Week 1: The Beatitudes
This week, Rebecca Moss led us in an exploration of Jesus’ upside-down vision of the kingdom through the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount. How might the “Beatitudes” invite us into a deeper understanding of true flourishing and challenge us to believe in goodness, even when it leaves us vulnerable?  

Kingdom Practice
This week, let’s continue meditating on the Beatitudes. You are invited to:

• Revisit the passage as a whole (found in Matthew 5)
• Sit with one particular Beatitude that God may have been drawing your attention to. You may wish you repeat this several times a day this week, asking the Holy Spirit to illuminate what it means for your life today.

Week 2: Salt and Light
Dostoyevsky once said that “beauty will save the world.” This week, Rick Callahan invited us to consider how Jesus’ call to be Salt and Light echoes the call for Christians to fill the world with Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. While many of us find it easy to focus on the first two, it’s not always clear where Beauty fits in. Rick helped us explore how doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God (Micah 6:8) can make the world a more beautiful place, helping us live into Jesus’ command to be Salt and Light in a world desperate for healing and transformation.

Kingdom Practice
This week, there are a couple of options for engagement. You may choose to:

• Return to the practice of examen that Erin led Sunday, exploring how you have personally responded to Jesus’ call to be Salt and Light this past week.
• Read through the Sermon on the Mount in its entirety. (There are three chapters in total which can be found in Matthew 5-7)
• Revisit and meditate on the Salt and Light passage (Matthew 5:13-16) What stands out to you?

Week 3: Greater Righteousness
This week, Jason walked us through Jesus’ teaching on the Law. He reminded us that the Torah is not a set of legal rules, rather it is a vision for how to live into an entirely new Kingdom. The grace of the gospel isn’t to set us free from obeying hard teachings, it is to give us a new heart so we might obey with our full selves. Jesus came to transform us from the inside out.

Kingdom Practice
There are a couple of options for kingdom practices this week:

• Continue to reflect on this teaching of Jesus. Is there a part of his kingdom vision that resonates with you, or are you feeling invited to do anything specific in response to his invitation to obedience? Is there anything in the teaching that was challenging for you that you might want to pray with Jesus about? You might also consider engaging the practice Jason led us through at the podcast link below.
• Consider listening to this collection of podcasts on the Beatitudes and specifically, Jesus’ teaching on righteousness. They are helpful resources for digging deeper into what Jesus was doing in these passages.

Week 4: Loving Our Enemies
This week we welcomed Justin Giboney of the AND Campaign who led us in a timely exploration of Jesus’ command to love our enemies. With so much political violence, hatred, and animosity filling today’s public square, Christians are called to take the difficult and radical approach of seeing our enemies as image-bearers of God worthy of our respect, rather than mere political opponents deserving of our contempt. How might we practice “A Love Supreme” (John Coltrane) that challenges us to recognize not only our shared brokenness, but also our shared desire for goodness – even while we disagree with one another on the best path to get there? And how might we clothe ourselves in a spirit of humility, joining with the voice of Martin Luther King Jr. who recognized that, in the end, “hate is too great a burden to bear”?

Kingdom Practice
This week you might choose to:

• Revisit and meditate on the Love Your Enemies passage (Matthew 5:43-48). Are you feeling invited to do anything specific in response to Jesus’ call to love? Is there anything in the teaching that was challenging for you that you might want to pray with Jesus about? 
• Consider the invitation Justin Giboney extended to our community Sunday and spend some time thinking about the political or social differences you have with those you consider to be on the “other side of the aisle.” Rather than a posture of criticism, can you name 5-10 things that the other side gets right or that you are thankful for? Additionally, you might practice honest self-examination of your own side, naming 5-10 things you think could be better.
• We have also created a guided practice, if you would like to reflect on these questions with a contemplative posture. (You can find the guide below.)

 

Week 5: Training in Love
This week, Jason explored Jesus’ teaching on three foundational areas of practice and how we might guard ourselves against doing the right things for the wrong reasons. In contrast to the faith of the hypocrites who leverage prayer, fasting, and almsgiving to serve their own aims, Jesus invites us into a radical, others-centered approach that trains us in the art of love. How might we examine our hearts and consider whether our acts of service are training us to love ourselves or love others?

Kingdom Practice
This week you may choose to:

• Consider how the Holy Spirit may have prompted you during this week’s teaching. Was there a particular practice you felt called to think about more deeply? Do you feel an invitation to approach this practice differently than you are currently approaching it? Is there anything about Jesus’ teaching that feels challenging? Or perhaps something that felt confirming?
• Consider the three practices Jesus mentions in his teaching –  prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Is there a particular practice you feel an invitation to lean into this week? Is there a practice you tend to feel more comfortable with or one you tend to avoid? Consider if Jesus may inviting you into a new way of thinking around this area of practice.

Week 6: Treasure and Worry
This week, Mike Erre invited us to consider how Jesus’ illuminates the difference between an abundance mindset and a scarcity mindset. Rather than living split between what we treasure and what we possess, Jesus’ invitation allows us to live with our whole hearts. Having faith in Christ will not make us immune to losing what we enjoy, but our faith in Christ should actively disciple us away from anything we make of ultimate importance above his kingdom life.

Kingdom Practices

This week you may choose to:

• Revisit Jesus’ teaching on treasure and worry in Matthew 6:25-34. What comes up for you as you read? What does it mean for you to actively seek the kingdom first? Is there anything you might identify that has become an ultimate treasure that may be splitting your affection or holding you back from whole-hearted service to Christ’s kingdom?
• Consider praying the prayer that we prayed together on Sunday. You might pray it several times this and just notice what comes up for you as you do. What might Jesus be inviting you into as you when it comes to what you treasure?
   

Week 7: Do Not Judge
Exercising judgment is a constant and necessary part of every day living. This week, Jason unpacked one of Jesus’ more famous teachings – do not judge. How might someone who lives in the kingdom of God examine another person’s behavior, attitude, or circumstance and how do we act as a result of that evaluation? The way we judge others gives us deep insight into the way we value others. Jesus isn’t telling us to refrain from having judgments, rather we are commanded to guard against judgments based on faulty criteria.

Kingdom Practices 
This week, you may choose to:

• Revisit Jason’s teaching on judgment in Matthew 7:1-6. What comes up for you as you read? Why did Jesus include this teaching with the others? What was going on in the culture at the time that made this teaching necessary? What are some similarities to our culture today? What are some unique differences?
• Engage the practice of self-reflection and confession Jason led on Sunday. Commit to practicing a few times this week, taking the questions deeper each time. The Holy Spirit often reveals our hearts when we carve out consistent space and time for the work to be completed. Keep a posture of humility before God, while holding tightly to God’s unflinching love for you.

Week 8: Ask, Seek, Knock
This week, Jason Hitchcock unpacked the imperatives of Jesus found in Matthew 7:7-12. When Jesus tells us to ask, seek, and knock, what is it we might expect in return? Jason invited us to consider that question by seeing these commands in light of the whole of Scripture. When we do, we begin to shift our focus away from transactional gifts and toward relational presence. What if God’s presence with us is the promised remedy for our heart’s desires?

Kingdom Practices
This week you may choose to:

• Consider whether anything stood out to you in the teaching on Matthew 7:7-12. Was anything particularly challenging? Or encouraging? Was there something you felt curious about or wanted to understand more deeply? Did you sense an invitation to chew on a particular truth or perspective? Stay with the teaching this week and continue to meditate on what came up for you.
• Continue to pray the prayer Jason led us through on Sunday, and consider each of the four movements. What comes up for you as you pray? Perhaps one movement is harder or easier than another. Or perhaps you find yourself drawn to different movements at different times throughout the week. What might God be saying to you through this practice of prayer? How might you enjoy God’s presence as you draw near to God in this way?

Week 9: The Narrow Gate
In our final week of the series, Nicole Howe helped us explore the meaning of Jesus’ teachings on the narrow gate in light of the entire sermon on the mount. Throughout much of his teaching, Jesus expands the ways we might miss the mark, while narrowing in on the heart change required for true kingdom living. Matthew 7:13-23 is a culmination of what it means to put these ideas into practice. The way of Jesus is not impossible, but it must be intentional.

Kingdom Practices

• Consider whether anything stood out to you in the teaching on Matthew 7:13-23. Was anything particularly challenging? Or encouraging? Was there something you felt curious about or wanted to understand more deeply? Did you sense an invitation to chew on a particular truth or perspective? Stay with the teaching this week and continue to meditate on what came up for you.
• Engage the self-reflection prayer Nicole led us through on Sunday. What comes up for you as you reflect? Do you see God’s work in the places of blessing? Can you recognize God’s provision in places of constraint?
• Pray the simple breath prayer throughout your week as it comes to mind. Inhale: Thank you Jesus for your good gifts. Exhale: May this pressing lead to life. (You may also choose to pray your own words).