Written in Heaven

WHEN LOVE COME TO TOWN: A U2 CHRISTMAS
BEAUTIFUL DAY

***Before you begin! Reaffirm the ‘Vegas’ rule with your group – what happens in small groups stays in small groups. This is very important to talk about every week. Encourage everyone that the environment is safe, and that there is no judgment.

***The reason we do small groups is to ‘belong and become’ – Have a safe group of friends to belong to and become more like Jesus every day. This is the vision of small groups – remind your group of this each week.

1. Think back to one of the happiest moments of your life. What was taking place? What were the circumstances? Who was there? What made that moment the happiest moment of your life? What would it take for that moment to be recreated or to have another moment like that take place?

2. In U2’s ‘Beautiful Day,’ there’s a line that says, “What you don’t have you don’t need it now, what you don’t know you can feel it somehow.” What are things in our lives that we just instinctively recognize we need? What are things that we think we need but we really don’t?

3. Read Matthew 19:16-26. Dale defined 4 places in relationship to Jesus that this story defined. What were these 4 places? Which one of these places do you find yourself at now? Which one of these places do you struggle to submit to Jesus?

4. Read James 4:8. We are as close to God as we want to be. How close do we want to be to God? How can we pray for each other that we would be as close to God as He desires?

As always, end the group with general sharing of prayer requests and prayer. Some groups have found it effective to pray for each request as it’s given, rather than creating the list of requests. Use your discretion as a leader.