October 9 | Everyday Spirituality Part 8: Shopping
Discussion Guide
💡 For the Leaders
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I hope that over time this allows us to learn and develop better guides and groups—ultimately for our discipleship and transformation in Jesus.
Thanks! -David
About the Series
Most of us have a spirituality of the gaps. “Life with God” is what we do on Sunday mornings and perhaps before dinner or early in the morning before the kids walk up. But what about breakfast itself? What does it mean to live with God in the stuff of everyday life? That’s what this series is about.
Sermon Summary (5 min)
Shopping in 2022 is complex and broken, but it’s also necessary and part of our everyday lives. What does it have to do with our life with God?
Key Verse: Matthew 6:21 - “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Shopping reveals the heart
Shopping shapes the heart
In Matthew 6:19-34, Jesus invites his disciples to make a decision: trust in God (treasure in heaven, a body full of light) or trust in Wealth (treasure on earth, a body like a “musty cellar”). If we decide for God, Jesus says that we don’t need to worry because Gods is up close caring for creation and for us.
How can we live this decision and this trust in God as it relates to shopping?
Explore Fasting & Simplicity
Invest “Treasure in Heaven” (Giving)
Prayerful Shopping*
*Prayerful Shopping: Slowing down, enough to allow the Spirit to use shopping to show us our own hearts and how they’ve been shaped.
Good News: We can allow our shopping to reveal and open up our hearts to God, and we can ultimately live freed from possessions, because the one who alone has the power to free us has come, is trustworthy, and will come again.
Ice Breaker Question (15 min)
In your (recent or distant) past, can you remember a time when you “just had to have” something. Go around in a circle and share the stories that come to mind. They can be silly, funny, serious, complicated. Whatever you’d like to share.
Discussion & Exercise (20 min)
Goal: Invite 2-3 people in your group (who are willing) to explore the deeper, heart-level desires and longings behind the experience you just shared of “having to have” something.
Note: Depending on the person and story, this could be a fun exercise. But it’s also possible that it could be vulnerable or difficult. Be sensitive to how the person sharing is feeling. In order to create a safe space for sharing, it is important that every person in the group is committed to a “listen-first,” supportive attitude.
For the Leader: Facilitate a discussion with each person that chooses to share, asking follow up questions. Most follow up questions will be a version of “Why?”
It’s also important that the person sharing/exploring is the one deciding the core, heart-level motivations for themselves. Group members should be encouraged to ask questions and participate, but not to “label” the core desires for the person unless requested.
Reflect: After 2-3 people have done this exercise with the group, take some time to reflect. What did you think of this exercise? Did you discover anything about yourself? Share any thoughts.
Practice for the Week: Encourage everyone in the group to set aside some extra time this week to slow down and “go shopping with God” at least once.
Could be in-person or online. A few people might even go shopping together.
Use some of the same discovery process we just tried to prayerfully open up your heart to God through this practice.
After you go, message the rest of the group about your experience.
Further Discussion, If You Have Extra Time
Which of the practices (Fasting, Simplicity, Giving) stuck out to you from the sermon? Why do you think that is?
Close in Prayer (10 min)
Leader: Before you close in prayer, remind the group of the Good News: We can allow our shopping to reveal and open up our hearts to God, and we can ultimately live freed from possessions, because the One who alone has the power to free us has come, is trustworthy, and will come again.
Take some time to share prayer requests. Pray for one another to close the time.
