Theme:
Purpose
Title:
We are the moon!
Desired Outcomes:
The aim of this uGroup is to encourage members to be the light that their immediate circumstances needs them to be.
Core Scriptures:
- Gen 1:16
- John 9:4
- Mat 5:14-16
Welcome:
Any fun and welcoming Icebreaker that gets the members moving, on their feet, where all the members can participate in. If there are new members be careful not to create a space where they feel exposed or uncomfortable.
Word:
Read Gen 1:16. Have an open discussion about the sun and moon, and guide their thoughts more towards how the moon reflects the sun rays towards the Earth at night.
If it is necessary, go and do a quick research on this topic.
Ask the members if they can use this knowledge to make a connection to the Christian walk:
The desired outcome would then be that you come to the conclusion that Jesus can be likened unto the sun and we are the moon.
After this you can make a few statements:
John 9:4. While Jesus was here on Earth, he was the light (sun). Jesus is gone now and that means that it is not “day” anymore, the “night” has come.
Does this mean that it is absolutely dark and there is no more light because of Jesus’s departure?
Mat 5:14-16. Jesus clearly states that we are now the light of the world. He says that we have to let our let shine before men, suggesting that we have the capability to not let our light shine. While it was “day”, he was the Light, but now that he is gone and it is dark, WE ARE THE LIGHT.
Why do we always pray and ask God to come and shine light in our circumstances when he clearly says that He is gone now and WE are now the light in our circumstances?
Jesus is the source of light and we merely reflect his light. We do not have any ability in our self to create light. WE MERELY REFLECT IT – like the moon reflects light from the sun.
There are different kinds of moons:
- Full moon
- Half-moon
- New moon
Full moon
- When there is a full moon, the moon reflects 100% of the sun’s light that it receives. From the earth’s perspective, we can then see the entire moon.
Half-moon
- When there is a half-moon, the moon reflects only 50% of the sun’s light. It is important to note that the moon still receives 100%, but from the earth, we can only see 50% of the moon.
New moon
- When there is a new moon, the moon reflects none of the sun’s light. It still receives 100% of the rays, but we don’t see any of it from the earth, because it is on the other side.
We can now make the statement and say that, as Christians, we have the ability to receive a lot of Jesus’s light, but deliberately decide not to let our light shine before men (Mat 5:16), just like the moon receives light, but sometimes only reflects fractions of it towards the earth.
We are not only the appointed light of the world, but we are also the light appointed to RULE in this darkness (Gen 1:16). We will rule in the darkness if we actively decide to remove the baskets from our heads and let our light shine.
Keeping light for ourselves can be selfish and driven by pride. The moon does not reflect light so that it can look great. It does it so that people on earth would not walk around in complete darkness.
You might consider some of the following statements:
- 1 John 4:12. Jesus isn’t here to love on people anymore. He uses us. We need to stop asking God to bring the sun back and just reflect his love for the people around us.
- An Eclipse is the only occurrence where the moon does not reflect sunlight. The reason for this is that the Earth is in between the sun and the moon.
Last pointer:
Do not be afraid to let the people talk about this topic, as they will be able to get a lot of revelation on the topic all by themselves, even a few interesting new points.