Advent 02: Cultivating a Sensitivity to God

When Tim reviewed the story of artist Phil Hansen, he said that a doctor advised Hansen to “embrace the shame… so he did.” Hansen’s story, when quickly summarized, boils down to a single sentence what was no doubt a drawn out time of harrowing struggle and evolution for Hansen, both professionally and personally. Yet, this is often how our own life’s stories are for others on the outside, and sometimes even for ourselves in retrospect. What we experience as a milestone period of extended struggle, crisis, or catastrophe can be told later in a simple few sentences in which it’s difficult to convey the profound and transformative nature of the time. What experiences in my your life have become, with time, short easily summarized stories? Are you facing circumstances now that you hope will someday also be able to be seen as shorter, more easily summarized journeys? And how do you feel contemplating the possibility? What might you hope that story could sound like someday?

In Tim’s sermon today, he said that “only those who’ve cultivated a sensitivity to God will encounter God’s presence in ordinary everyday things.” In contrast, many will need some sort of catastrophe or exile experience to get them to surrender their old dying world and ready to embrace what’s next. Do you tend to lean more toward sensitivity to God in everyday things or do you think you’re more likely to need a catastrophe to help you soften toward reshaping? Are there examples from your past that inform your thoughts on your tendencies? Are there different contexts in which you feel like your readiness for reformation may be more or less easy to access?

After saying, “some of what we think we are won’t survive [the process of reshaping prompted by catastrophe], but that’s okay, because it’s killing us,” Tim posed a question to us all: what are you hanging onto that you need to let go of? What crutch, pacifier, or way of being in the world might need to be released in order to allow you to embrace the experience of God that comes on the other side? After sharing your response to this question, reflect on practices you might undertake to help with the process of release and share with the group.