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- Herausgeber: IVP Formatio
- Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
- Serie: Sensible Shoes Series
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017
Have you enjoyed the journey with Meg, Mara, Charissa, and Hannah? This companion guide will take you deeper into their world and give you an opportunity to try out the spiritual practices that you've seen them engage at New Hope Retreat Center. Sensible Shoes Study Guide includes twelve weeks of daily Scripture reading, prayer, and reflection questions (five days a week) that correspond to the disciplines the women practice in the book. A group discussion guide concludes each week. Engaging the lives of these characters in their spiritual journeys will offer both a window and a mirror into your own life and relationship with Christ.
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Sensible Shoes
Contents
Introduction
The most common thing I hear from readers of Sensible Shoes is “I saw bits of myself in each character but especially in [fill in the blank].” I’m also frequently asked, “What next steps can I take in my journey with God? I want to take a sacred journey like the characters!”
This study guide is designed with these reader responses in mind. You are invited to travel in a directed way for three months, just like the characters do at the New Hope Center. This guide provides twelve weeks of daily Scripture reading, prayer, and reflection questions (five days a week). Given that it’s often easier to see truth in others’ lives before we see it in ourselves, you’ll have questions to answer about how the characters are responding to (or resisting) the presence and love of God. Then you’ll be invited to consider your own life with God. I hope the characters will become windows and mirrors into seeing yourself more clearly. I also hope you’ll take seriously the invitation to travel with others. We aren’t meant to walk alone. With that in mind, there are group discussion questions offered at the end of each week.
You can decide whether to read Sensible Shoes first in its entirety and then return to do a slow study with the guide, or to read it a section at a time, matching your pace to the daily questions. Commit to keeping a travelogue of your journey. Even if you aren’t in the habit of using a journal, you’ll benefit from keeping a record of what you’re noticing as you move forward. Not every question will resonate with you. That’s okay. You don’t need to answer every question every day. But do watch for any impulse to avoid a question because it agitates you or makes you feel uncomfortable. That’s probably the very question you need to spend some time pondering! If you don’t have time to answer the questions you want to reflect on, simply mark them and return later.
Some questions and themes are repeated as you journey with the guide, and you may be tempted to say, “I already answered that.” Listen with fresh ears. Is anything new emerging? Shifting? Coming into sharper focus? Use the questions as launching points for your journaling. If something in the chapter speaks to you and isn’t addressed in a question, spend some time journaling and praying about it. One of the primary themes of the book is learning to pay attention to the things that stir us, both the positive and the negative. As the retreat leader, Katherine, says, “Stay with what stirs you.”
One more suggestion: as you prepare each day, offer a prayer to bring yourself intentionally into the presence of God. Then read (or review) the pages marked from Sensible Shoes. Before pondering the questions, read the daily Scripture text (marked in bold in the exercises) so that your reflection is framed by the Word.
We each have stories that have shaped us. Some of them are painful to remember. But I believe with all my heart that God invites us to remember the stories and to see them as part of the larger picture of what he’s weaving for us. Somehow—though we don’t often see the “why” of it—the darker threads are part of the beauty.
The psalmist says, “Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story” (Psalm 107:2).
May you have the courage to tell yours.
Sharon Garlough Brown
May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.
Reading for Week One: Chapter One
Week One: Day One
CHAPTER ONE: INVITATION TO A JOURNEY MEG (PP. 9-12, 36-39)
What details from Meg’s story catch your attention? Do you sense any connection between her story and yours? If so, what are the common threads? The differences?
When the grown-up Meg crosses the threshold into her childhood house, everything has changed. Describe her sense of grief and loss. Have you ever found yourself crossing a “threshold” and asking a Now what? question? Spend some time remembering and recording the details in your journal.
Read Psalm 107:1-9. What are some of the “desert wastelands” you can already identify in Meg’s life, just from these opening scenes? What is she hungry and thirsty for?
Identify some of the desert wastelands where you have wandered. What are you hungry and thirsty for?
Prayer: Lord, I give you thanks for your unfailing love to me, even when I haven’t been aware of it. Help me to cry out to you in my trouble and to trust you to lead me to a place of rest. Let me be satisfied with your love and presence. In Jesus’ name.
Week One: Day Two
CHAPTER ONE: INVITATION TO A JOURNEY HANNAH (PP. 12-17, 24-28)
What details from Hannah’s story catch your attention? Do you sense any connection between her story and yours? If so, what are the common threads? The differences?
Did you have a special confidant or safe haven as a child? What about as an adult? Where do you go with your secrets and heartaches?
Consider the rhythm and pace of your own life, your rhythm of work and rest. Have any of Pastor Steve’s or Nancy’s observations about Hannah ever been true about you? How might God be looking to “prune” you right now?
Read Psalm 107:1-3, 10-16. What are some of the “iron chains” you can already identify in Hannah’s life, just from these opening scenes? Where is she captive and in darkness?
Using some words or images from Psalm 107, offer your heart to God.
Week One: Day Three
CHAPTER ONE: INVITATION TO A JOURNEYMARA (PP. 17-20, 31-36)
What details from Mara’s story catch your attention? Do you sense any connection between her story and yours? If so, what are the common threads? The differences?
Mara was never chosen by her peers. How is the theme of rejection echoed in her relationship with her husband and teenage sons? If you were Mara, how would you respond to Tom and the boys?
Read Psalm 107:1-9. What are some of the “desert wastelands” you can already identify in Mara’s life, just from these opening scenes? What is she hungry and thirsty for?
Mara has a deep negative reaction to the description of the sacred journey. She hates the word discipline because she already feels guilty. What’s your reaction when you hear the phrase spiritual disciplines? Does Dawn’s example of the sun rising (p. 34) help you understand the process of transformation? Why or why not?
Using some words or images from Psalm 107, offer your longings to God.
Week One: Day Four
CHAPTER ONE: INVITATION TO A JOURNEYCHARISSA (PP. 21-24, 28-31)
What details from Charissa’s story catch your attention? Do you sense any connection between her story and yours? If so, what are the common threads? The differences?
What things have shaped Charissa’s sense of self ? How have significant people in her life reinforced the message about what is important?
Read Psalm 107:1-3, 10-16. What are some of the “bars of iron” you can already identify in Charissa’s life, just from these opening scenes? Where is she captive and in darkness?
What are the things that have shaped your sense of self ? What messages have you received from others about what is important? In what ways have these events or messages become places of captivity for you?
Charissa’s professor has been encouraging his students to find ways to deepen their life with God. What helps you pay attention to the “path and contours of your own spiritual journey” (p. 22)? What gets in the way of paying attention?
Using some words or images from Psalm 107, offer your longings to God.
Week One: Day Five
CHAPTER ONE: INVITATION TO A JOURNEY SUMMARY
An invitation from New Hope:
Jesus says, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly” (Matthew 11:28-30, The Message). We invite you to come take a sacred journey.
The sacred journey is a pilgrimage for those who are thirsty for more of God. This journey is for all those who are dissatisfied with living on the surface and who want to travel deeper into God’s heart. We invite you to come and explore spiritual disciplines as we seek to create sacred space for God.
This week you’ve been introduced to four characters through flashbacks and current experiences. Is there a particular flashback that stirs an emotional response with you? Why? In what ways do you think these childhood events may have affected the adult characters?
Each of the women has received an invitation to the New Hope Retreat Center. Each is resisting the invitation for different reasons. What is behind the resistance for each one? How are they encouraged or discouraged from moving forward? Who or what encourages or discourages you from traveling deeper into the heart of God?
Spend some time thinking about words such as thirst, dissatisfaction, and agitation. How might God use these things to draw you to himself ?
Jesus has invited you on a sacred journey with him. Write an RSVP note, naming the reasons why you are excited or why you aren’t sure about accepting. Be honest about your hopes and fears. Offer your heart in prayer to God.
