Because this is the last meeting of the Fall Quarter, the Life Group Study Questions are shorter than normal. As usual, your final meeting will include looking back on how God has worked this past quarter and taking Communion as a group. If you haven’t already, you will also take some time to fill out an online Feedback Form about your group experience and your plans for the Winter Quarter. If you have not yet filled out the Feedback Form, look for the November 27 reminder email. 

The Winter Life Group Quarter will begin the week of January 15, 2023. Have a great time off celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior! Merry Christmas!

NOTE ABOUT THIS WEEK’S STUDY: This week’s Study Questions celebrate how God has worked this past quarter. Most of your time should be spent in the My Story and Remembering sections. Listen to the Leader Podcast for more details.

As we prepare for Christmas, here are a few fun questions to help get you in the holiday spirit!

Have fun with these questions and have everyone respond.

1. The Christmas season brings several fun and varied traditions and preferences. Circle which one you choose and be ready to give a reason why.

This or That? 

• Tree up before Thanksgiving or after Thanksgiving?
• Hot cocoa or hot apple cider?
• Rudolph or Frosty?
• Finish shopping early or finish shopping last minute?
• Ice skating or snowball fights?
• Secret Santa or White Elephant Exchange?
• Shop in-store or shop online?

2. What would your elf name be?

3. As the Christmas season approaches, what are one or two holiday traditions you enjoy the most?

This is a good question to have everyone answer. A good question to add is what are they looking forward to this Christmas season? If you are going to skip the Digging Deeper section, you can transition directly into Remembrance / Communion section. 

This weekend we launched our new series, Unmerited. As you read the following verses, how do they further describe the depth of what Jesus has done for us?

This is a good question to use as a follow-up to TJ’s emphasis on grasping and remembering what Jesus has done. If you have time, this question will work well in conjunction with asking the questions in the next section and can further help set up your Communion time.   

John 15:13-16 New International Version (NIV)
¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.

Romans 5:6-11 New International Version (NIV)
⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 7:24-8:2 New International Version (NIV)
²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. 8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.

Looking back at what you wrote above, what is the best reminder for you during this Christmas of the unmerited love God has offered us by sending His son Jesus?

As followers of Jesus, we have much to be thankful for because of God’s unmerited favor and love. As you look back on this quarter (and year), what is something in your own life and your Life Group experience you are thankful for? (It can be a specific way God encouraged you, something new you learned, time spent together in your group, how your group has helped you to continue living your life for Jesus, a service project, spiritual breakthrough, growth, challenge, etc.)

What are you most thankful for about who God is and what He has done for you in 2022?

The Digging Deeper question can help set up responses to this question. You could also answer this question after you set up your Communion time.  (See below #2)  

COMMUNION 

IDEAS: You may want to involve others by asking them to read Scriptures. The bread and juice can also be set on a table in the middle of the room, and people can take Communion after you read the Scripture and pray, or while the group sings or listens to a worship song. Note the Advent candle option referred to below. 

1. PURPOSE: Introduce Communion by sharing that it’s about being intentional in remembering the great love God has for us by sending His son Jesus to die that we might have life. 

2. READ: Luke 2:1-7, Luke 22:19-20 and John 15:12-17. You can have others read it or you as a leader. You could insert the sub-question above here and have people reflect on what they are thankful for about God in regard to what Jesus has done for them.
   
   * Video Option – If you would like, you can use this video to lead your group in Communion. But please feel to lead it yourself if you desire to. com/communion

Option: Advent Candle lighting: Option: Advent Candle lighting: Have six to twelve candles on the table in the middle of the group. Have the middle candle lit as the Christ Candle. Before someone shares, they take a candle and light it with the Christ Candle and then share what they are thankful for from this last quarter and/or what Jesus has done for them. Once all candles are lit, they represent the light of Christ we have in us and the impact it has on the world we live. You can also add these Christmas Carols and Scripture reading after your group shares and then transition into Communion: Advent

3. DISTRIBUTE: As a leader/host team, you may want to serve each person as a symbol of Christ’s love and service to us. Pass the bread, thank the Lord for it and eat together. Pass the cup, thank the Lord for it and drink together.

Music / Worship Option – Use video –  the same link referred to above to lead your group in Communion. You can play it while you pass out the Communion supplies or while you take Communion for a time of reflection or play another worship song or video of your choosing.

4. PRAY: Move into prayer time, thanking Jesus for His commitment to love us and how He is working in our lives. Close your time in prayers of praise.

As followers of Jesus, we are able to celebrate the Christmas season because of the amazing gift God has given us – the gift of His son Jesus, born that we might have life through His death and resurrection! Communion is about remembering just that. Our time together this week will conclude by taking Communion and remembering this great gift God has given us through His son Jesus.

To prepare for Communion, read Luke 2:1-7, Luke 22:19-20 & John 15:12-17. What catches your attention in these verses as helpful to remember as you take Communion in your group?

Luke 2:1-7 New International Version (NIV)
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register. ⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. 

Luke 22:19-20 New International Version (NIV)
¹⁹ And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰ In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

John 15:12-17 New International Version (NIV)
¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.