RECAP: In our series We Are the Church we are looking again at what it means for us to be the church even amidst this pandemic. Covid has changed our lives and messed up a lot of things in our world. Many people are disappointed, discouraged, or even hopeless. This isn’t the first time we’ve faced difficult circumstances in our world though. We will get through this. Specifically we’ll get through this as we cling to the hope of Jesus and share that hope with the world. As the church, we are called to be people who demonstrate, live out, and proliferate hope to a broken and hurting world.

QUESTIONS:
1) What are some ways you’ve been disappointed this year? What are some things you had hope for that didn’t end up happening?
2) What are some ways you’ve seen in your own life or others that you’ve put your hope in something that didn’t pan out?
3) Even though they faced incredible disappointment after Jesus died, what was the great hope that the first followers of Jesus ended up finding?
4) What did Jesus tell those first followers to do with the hope they had found? Read Acts 1:1-8
5) What kind of hope do we have according to 1 Peter 1:3?
6) Despite all the troubles around us, Romans 5:1-5 reminds us about what is most important. What should we place our hope in?
7) What kind of adjectives does Romans 12:12 use to tell us how we are to live even amidst trouble?

PRAYER:
In spite of our circumstances, God we know you are good and steadfast. You have given us this great hope through Jesus. Help us to live out this hope in our own lives and share it will those around us.