NOTES: 1] At 'the festival' (Sukkoth / Booths / Tabernacles): people had to live in branch shelters for a week to remember the nation's wilderness journey; harvest was celebrated, & the gift of water (NB v.37!) with special Temple ceremonies; & God's Spirit was emphasized. (No, Christians didn't invent Holy Spirit!)

WARMING UP: Is celebrating anniversaries, harvest, rainfall, etc. part of our personal, religious, or community habits?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything that's happened this week?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

37-39    Do we usually think of Jesus as a shouting person? Given that there was a ceremony of water-pouring in the Temple as part of the festival, might Jesus be offering himself publicly as a new source of life-giving water (& a rival approach to the organised religion of the day)? Does it occur to us that we ourselves become a source of life-giving water once we've been given that water from Jesus' Spirit? Are people able to draw that water from us? How can we best understand what JN says here about the Spirit not yet being given, or there being no Spirit yet when we know the Spirit's existed from the beginning?

40-44    What is it about Jesus that convinces us he is the Anointed One / Messiah / Christ? Are we convinced enough to influence others? Is Jesus in any sense a threat to us & our way of life? Should he be? Do we ever judge others on the basis of where they come from, the colour of their skin, their religion, the language they speak, & so on? Has the 'war on terror' become an excuse for states & individuals to discriminate on these same grounds? When concepts like 'national security' are allowed to override God's Laws of justice, compassion, mercy, & the like, is that anything less than a down-sizing of God - & ourselves? What happens when we replace God as our ultimate point-of- reference, Law-giver, Judge, etc.? Would our society be more or less divided than it is now if we Christians were to insist on fair treatment for others who're different? Is it in fact more likely to be someone other than 'the Christians' standing up for the downtrodden today? Is Jesus so far down many people's agenda these days because he's irrelevant, or we are? Are we comfortable with the religious & political agendas of 'religious right' groups springing into prominence today? Does accepting Jesus as Messiah mean polarising into the 'Loonie Left' or 'Rabid Right'?

44-52     Are we conscious of discomfort, anger, etc. within our own church against those who want to think, act, worship differently from the official line? Does this kind of attitude filter from the top down, the bottom up, or both? Do we have any local strategies in place to deal with such issues? When difficulties or divisions arise, do we have members with  Nicodemus' discernment to hold us to the principles of our faith? What is there about Nicodemus & those like him that gives them their standing? Given his encounter with Jesus (Ch.3) & their exploration of the role of the Spirit, have we experienced  the kind of growth Nicodemus seems to have had? Is our life a confirmation of the Spirit's role in us, or a denial?
Can we cite any personal experience of Jesus being glorified, & the Spirit being abroad today?