The Compass

A Daily Personal Reflection & Small Group Discussion Guide

by John Hay, Jr.
Senior Pastor, West Morris Street Free Methodist Church

Series: Advent 2005 - "The Acceptable Time"
Week's focus: "A Time for Joy"
Scriptures: Luke 2:7-20
Week of: December 18, 2005

TRACKING THE WORD IN WORSHIP
Advent principles from the Word for daily living

These are notes from Exploring the Word in Morning Worship; message points are CAPITALIZED.

Five quick facts about joy:

1. The Good News is of a GREAT joy. Luke 2:10

2. You can't MANUFACTURE joy.

3. Joy can be experienced in the midst of DIFFICULTIES. 2 Corinthians 8:2; Hebrews 12:2

4. You can let others STEAL your joy. Galatians 4:15

5. Joy is an abiding FRUIT of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22

The shepherds' steps into joy:

1. Amid the ROUTINE and NOISE of life, watch and listen for the Good News. Luke 2:8-10

2. Open your heart to the UNEXPECTED, set aside your PREOCCUPATIONS, and "make haste" to check out what is REVEALED. Luke 2:11-16

3. Let your heart RESPOND in praise to God, then spread the LOVE around. Luke 2:17-20

READ, REFLECT, RESPOND
Explore the Word in personal devotions or in a small group

1. Try to describe "joy." What is it like? To what can you compare it? What are some images or experiences of joy that remain with you long after the experience? What are some moments or memories that bring you joy?

2. Thinking about your experiences of joy, did it/does it come as a gift or something you earn or work for? What do you think are the conditions that make joy more likely than not? If you were to tell someone how to prepare to receive joy, or become a joyful person, what would you tell them? What things might they do, or NOT do, in order to prepare their heart/life for joy?

3. Read John 16:17-33. What will the disciples do while the world rejoices (v. 20)? But what will happen to them after this? What turns a woman's anguish to joy? What are some of things that make bring disciples of Jesus joy amid their difficult circumstances? What will we have in the world (v. 33)? What helps us in the midst of this (v. 33)?

4. Read Luke 2:7-20. What routine things were the shepherds doing when God revealed Good News to them? Do you believe God can/does reveal His love and grace in the middle of our ordinary lives and daily responsibilities? How do you think God does this today? Offer some examples. Give thanks to God for continuing to "break in" to your life and our world with life-changing, path-guiding grace.

MARKINGS LEFT BY PREVIOUS TRAVELERS
Selected quotes on anticipation & joy at the Incarnation

SECULAR AND SACRED. "As Advent adventurers, we see both the secular spectacle and the scriptural simplicity of this holy season… Though the secular separates itself from the sacred, the sacred encompasses the secular. Teillard de Chardin affirms that 'nothing here below is profane for those who know how to see. On the contrary, everything is sacred.'" Marilyn Brown Oden in Manger and Mystery

A WINDOW IN THE EGO. "He set a window in the tiny dark dungeon of the ego in which we all languish, letting in a light, providing a vista, and offering a way of release from the servitude of the flesh and the fury of the will into what St. Paul called the glorious liberty of the children of God."-Malcolm Muggeridge in Jesus: The Man Who Lives

MAKING VISIBLE GOD'S HIDDEN LOVE. Salvation "is a gift-a gift of grace. But it is a gift like the priming of a pump. You pour water in so that this poured-in water may be the means of discovering water and producing water from within. Jesus said 'the water I give will become a well springing up.' The gift creates initiative, spontaneity. He gives you Life, and the Gift creates the thirst for Life and more Life. So you, from then on, find Life by drawing upon it and living it out…as we live it out all our question marks become exclamation points." -- E. Stanley Jones in The Word Became Flesh

RESPONSES & OPPORTUNITIES TO ENGAGE
Want to explore The Compass with others? Have questions?

If you'd like to connect with others who are working weekly with The Compass, e-mail me or call the church office (317.632.8311)

If you have questions about Scriptures or some of the questions, or just want to share what your are discovering through The Compass, you are welcome to e-mail me.

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