Set Your Mind

Fellowship – Snacks or a Meal (10 minutes with snacks; longer, obviously, if there is a meal).

Gathering Time (5-10 minutes). In pairs or groups of three, have participants answer, “Think of a time when you set your mind on something. What happened as a result?”

Group Dialogue (Approximately 30 minutes). Colossians 3:1-11.

What does Paul advise the Colossians to seek and set their minds on? [They are to seek and set their minds on things above—on Christ (Colossians 3:1).]

• Why? [Because they are living new lives in Christ (Colossians 3:2).]

What do Paul’s lists of the behaviors the Colossians need to end reveal to you about their lives before they were raised in Christ? [Their lives were marked by sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed. Their relationships included anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive language, and lying (Colossians 3: 5-9).]

How can setting their minds on things above strengthen individuals and communities of faith to eliminate behaviors that do not align with their lives in Christ?

What challenges do contemporary Christians encounter when stripping off the old self and clothing themselves with the new self?

• What is needed to overcome these challenges?

In Paul’s day, barbarians were looked down upon as stupid, and Scythians were seen as cruel. Revisit Colossians 3:10-11. What guidance is there for overcoming the ethnic and racial divides in the church? How can you put this guidance into practice?

Prayer (10 minutes). Share prayer requests and respond appropriately.

Sending Forth (2 minutes). End with the following prayer, a similar prayer, or the Lord’s Prayer:

God of hope, we confess that we are continually tempted by distractions. Lord, amid all that would seduce our minds toward earthly things, lead us to keep our minds set on things above, where Christ is. Amen.

Rev. Sherry Bryant-Johnson, a United Methodist deacon, served extension ministries in the Mississippi Annual Conference for nearly three decades. Now retired, she teaches “Abiding in Christ Together: Creating Gospel-Centric Retreats” and Lay Servant Ministries courses online at BeaDisciple.com. An author and a spiritual director, she is an editor and essayist for the anthology, Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color (Morehouse, 2014).