Sunday, March 20
THE PRACTICE OF LEARNING by Seth Botts
Reflection
When I attended my first Explore Group in the Summer of 2021, I had been attending the church for several months and was existing as simply a consumer of christianity, I was far from an empowered Christian leader. I would attend Sunday sermons, arriving once worship had started and leaving immediately after the closing prayer. Through this intimate group of people, which would eventually become my Core Group, I began being challenged to look at passages in the Bible that made me uncomfortable, discuss what Jesus meant to me, and view Christian principles through other perspectives. Through the vulnerability required to learn in a small group, I have been transformed from being a consumer of Christinaity, into an empowered leader in the church.
The immense personal growth that comes from gathering together with a small group of people, studying and dissecting the text through diverse experiences and asking difficult and challenging questions was something that both John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and Jesus Christ himself found immensely valuable. Although Jesus had a vast following of individuals the bible labels as disciples, he chose an intimate group of 12 to become the apostles, to learn and grow together (Luke 6:13). These apostles were not intellectual powerhouses or strong and charismatic leaders, they are actually notorious for asking silly questions, making attempts to gain personal power and were plagued with doubt. All of these things are key in the vulnerability that is needed to learn in small groups.
Prayer
Dear God, please help me with the willingness to be vulnerable enough to grow, trusting that my fellow Christians will accept and love the parts of me that I am not yet able to love myself.
A practice to try this week:
What areas of my life can benefit from the vulnerability required to learn in a small group? Am I operating as a Christian consumer or am I on a path to becoming an empowered leader in the church?
When I attended my first Explore Group in the Summer of 2021, I had been attending the church for several months and was existing as simply a consumer of christianity, I was far from an empowered Christian leader. I would attend Sunday sermons, arriving once worship had started and leaving immediately after the closing prayer. Through this intimate group of people, which would eventually become my Core Group, I began being challenged to look at passages in the Bible that made me uncomfortable, discuss what Jesus meant to me, and view Christian principles through other perspectives. Through the vulnerability required to learn in a small group, I have been transformed from being a consumer of Christinaity, into an empowered leader in the church.
The immense personal growth that comes from gathering together with a small group of people, studying and dissecting the text through diverse experiences and asking difficult and challenging questions was something that both John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, and Jesus Christ himself found immensely valuable. Although Jesus had a vast following of individuals the bible labels as disciples, he chose an intimate group of 12 to become the apostles, to learn and grow together (Luke 6:13). These apostles were not intellectual powerhouses or strong and charismatic leaders, they are actually notorious for asking silly questions, making attempts to gain personal power and were plagued with doubt. All of these things are key in the vulnerability that is needed to learn in small groups.
Prayer
Dear God, please help me with the willingness to be vulnerable enough to grow, trusting that my fellow Christians will accept and love the parts of me that I am not yet able to love myself.
A practice to try this week:
What areas of my life can benefit from the vulnerability required to learn in a small group? Am I operating as a Christian consumer or am I on a path to becoming an empowered leader in the church?
Posted in Lent Devotional 2022
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Archive
2026
January
CoreGroup Guide | Shift Happens Part 1Three Reasons to Worship This Weekend // M-Note 1.10.2026A Mix of Celebrations and Bittersweet News // M-Note 1.17.2026CoreGroup Guide | Shift Happens Part 2CoreGroup Guide | Shift Happens Part 3Spread the Word: Online Only Worship on January 25 // M-Note 1.24.2026A Hard Lesson to Learn...Life's Not Always Fair // M-Note 1.31.2026
February
CoreGroup Guide | Shift Happens Part 4CoreGroup Guide | Power of Serving Part 1CoreGroup Guide | Power of Serving Part 2Ash Wednesday - The Party's Over | Lent Devotional Day 1Led Into the Wildnerness | Lent Devotional Day 2Take a Step Back to Grow Closer to God // M-Note 2.21.2026Celebrating Lent - An Oxymoron? | Lent Devotional Day 3CoreGroup Guide | Power of Serving Part 3Let's Journey With Openness | Lent Devotional Day 4What we Mean by "Penal Substitution" | Lent Devotional Day 5The Cross - Sin and Nearness | Lent Devotional 2026 Day 6The God Who Doesn't Look Away | Lent Devotional 2026 Day 7Worthy of Belonging | Lent Devotional Day 8Confession Without Self-Hatred | Lent Devotional Day 9The Repairer | Lent Devotional Day 10The Lamb of God | Lent Devotional Day 11Why Did Jesus Have to Die? // M-Note 2.28.2026
March
Turning the Lights On | Lent Devotional Day 12CoreGroup Guide | Why Did Jesus Have to Die? - Part 1Love That Leads to Change | Lent Devotional Day 13Like Ads for Love | Lent Devotional Day 14Who are You…Really? | Lent Devotional Day 15Nothing Between Us | Lent Devotional Day 16Let It Rip | Lent Devotional Day 17Christ + Nothing | Lent Devotional Day 18An Unjustifiable War // M-Note 3.7.2026CoreGroup Guide | Why Did Jesus Have to Die? - Part 2A Queer Atonement | Lent Devotional Day 19In Christ Was Life, the Light For All People | Lent Devotional Day 20Failure and the Invitation To New Imagination | Lent Devotional Day 21Jesus & Queerness: Entertaining Angels | Lent Devotional Day 22The Least of These | Lent Devotional Day 23The Good News For All Creation - and the Strange Wonder of God’s People | Lent Devotional Day 24Ready to Receive an Invitation // M-Note 3.14.2026Christ’s Death Frees Us So His Reconciling Life Can Flow Through Us | Lent Devotional Day 24 CopyFeminist Atonement Theory | Lent Devotional Day 26CoreGroup Guide | Why Did Jesus Have to Die? - Part 3Time to Tear Down | Lent Devotional Day 27God Doesn’t Glorify Violence, Man Does | Lent Devotional Day 28God Shares in Our Emotions, Death, and Resurrection | Lent Devotional Day 29A Meal that Matters | Lent Devotional Day 30The Cross is About Community | Lent Devotional Day 31Only Later Did It Begin to Make Sense | Lent Devotional Day 32CoreGroup Guide | Why Did Jesus Have to Die? - Part 4Jesus is Liberator of the Oppressed | Lent Devotional Day 33The Bigger Picture - Exodus, Jesus, and the God of the Oppressed | Lent Devotional Day 34Marginalized Prophetic Voices Emphasize God’s Character | Lent Devotional Day 35Freedom from Sin is both Personal AND Communal | Lent Devotional Day 36Christ’s Victory Empowers His People to Serve | Lent Devotional Day 37Jesus and Community | Lent Devotional Day 38CoreGroup Guide | Why Did Jesus Have to Die? - Part 5Serving (at Easter) is Powerful // M-Note 3.28.2026Working Out My Own Salvation | Lent Devotional Day 39Christ’s Triumphal Entry in Jerusalem | Lent Devotional Day 40Do I Trust that Christ’s Sacrifice is Enough? | Lent Devotional Day 41I Will Sing to the Lord | Lent Devotional Day 42
April
Embracing the Gift of Presence During Holy Week | Lent Devotional Day 43The Wonder of Dust and Dirty Feet | Lent Devotional Day 448 Reasons to Join Us for Easter // M-Note 4.3.2026Good Friday | Lent Devotional Day 45The Day Between | Lent Devotional Day 46CoreGroup Guide | Easter 2026Experience the Surprise of Easter | Lent Devotional Day 47CoreGroup Guide | Christians In Name Only - Part 1Christian in Name Only // M-Note 4.11.2026
2025
January
Happy New Year // M-Note 1.4.2025Cancel the Noise // M-Note 1.11.25Cancel the Noise Discussion Guide - Part 1The Beloved Community // M-Note 01.18.2025Cancel the Noise Discussion Guide - Part 2What A Coincidence // M-Note 1.25.25Cancel the Noise Discussion Guide - Part 3Cancel the Noise Discussion Guide - Part 4The Original Influencer // M-Note 2.1.25
February
The Beloved Community Discussion Guide - Part 1Exploring New Sites…And You’re Invited // M-Note 2.8.25The Beloved Community Discussion Guide - Part 2Uncovering Implicit Bias // M-Note 2.15.2025A "Flurry" of Activity // M-Note 2.22.25The Beloved Community Discussion Guide - Part 3The Beloved Community Discussion Guide - Part 4
March
Beloved Community Action Steps // M-Note 3.1.25Vulnerability & Wilderness | 2025 Lenten Devotional | Day 1Trusting the Spirit's Lead | 2025 Lenten Devotional | Day 2Courageous Connection | 2025 Lenten Devotional | Day 3What's Your Emotional IQ? // M-Note 3.8.25The Spaces Between Us | 2025 Lenten Devotional | Day 4Emotional Rollercoaster Discussion Guide - Part 1Jesus Weeps With You | 2025 Lenten Devotional | Day 5When Sadness Lingers | 2025 Lenten Devotional | Day 6Lurking in the Shadows | 2025 Lenten Devotional | Day 7Cycles of Life and Death | 2025 Lenten Devotional | Day 8Inked in Memory | 2025 Lenten Devotional | Day 9
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