The Advent of a New Year
November 24, 2024
Discussion Questions
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Given our personal, local, and national situation, our struggles, and our privileges, “How then shall we live … for such a time as this?”
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In light of the growth of authoritarianism, increasing poverty, attacks on marginalized people, and other mass-rejections of the teaching of Jesus, “how then shall we live?”
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Are you able to look at your own situation and ask whether there is purpose “for such a time as this”? How do we find balance between privilege (like Esther) and obligation (like her use of her position)?
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With a handful of exceptions like Brigid and Esther’s stories today, History has been “his story” - the story of men. How does gender, patriarchy, power, and marginalization shape stories?
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Do you ever engage your own life as a narrative (telling stories from the past, talking about shared experiences with others, thinking about the progress of your life etc.)? Who is telling your story? Who is writing it?
Additional Material
Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have said: “Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?” (or KJV: “How then shall we live?”). - Ezekiel 33:10 (NRSVUE).
“For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” - Esther 4: 14 (NRSVUE).
Abbreviated full story of Esther for children.
“Dubtach tried to sell her to the King of Leinster, and while they bargained, she gave a treasured sword of her father's to a leper. Dubtach was about to strike her when Brigid explained she had given the sword to God through the leper, because of its great value. The King, a Christian, forbade Dubtach to strike her, saying "Her merit before God is greater than ours”. - St. Brigid School History, Calgary.