PRACTICE SIX: CASTING CARES WITH A FEW OTHERS
For practice six we will be meeting together in smaller groups of 2-3 within our missional communities to share our experiences from the workshop and take part in a modified version of the practice.
PRAYER
Take a moment to open with prayer, thanking our loving Father, welcoming the Holy Spirit’s work in each of you, and giving thanks for the invitation from Christ to bear our burdens.
WORKSHOP FOLLOW-UP (20 min)
At the workshop, we walked through releasing burdens/casting cares
1. Was the practice new to you or something you had done before? If so, feel free to share.
2. How would you describe your experience with the practice this time?
3. What did you find most valuable about the practice? Feel free to take a moment to share a few of the core burdens, anxieties, or fear you “cast” upon Jesus?
4. Have you found yourself having any trouble with “picking things back up”, or are you currently experiencing the weight of any particular burden, anxiety, or fear?
SCRIPTURE & DISCUSSION (20 min)
Read Matthew 6:19-33, Matthew11:28-30, Hebrews 4:14-16
1. What do learn about who God is and what He does/has done from each of these passages?
2. What do learn about who we are and how we should live from each of these passages?
3. What value is there in reading these passages in concert with one another – particularly as you worked through the first two questions?
4. Is there anything that strikes you about Jesus’ character or personality from these verses that you may normally or subconsciously operate unaware of?
EXERCISE (20 minutes)
(Do individually and return with one another for debrief)
1. Getting Still & Quiet: Set aside your phone/watch and settle in and begin with a few minutes of intentional breathing and silence.
2. Invite the Holy Spirit to speak and bring clarity:
• to reveal to you areas of personal or relational fear/anxiety.
• to show you areas of fear/anxiety associated with the present or future.
• Take your time and wait on the Holy Spirit. • Ask the Father to reveal any areas of unbelief in your life where you don’t believe the Father will care for you.
3. Write: Jot down and list these anxieties/fears down on a piece of paper. Take a few minutes to reflect on what you have written.
4. Release your burdens: Pray and visualize yourself with the Father, and then, one by one, imagine giving (handing) each anxiety to Jesus. Take your time with this.
• This exercise should create a mental snapshot of Jesus doing exactly what He says He will do (Ps. 55:22; Matt. 6:25-26). By handing Jesus your anxieties you are expressing your trust in His ability to take care of you.
5. Exchanging Burdens: Fold your paper in half and write down, “I am not what I do. I am not what I have. I am not what others say of me. I am the beloved of Jesus.”
DEBRIEF (20 min)
1. What was your experience with the practice this time around? Take time to share openly and honestly with one another.
2. In what ways might you return to the practice when anxieties reappear (on a smaller scale)?
3. Take some time to share with one another how the others in this group could
• love and serve you well when you are wrestling with burdens/anxiety/fear?
• encourage you to make space and time to be with Jesus in those moments?
