| Homegroup Leaders' Notes for 11 February 2007 | |
Relationships |
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| Welcome | Share about a time when you spent a few days without seeing any of your family or close friends. Did you enjoy it and would you have liked it to be longer? |
| Worship | Light a candle, read Jeremiah 1:5 "I chose you before I gave you life, and before you were born I selected you to be .............." . Spend some time in silence and then ask people to say what they feel God has called them to be eg married, single, a carer, an organiser, to feel the pain of others, a painter and decorator etc for him. Praise God for what he has done in your life. |
| Word | 1. Seven million adults live alone in Britain today and by 2021 it is estimated that 35% of people will be solo dwellers. What do we feel are the advantages or disadvantages of living alone? 2. Do we think that in some ways society feels that not finding a life partner is a kind of failure? 3. What do we feel is the difference between aloneness and loneliness? 4. Do you feel that in some ways if we are not affirmed by others we may feel more of a failure before God? How can we affirm others, particularly those who are solo dwellers? 5. Read Matthew 19:10-12. The Pharisees felt that it was better never to marry than not to be able to divorce a wife if a marriage did not suit them. Should Christians today be more careful about who they marry and perhaps chose singleness if it means they can serve God more freely, (see also 1 Corinthians 7:6-8)? Is celibacy as much a gift from God as marriage? 6. How can we encourage a sense of community and include those who live
alone with those who are married? |
| Witness | Pray that God will open your eyes to the needs of others and that you will be able to affirm those who are feeling lonely. Ask God to help you appreciate the company of all people, hurting, happy humble, proud? |
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