8.28.22 - Saul, Samuel, & the Witch of Endor (Kenny Camacho)

SCRIPTURE: 1 Samuel 28:1-23


“Be brave enough to feel and see where you are. What small truths support your weight? What larger truths might these be stepstones towards? Are you open to a God who doesn’t want your greatness… but your presence, just as you are?”


REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

  1. What have you learned through this series about listening? Why is it important? How can we follow God’s example in listening well?

  2. Let’s get it out there: this is a strange story! What do you make of it? Why do you think the scribes of Israel, who transferred this story from Israel’s oral tradition to a written text at least 400 years after the events it describes occurred, chose to keep this episode? 

  3. What might God be revealing–about Himself, about us, about how we are meant to live in the world–through it? 

  4. Are you ever tempted to connect God’s silence with God’s absence? Share your story. Is it possible to imagine what God’s presence might have been like in that moment? 

  5. The Witch of Endor is a fascinating character! Kenny noted that she is compassionate towards Saul… even though Saul is a clear threat to her. What can we learn from this person? What does her compassion reveal?

  6. Let’s connect this series, which has been about listening, to our 2022 theme of “(Un)Certainty”: how can prioritizing listening help us when we feel frightened or uncertain? What gets in the way?

  7. Our hope for this year is that we learn to prioritize confidence, which is relational, over certainty, which is mostly about control. Does listening “speak” to this hope? How?

Kenny Camacho