God

Planning the Session

Session Goals

As a result of conversations and activities connected with this session, group members should begin to:

• examine the evidence for the existence of God;

• explore what kind of God is revealed in Scripture;

• explore the implications of why our beliefs matter;

• affirm ways we might appropriately respond to a personal Creator God.

Creedal Foundation

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

— The Apostles' Creed

Special Preparation

• On a large sheet of paper or a board, print the questions from the Introduction for the opening activity (see below).

• Make available copies of the entire ecumenical Apostles' Creed, as shown in the study book, or display it on a large sheet of paper or a board. Alternatively, plan to project it with a video projector. You will need to use the Creed in all the sessions.

• Also display the lines from the Apostles' Creed that are under consideration in this session.

• Decide if you will do any of the optional activities. For researching scientists' views, there will need to be enough smartphones that each group or pair can have access to one. Or access and print out Internet articles on each scientist. For the expressing gratitude activity, you will need large sheets of colored construction paper cut into pennant shapes, as well as colored markers. After checking with your pastor or someone from the church leadership, decide where and how to display the pennants, and get some tape as well as either string or dowel sticks.

• For the closing activity, post the following statement: If you seek a monument to the architect of the whole cosmos, look around you.

Getting Started

Opening Activity

As participants arrive, welcome them to the study. If there is someone who did not bring a notebook or an electronic device for journaling, provide a notebook or paper and pen or pencil.

Gather together. If participants are not familiar with one another, provide nametags and make introductions.

Invite volunteers to respond to the following posted question from the Introduction to the study:

• What do we mean when we say we believe?

Form pairs and invite them to respond to the following questions, also posed in the Introduction to the study book:

• What are some of your deeply held beliefs or convictions?

• How did you come to hold these convictions?

After allowing time for pairs to discuss, come together in the large group. Ask each pair to comment on one insight that came out of their discussion together.

Tell participants that in this study, they will be exploring what Christians believe, why they believe it, and why it matters, using as a basis one of the oldest and most widely used creeds, the Apostles' Creed.

Opening Prayer

Eternal God, we gather here to explore what we believe about who you are. Open our minds and hearts, that together we may encounter the mystery and wonder of your being in new ways. Grant us the humility and grace to hear other viewpoints that may differ from our own, that we may deepen our own experience of the Holy. In your name we pray. Amen.

Learning Together

Video Study and Discussion

Briefly introduce Adam Hamilton, the book author and video presenter. From his website at www.adamhamilton.org, we learn that Adam Hamilton is senior pastor of The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas. He writes and teaches on life's tough questions, the doubts with which we all wrestle, and the challenging issues we face today. Participants can learn more about Hamilton and his other books at his website.

In Chapter 1, participants explore what we believe about God, why we believe it, and why it matters. To set the scene for viewing the video, ask participants to look for the origins of the Creed. Following the video, discuss the following:

• What does Adam Hamilton tell us about why the Apostles' Creed was developed?

• Hamilton presents us with the analogy of how a chocolate cake is created. What point is he making in using this analogy? What is your response?

Remind participants that Hamilton closes with some questions. Say that the first two questions will be considered in more depth later in the session. Then ask:

• What questions do you have about God?

Jot down these questions and plan to revisit them at the end of the session.

Book Study and Discussion

Explore the God in Whom Christians Believe

Ask participants to quickly review the first few paragraphs of the chapter under the heading "A Growing Rejection of 'God.'" Discuss the following:

• Who are some of the adversarial "evangelists" the writer cites, and what are their arguments?

• Hamilton suggests that, rather than equating belief in God with anti-intellectualism, violence, or bigotry, these represent instead various negative impulses of human beings. How do you respond?

• Ask participants to pair up, preferably with a different partner than in the opening activity. Ask one person in each pair to scan silently Exodus 3:1-15 while his or her partner scans Acts 17:16-28, as well as review the content in the chapter under the heading "The God Christians Believe In." Encourage pairs to briefly share the gist of each of the passages, as well as what the writer suggests each passage reveals about the nature of God.

In the large group, discuss the following:

• In addition to describing God as the force from which all things derive their existence, what attributes does Christianity ascribe to God?

• What are the implications of the phrase "God the Father"?

• How would you define the concept of Imago Dei?

Examine the Evidence for God

Adam Hamilton uses the example of Lawrence Krauss, author of the book A Universe from Nothing, a scientist among others who believe that the universe could exist without an external force. Invite participants to quickly scan the information under the heading "Evidence for God?" to find answers to the following:

• the odds mathematician John Lennox calculates for the self-organization of life on earth;

• astronomer Fred Hoyle's analogy;

• what Hamilton believes natural selection reveals about God's existence.

As volunteers read aloud Psalm 8 and Psalm 19:1-4, invite participants to listen and to think about aspects of the created world in which they see God's glory and creativity. Following the reading, ask them to call out, popcorn style, words or phrases that describe what came to mind for them. List these on a large sheet of paper or a board.

Call attention to the last several paragraphs under this heading, where Hamilton enumerates several reasons why he believes in God. Invite them to jot down the phrase "I believe in God because ...,"...