Week Nineteen - Open

 

Next week our focus will be on the nineteenth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Open."  Helen will lead us in this casual discussion.

Does prayer really help?
Many of us have experienced situations where we've prayed and it felt like God wasn't listening. And yet other times we've prayed or known someone that prayed and the situation changed. Does God answer prayer? Sometimes, but not all the time? Or does God always answer prayer and it's just that sometimes God says no? Some of us are angry with God for not answering the prayers we've prayed for years. Why did he answer their prayer but not ours? What if there's more to prayer than just God listening and answering? Maybe if we understood how Jesus prayed, our concepts and expectations of prayer would change.

Click this link to watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on January 6th:

http://nooma.com/films/019-open

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Eighteen - Name

 

Next week our focus will be on the eighteenth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Name."  Helen will lead us in this casual discussion.

Are we so concerned with what others think that we miss out on being who God created us to be? 
We all compare ourselves to others. We spend our lives wondering what others think and say about us. Some of us even wish we were someone else. We question why we are the way we are and not the way we wish we could be. Some of us have let the expectations of others dictated who we've become. We act a certain way to be accepted but know that we're being untrue. But why are we so concerned with what other people think, say, or look like? What does it say about us if we are unable to accept who we are? Maybe if we really knew our true selves, we wouldn't give so much attention to other peoples' lives and live more in tune with the life God wants for us.

Click this link to watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on December 30th:

http://nooma.com/films/018-name

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

A Different Kind of Christmas

This Sunday we are beginning a five-week Advent study called "A Different Kind of Christmas" in Just Coffee.  This will coincide with Pastor Beth's sermon series by the same name.  The study plan includes a 10-15 minute video followed by a discussion.  Everyone is welcome to attend during Sunday School in the Fellowship Hall.

The United Methodist Communications website describes the study as follows:

Every year, we say we're going to cut back, simplify, and have a family Christmas that focuses on the real reason for the season - Jesus.  But every year, advertisements beckon, the children plead, and it seems easier just to indulge our wants and whims.  Overspending, overeating, materialism, and busyness rob us of our peace and joy and rob Jesus of his rightful role as the center of our celebration.

This Christmas, cut through the hype that leaves you exhausted and broke at the end of the year.  Instead, experience the peace of knowing that God is truly with us, the joy of giving sacrificially, and the love of a Savior who gave everything he had for us.  

The study is based on the book Christmas is Not Your Birthday by Mike Slaughter.  Copies of the book are available from Wendy Brown or Tabitha Strickler.

Week Seventeen - Today

Next week our focus will be on the seventeenth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Today."  Helen will lead us in this casual discussion.

How much time and energy do we spend wishing things were how they used to be? We often think about times in our past when things were different and want our lives to be like that again. Some of us have even come to believe that our best days may actually be behind us. But if we're in some way hung up on the past, what does that mean for our lives now? How are we and those around us affected if we're not fully present? If we're longing for the way things used to be, what does that really say about our understanding and appreciation of our lives today? Maybe we need to learn to embrace our past for what it is, in order to live our lives to the fullest, right here, right now.

Click this link to watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on November 18th:

http://nooma.com/films/017-today

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Sixteen - Store

Next week our focus will be on the sixteenth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Store."  Brian and Melinda will lead us in this casual discussion.

But what is really the root of our anger? Maybe if we learn where our anger comes from, we can channel it towards something constructive - something that's bigger than ourselves. How much energy do we spend on wishing things were how they used to be, thinking that our best days may be behind us? Maybe if we're too hung up on the past we fail to live our lives to the fullest, right here, right now.

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on November 11th:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Fifteen - You

Next week our focus will be on the fifteenth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "You."  Wendy will lead us in this casual discussion.  (Thank you, Wendy, for helping out Brian and Melinda!!)

Are we always debating the right things? Maybe some of our discussions would change significantly if we had more insight into the actual circumstances that surrounded the first people of the Christian movement if we had a better understanding of the things they did in the context of the world they lived in. Maybe some of the claims of the Christian faith that we typically perceive to be unique aren't really that special at all. And at the same time maybe we don't always put enough emphasis on the things that truly should matter in our lives.

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on November 4th:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Fourteen - Breathe

Next week our focus will be on the fourteenth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Breathe."  Brian and Melinda will lead us in this casual discussion.

How many of us ever think about our breathing, about the meaning of breathing? In the Bible, the word for "breath" is the same as the word for "spirit." We've all been created in the image of God, but our lives are incredibly vulnerable and fragile. Maybe if we had more insight into the meaning of breathing, we would better understand how God created us as human beings. 

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on October 28th:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Thirteen - Rich

Next week our focus will be on the thirteenth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Rich."  Brian and Melinda will lead us in this casual discussion.

There's a popular bumper sticker that reads "God Bless America," but hasn't America already been blessed? It's easy for us to fall into a mindset of viewing "our" world as "the" world, because it's all we generally see. We're constantly bombarded with images of the latest styles and models of everything, and it can easily leave us feeling like what we have isn't enough because we see people that have even more than us. But how does what we have compare to what most people in the world have? Maybe what we have is enough; maybe it's more than enough. Maybe God has blessed us with everything we have so we can bless and give to others.

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on October 21st:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Twelve - Matthew

Next week our focus will be on the twelfth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Matthew."  Sheila will lead us in this casual discussion.

Suffering the loss of someone we love can be the most difficult thing in life to deal with.  One moment we have them and the next they're gone.  What are we supposed to do?  How are we supposed to feel?  The truth is, there's no certain way that we're "supposed" to feel.  Whatever we're feeling, it's okay.  It's okay to feel shock, anger, denial, or whatever we may feel.  It's okay.  And if we don't feel anything at all, that's okay too.  It's okay to have no answers and no explanations.  Because sometimes all the reasoning and comforting words in the world don't really help and everything can seem hopeless. What might help us, however, is to understand how Jesus dealt with this kind of loss.

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on October 14th:

 

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Eleven - Rhythm

Next week our focus will be on the eleventh film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Rhythm."  Marcie will lead us in this casual discussion.

Is how we live connected to something that has been in place since the beginning of time? Maybe Jesus didn't come to start a new religion, but to show us how to live in tune with the life God has always planned for us.

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on October 7th:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Ten - Lump

Next week our focus will be on the tenth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Lump."  Wendy will lead us in this casual discussion.

Some are small things and some of us have really big and devastating things.  Some of us even have things that people close to us don't know about. Personal junk that we keep to ourselves so we don't have to deal with it. Because we don't know how to deal with it, do we? We're afraid that if we try it's just going to make everything worse. But no matter how big our junk is, no matter how much we've done has impacted the way other people feel about us or how we feel about ourselves, it hasn't changed how God feels about us. God loves us, he always has and always will, and there's nothing we can do to change that.

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on September 30th:

  

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Nine - Bullhorn

Next week our focus will be on the ninth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Bullhorn."  Ashley will lead us in this casual discussion.

God loves everyone, so a Christian should, too. In fact, Jesus said the most important thing in life is to love God with everything we've got and love others in the same way. But it's not always easy to love everyone around us, is it? Sometimes we strongly disagree with other people's political views, religious beliefs, behaviors, or something else, and it makes it hard to love them when we feel like we're right and they're very wrong. But Jesus doesn't separate loving God and loving others. So maybe the best way for us to show our love for God is actually by loving other people no matter how hard it sometimes is. Maybe it's the only way.

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on September 23rd:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Eight - Dust

Next week our focus will be on the eighth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Dust."  Tabitha will lead us in this casual discussion.

Believing in God is important, but what about God believing in us? Believing that we can actually be the kind of people we were meant to be. People of love, compassion, peace, forgiveness and hope.  People who try to do the right thing all of the time. Who act on the endless opportunities around us every day for good, beauty and truth. It's easy for us to sometimes get down on ourselves. To feel "not good enough" or feel like we don't have what it takes. But maybe if we had more insight into the culture that Jesus grew up in and some of the radical things that he did, we'd understand the faith 
that God has in all of us. 

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on September 16th:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Seven - Luggage

Next week our focus will be on the seventh film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Luggage."  Marcie will lead us in this casual discussion.

Maybe a friend turned their back on you. Maybe someone you loved betrayed you. We all have wounds and we end up carrying around these things that people have done to us for weeks, months, and sometimes even years. It isn't always easy to forgive these people and after a while these hurts can get really heavy. So the only way to feel better seems to be somehow getting back at the people that hurt us, to get revenge. But does revenge ever truly satisfy? Maybe forgiving isn't something you do for someone else to let them off the hook. Maybe forgiveness is all about you. God didn't create you to carry these wounds around. God created you to be free.

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on September 9th:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Six - Kickball

Next week our focus will be on the sixth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Kickball."  Marcie will lead us in this casual discussion.

We always think we know what's missing from our lives in order to make us happy, don't we? If only I had that car, or that job, or if only I could lose those 15 lbs, then I'd be happy. Really? How often do we want something only to find out that it wasn't that great after all? Sometimes we ask God for things and if he doesn't deliver right away, we start questioning whether God really understands or even cares. Do we really trust God? Do we trust that God is good and sees a bigger picture than we ever could? It's easy to want what's right in front of us, but maybe God knows what's better for us, and sometimes we just can't see it.

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on September 2nd:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Five - Noise

Next week our focus will be on the fifth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Noise."  Marcie will lead us in this casual discussion.

Why is it so much easier for us to live our lives with a lot of things going on all the time than to just be in silence? We're constantly surrounded with "voices" that are influencing us on how to think, feel, and behave. Movies, music, TV, Internet, cell phones, and a never ending barrage of advertising. There's always something going on. Always noise in our lives. But maybe there's a connection between the amount of noise in our lives and our inability to hear God. If God sometimes feels distant to us, maybe it's not because he's not talking to us, but simply because we aren't really listening. 

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on August 26th:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Four - Sunday

Do we get so wrapped up in religion that we miss out on what's important to God?

Next week our focus will be on the fourth film in Rob Bell's Nooma series - "Sunday."  Tabitha will lead us in this casual discussion.

Why do we go to church or give money away? Because we're supposed to or because we think that God needs it? Do we honestly put on our best clothes for an hour once a week, stand and sit at all the right times, and sing all the appropriate songs for God's sake, or because it'll make us look better to the world around us. We're tired of all the empty rituals and routines. And so is God. God hates it when we call ourselves Christians but ignore all the things he really cares about. He hates it when we go through hollow religious routines out of some feelings of duty or obligation. God doesn't want the meaningless rituals. God wants our hearts.

Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on August 19th:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Three - "Trees"

Do our lives even matter?

Next week our focus will be on Rob Bell's third film in the Nooma series - "Trees."  Tabitha will lead us in this casual discussion.

We want to know why we are here. If our lives really matter. How our religion is relevant to this life. Today. We want to understand what significance this minute, hour, week, month, and year has to our lives. To our world. We need a God who cares about this life, in this world, right now. We want to understand why everything we think, everything we say, and everything we do matters. We don't want to just sit back and wait for something to happen or someday to come. We want to know if all the choices we make now will shape our world and lives for eternity. Because we want our lives to have meaning today, and our lives today to have meaning forever.


Watch the trailer for the film we'll watch on August 12th:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Week Two - "Flame"

Could love be the most misunderstood and misused word in our vocabulary?  

Next week our focus will be on Rob Bell's second film in the Nooma series - "Flame."  Tabitha will lead us in this casual discussion.

I love these shoes. Really? The same way I love my wife? What's up with the word "love"? It doesn't have much meaning when we use it so loosely. Maybe we don't really get it. Maybe we don't really understand what real love is. What it involves to really love somebody. What it means to give yourself to someone else. We mistake things like friendship, commitment, or lust for love, but God wired us in a certain way to experience all that love was really meant to be. Not to hold us back or make us miss out on the best that life has to offer. God created love, and wants us to feel it all in the way it's meant to be felt.

Watch the trailer for the film that we'll watch on August 5th:

Remember, we meet in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45).  Everyone is welcome!!

Awesome First Day

Thank you SO much to everyone who came out today to the first meeting of our new small group Just Coffee.  I was absolutely thrilled at the attendance - we had 14 for fellowship and discussion.  Yep, that's right.  14 in the middle of the summer.  14 when this class was just formally dreamed up a week ago.  I celebrate our 14!  God is good, all the time.  :-)

First Meeting

Bermuda Hundred's newest small group has begun! We're calling ourselves "Just Coffee" - a group meeting Sunday mornings for casual discussions of faith and fellowship.

Our first meeting will be tomorrow (July 29th) in the Fellowship Hall during Sunday School (9:45-10:45am). Everyone is welcome! We'll have a chance to discuss what we would like to get out of this small group and how we would like to grow. All suggestions are appreciated!


Tomorrow...
We will be discussing Rob Bell's first film in the Nooma series - "Rain." Tabitha will lead us in this casual discussion. Come with an open mind and an open heart!

Things don't always work out the way we want them to, or the way we think they will. Sometimes we don't even see it coming. We get hit with some form of pain out of nowhere leaving us feeling desperate and helpless. That's the way life is. Still, it makes us wonder how God can just stand by and watch us suffer. Where is God when it really hurts? Maybe God is actually closer to us than we think. Maybe it's when we're in these situations, where everything seems to be falling apart, that God gets an opportunity to remind us of how much he really loves us.

Watch the trailer for the first film that we'll watch tomorrow:

What is NOOMA?

The name NOOMA is an English phonetic spelling of the Greek word pneuma, which is commonly translated to spirit or breath. Pneumatology refers to the study of spiritual beings, particularly the interaction between humans and God.

NOOMA is a new format for spiritual direction.  It is short films touching on issues that we care about an that we want to talk about.  It's a format that's there for us when we need it, as we need it, how we need it.  NOOMA is short films that really speak to us.  Concise and to the point, 10- to 14-minute DVDs tackle topics like forgiveness, discipleship, and unconditional love, making biblical truths vivid and relevant for today's generation.  They will surprise you, touch you, help you to think in new ways and spark meaningful discussion in our small group.

Information from the NOOMA website