Encounter in the Inconvenience

In one paragraph

The sermon this Sunday was brought by Pastor Brian, with the young adults team leading the service. The central message was that God consistently chooses inconvenient moments and circumstances to show up and encounter his people, and that the invitation is to stop, turn aside, and recognize what he is doing rather than plowing through or avoiding the discomfort. The conversation drew on Moses at...

Read together

1. Exodus 3:1-6 Read aloud as the main text; Moses and the burning bush, the foundation for the sermon's theme of encounter in inconvenience
2. Song of Solomon 5:2-3 The beloved has already washed her feet and gone to bed when her lover knocks, used to illustrate God pursuing us at inconvenient hours
3. Song of Solomon 3:4 The beloved searches for her lover and holds him tightly, used to picture deep transformative encounter when we pursue God
4. Luke 5:33-39 New wineskins passage; Brian highlights the line that no one who drinks old wine wants the inconvenience of new wine

What was said

• When something inconvenient shows up in your day this week, pause before pushing through it and ask the Holy Spirit to show you whether there is an encounter with God waiting in it.
• Pray specifically for the Gurman family in Israel by name as you follow the news this week.
• If you are not already on the Tribe text list, reach out to get added so you can join the trip to the Wind River Reservation grand opening on October 28.
• Show up at 8:45 Sunday morning to walk the building and pray for whoever is going to walk through the doors that day.
• Get back to the basics this week: open your Bible, put on some worship, and talk to a trusted friend if the weight of everything feels like too much.

Talk about it

1. Brian talked about how the Sukkot camping trip down at Little Granite Creek was worth it but genuinely inconvenient, and he found himself telling the Lord he was glad it only happens once a year. When has an inconvenience in your own life turned out to be worth it, and how did you feel about it in the moment versus looking back?
2. Moses had every opportunity to keep walking and ignore the burning bush. He had to actively choose to turn aside. Where in your life right now might there be a burning bush moment you have been tempted to just walk past?
3. The group brought up a lot of biblical examples of encounter in inconvenience, from Jonah to the bleeding woman to John on Patmos. Which of those stories connects most with something you are going through, and why?
4. Brian drew a distinction between inconveniences that carry what he called the fragrance of heaven and ones that are just, as he put it, tourists coming through town in July with nothing spiritual about them. How do you personally try to tell the difference?
5. The wineskin passage in Luke 5 ends with the line that no one who drinks the old wine wants the inconvenience of the new wine. In what area of your faith or your daily life are you most tempted to stick with the old wine because the new feels too inconvenient?