Children’s Time

Reading: 1 Peter 2:19-23 (The Message)

Peter talks about how Christ endured so much for our sake. What does this look like in our daily lives? How can we be more like Christ?

Questions

1. Can you think of a time you really wanted revenge for something someone else did? How did you feel?
2. What would it be like if you looked to repair relationships, rather than look for revenge?

Sermon

Reading: Act 2:42-47 (NRSV)

After hearing Peter’s sermon, the new community of believers is formed. We hear today a short description of their daily life together, doing and sharing in common. But was life as idyllic as we might think? Did conflict ever arise? How might they have handled it?

Questions

1. Can you think of a time when you were in a group and there was no conflict? What was it like? Was the group still forming, or had they persevered through to performing?
2. How do you handle conflict in your life? Avoidance, charging straight in? How might you handle it?
3. How could the group dynamics at TCUC change to better facilitate groups at the performing level?

Image Credit:
Jesus Welcomes All, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=57406 [retrieved May 2, 2020]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/amyashcraft/13885591354/ – Amy the Nurse.

Children’s Time

Reading: 1 Peter 1:17-23 (The Message)

Peter talks about the old life and the new for his followers in Turkey. But how does that translate to today, especially when many of us were baptized as infants, and don’t remember our ‘old life’?

Questions

1. What things from your old life of worldly living can you give up? Does that mean they shouldn’t be in our lives, or that we shouldn’t center our lives on them?
2. What new things can we expect in our new life? What things should we look for to see if we’re living in Christ?

Sermon

Reading: Acts 2:14a, 36-41 (NRSV)

Shortly after the Spirit descends on the followers of Jesus, Peter preaches his first sermon. He says that those who are listening are the ones who crucified Christ. What does he say the crowd must do as a result? How does this affect our vision of the future?

Questions

1. What signs did the crowd see?
2. How did the crowd react to Peter’s sermon?
3. How do you think the church will or must change to continue for the next 500 years?
4. What is meant by repentance? What is the significance of Peter saying the crowd must repent and be baptized?
5. What are you most willing to give up for the church to continue? What can TCUC offer to the world?

Image Credit:
West, Benjamin, 1738-1820. Peter Preaching at Pentecost, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=55159 [retrieved April 25, 2020]. Original source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Peter_Preaching_at_Pentecost.jpg.