This is the weekly companion to the weekend’s message, made to spend time with all week. It follows a simple five-part rhythm: a recap of what we heard, the central thought and scripture, a practice for the week, daily scripture and reflection, and a closing prayer.
Recap
Last week Pastor Jon asked us to stop. This week he asked us to come out of hiding, which for most of us is harder.
Community sits at the center of the Way of Jesus. God said it was not good for the man to be alone. Jesus formed a community and sent His disciples out two by two. The New Testament is full of commands that cannot be obeyed alone: encourage one another, confess to one another, forgive one another. You cannot practice the Way of Jesus by yourself.
Pastor Jon suggested we have misunderstood where fellowship begins. It does not begin when you find the right people. It begins when you let people find you. We want to be known, and we also want to control how we are known, so we curate. People meet the competent version, the funny version, the one who is doing great. These different versions lead to social disconnection and loneliness. The 2023 Surgeon General’s advisory put a number on the cost: social disconnection carries a mortality risk comparable to smoking up to fifteen cigarettes a day.
Adam and Eve stood in front of each other with nothing hidden and felt no shame. Then sin entered, and within a few verses they were sewing fig leaves and hiding in the trees. Our leaves have better names now: accomplishment, busyness, competence, even ministry. Pastor Jon named three things that keep us covered, each with a practice that answers it: telling the truth answers shame, asking for help answers pride, trusting one person again answers fear.
Central Thought & Scripture
“Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.’” (Genesis 2:18, NLT)
Everything else in the garden had been called good. This one thing was not, and God said it before there was any sin in the world. Our need for each other is part of the design rather than a symptom of the fall, which means community belongs to the Way of Jesus itself. You cannot practice that Way by yourself. And biblical fellowship does not begin when you finally find the right people. It begins when you let people find you. So the invitation this week is to stop curating and practice being known, a risk you can afford because the God who already knows everything about you came looking for you anyway.
Practice for the Week
Practice being known. Three practices this week, each with one specific person.
1. Tell the truth. Say one true thing you would normally have kept hidden.
2. Ask for help. Ask someone to help carry something you have been carrying alone.
3. Trust someone again. Invite one trustworthy person one step deeper into your life.
Daily Scripture & Reflection
Set aside some time each day to pray with these Scriptures. Bring your journal and a pen. Begin with a few quiet moments to become aware of God’s presence and invite the Holy Spirit to guide you. Read the day’s Scripture slowly, a few times, and notice what stands out. Read the reflection question and jot down your answer, no need to be elaborate, just a quick note, along with anything else that comes to you. When you finish, look back over what you wrote. Does anything stand out? Does anything call for action? Thank God for being with you and speaking to you, then close with the Lord’s Prayer. All of this fits in about 10 to 15 minutes.
Day 1: Genesis 2:21-25
The chapter ends with two people standing in front of each other with nothing covered and nothing to manage, and Scripture adds that they felt no shame. That is what you were made for, and some part of you still recognizes it. Where do you feel the pull toward being fully known, and where do you feel the pull to cover up?
Day 2: Genesis 3:7-13
Their eyes open, shame arrives, the sewing begins, and by the time God walks through the garden they are in the trees. Adam answers the question with the truest sentence he says all day: “I was afraid, so I hid.” What is the honest sentence you would have to say in order to come out from behind your own fig leaves?
Day 3: Psalm 139:1-6, 23-24
David describes a God who knows when he sits and stands and what he will say before he says it, so there is nothing left to disclose. What would it look like to invite God into the thing you assume you are managing privately?
Day 4: James 5:16
The healing James promises is attached to something spoken out loud to another person, not to something settled privately with God. Most of us assume the verse is reserved for the worst thing we have ever done, when it also covers “I have lost my faith in this part of my life, and I need you to pray.” What have you kept in the dark that would lose its power if you said it to one safe person?
Day 5: Mark 2:1-12
Put yourself on the mat. Four people lift you, carry you through a crowd, open a roof, and lower you into a room full of strangers, and there is nothing you can do but let them. What is it like to be carried somewhere you could not get to by yourself?
Day 6: Mark 14:32-42
In the garden Jesus told three friends that His soul was crushed with grief and asked them to stay. He did not ask them to fix it or solve it, only to be with Him in it. Who would you call at midnight, and does that person know they are on the list?
Prayer
Father, You know me completely, and You love me still. I tend to hide from the people around me. I say I am fine when I am not, and I carry what I was never meant to carry by myself, and I have called that strength. Forgive me. Your Son did not hide from His friends. He told them the truth about His grief, He asked them to stay, and He carried what none of us could. By Your Spirit, give me the courage this week to follow His example: to say one true thing, to ask for help, and to let one person in. Make me a safe person for others to be honest with. In Jesus’ name, amen.
The Lord’s Prayer (traditional)
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
