen the spirit or have been intentionally treating my relationships as spaces of spiritual growth.
I thank God for giving me the chance to grow with these people and ask for the spirit's movement to be more present in my movements.
I take time to think about how I can enact these movements of the spirit tomorrow.
DAY 5
Read: Acts 1:22-26
Take at least 5 minutes alone and meditate with some time on the following statements. If it helps, have a timer next to you to give yourself space in between each statement.
I am grateful to God for the big and small things in my life.
I am grateful for His activity in my simple and complex encounters with people and my environments.
I ask God to give me a good space. One that is healthy. One that builds me up. And I imagine that kind of healthy space. Whether it is time, people, a place, a vacation, an activity, or a community. Whatever that is, I take time to vision this.
I thank God for this vision and look toward making this vision a reality. What are some things that I can do big or small to make this vision come to life?
DAY 6
Read: Acts 1:22-26
Take at least 5 minutes alone and meditate with some time on the following statements. If it helps, have a timer next to you to give yourself space in between each statement.
I am grateful to God for the big and small things in my life.
I am grateful for His activity in my simple and complex encounters with people and my environments.
I ask God to bless the process that I went through this week. I ask for rest. And I take the next few moments breathing in that rest.
I thank God for this breath and the rest that I am feeling today.
DAY 7
Read: Acts 2:1-4
Take at least 5 minutes alone and meditate with some time on the following statements. What words or phrases have stood out for you. Think on them and repeat them in your mind or out loud. Take time to process what they mean to you and why they stand out.
I am grateful to God for the big and small things in my life.
I am grateful for His activity in my simple and complex encounters with people and my environments.
I ask God to bless the people around me and to show how I can be a blessing to them.
How can I be more present for those around me? What are things that I can do to show that I care for these people?
I thank God for showing me what that care looks like and make moves toward practicing that care.
Congratulations! You're done with Week 1. Please share your experience with a comment here or on our facebook page www.facebook.com/advent.lb