Give You as a Light

Fellowship – Snacks or a Meal (10 minutes with snacks; longer, obviously, if there is a meal).

Gathering Time (5-10 minutes). In pairs or groups of three, have participants answer, “If at first you don’t succeed, where do you find the motivation to ‘try, try again’?”

Group Dialogue (Approximately 30 minutes). Read Isaiah 49:1-7.

Who is the audience for the proclamation that God has given the Servant as “a light to the nations that my (God’s) salvation may reach to the end of the earth”? [People of the coastlands and those far away represent people who live at the margins and beyond the boundaries of the Servant’s homeland (Isaiah 49:1).]

How did the servant become equipped for this calling? [God called the servant before he was born, named him, made his mouth “like a sharp sword,” hid him, made him “a polished arrow,” and told him, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified” (Isaiah 49:1a-3)] 

• What does this suggest about God’s process of preparing servants to be given as a light?
• What aspects of preparation for ministry do you share with the servant?

What do the servant’s self-descriptions in verses 4a and 7a suggest about who can be given by God as a light to the nations? [God chooses imperfect people. The servant expressed a sense of past frustration, failure, and rejection from those he had been called to serve (Isaiah 49:4a, 7b).]

• What encouragement do you find for your own chosen-ness as a light-bearer in the servant’s estimation of himself?

How does the servant describe God? [Lord, Redeemer, Holy One, faithful (Isaiah 49:7)].

• How might this knowledge of God influence the servant’s willingness to be given as light to the nations?

The Preaching Notes for January 18 say: “We are called to be a part of a project that is bigger than we can see. It is nothing less than the reconciliation of the whole world to God. It is the bringing of the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. If we catch that vision, then we can carry a light that shines beyond us and from within us. We become a part of the light we proclaim.”

Think about the coastlands of your comfort zone and the “nations” that lie beyond it. Where might you or your church be a light to others? How can you begin to shine?

Prayer (10 minutes). Share prayer requests and respond appropriately.

Sending Forth (2 minutes). End with the following prayer, a similar prayer, or the Lord’s Prayer: God of love, we are not perfect people. We have tried and failed. We have strayed from your path. Let us go forward, walking in the assurance that you have called us, equipped us, and given us as a light to the nations. Amen.
 

Rev. Sherry Bryant-Johnson, a United Methodist deacon, served extension ministries in the Mississippi Annual Conference for nearly three decades. Now retired, she teaches “Abiding in Christ Together: Creating Gospel-Centric Retreats” as well as Lay Servant Ministries courses online at www.BeaDisciple.com. An author and a spiritual director, she is an editor and essayist for the anthology, Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color (Morehouse, 2014).