All I want for Christmas is for God to notice me

Big Ideas

• The gospel is toppling the kingdom, good news to the poor, down with the rich
• The gospel has everything to do with material reality
• Most of us have given up on the hope of Mary and Jesus
• Hope isn’t optimism, it’s confident expectation that God is up to something Good
• Mary’s confidence came from experiencing that God noticed her
• Let’s reject our cynicism, and start moving toward God’s promise of setting all things right.

Questions

• How much confidence do you have that God is real? That God cares? That he is up to something good?
• Do you feel like God has noticed you? That he sees and adores you right now?
• How would that change your expectation of what he’s doing? Would it make it easier to have confident expectation that he is actually setting things right for real?
• Would you be willing to try prayer again this week?
• Would you be willing to take a risk and try hope again this week?
• How can we help each other notice that God notices us this week?