Playful Curiosity

1) Sharing: Joy (What’s going well this month?), Junk (What isn’t going so well this month?), Jesus (How have you seen Jesus acting through others this month?)

–Finish this statement: ‘I am playful when…’ –What is your favorite childhood memory?

2) Focus: “I beg you… to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” -Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Discussion: -What does it mean to ‘live the questions’ in your life? -When might it be helpful to not know the answers to what is happening?

“Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.” -Stephen Hawking

Discussion: -Is it easier to focus on the big picture or the details that make up the big picture? Why?

-What are your favorite ‘Why?’ questions?
-What are you curious about or want to know more about in your faith? In your life?

Discussion: It’s okay to have faith questions!!
-How can we learn to live with the questions we have?

3) Scripture: 1 Peter 1:10-12 (MSG)

The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing. The Messiah’s Spirit let them in on some of it– that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when. All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves– through the Holy Spirit– the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!

Discussion: -Why were the prophets only told part of what was happening?
-Think about a time you were only told part of a story or part of what was happening. What was difficult about that? What was easy about it?
-How can curiosity strengthen your faith?
-When can curiosity sometimes stand in the way of your faith or life?

4) Sending: What will you do this next month to live out playful curiosity as a faithful follower of God?

5) Closing Prayer: Close your small group time in prayer by coming up with a prayer as a group, or read the following together:

Dear God, help us to look at each new day with playful curiosity. Empower us to become like children, unafraid to ask questions and see stories from a different point of view. Help us to create a space where our faith can grow and be made new each time we gather together. Amen.