Small Group Questions

September 14 - 20

Sermon Series: Beatitudes

Week 5: 
Blessed are Those Who Mourn

Ice Breaker, if Needed:

If you had a guest from out of town for a weekend, where would you take them?

Discussion Questions for Small Groups or Individual Study

1. Read Matthew 5:4 and Luke 6:21. Why would Jesus call those who mourn,
“blessed”? What feelings do you encounter in yourself when others are grieving? When you mourned a loss, what did you notice about your interactions with others? Why do people mask grief, rather than express grief? How have you masked grief?

2. Why should you acknowledge things in your life are not okay after experiencing loss, regardless of magnitude? How does suppressed grief express itself? Have you allowed others to express their grief safely? Why is grief essential to the healing process? How does our culture thwart or undermine the work of grieving?

3. Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. What seasons do you find yourself in today? What do these verses say about the nature of seasons? Read verse 4. Why is acknowledgement of grief a key step toward healing? What happens when grief is locked inside? Where will it go? Who might be in the way? If applicable, share how you’ve borne the brunt of someone’s emotionally explosive behavior that can be tracked back to loss. Read Proverbs 14:8. How can you avoid being that person to others? People often want to hurry the grief process. Why might slowing down be the better way? What does Jesus promise to those who mourn?

4. Read Galatians 6:2. Contrast mourning with and without others carrying that burden. What is the law of Christ and how is it fulfilled when you are present, patient, and compassionate as others mourn? What can we do better as the Body of Christ when it is a time to mourn?

5. How do members of the Body of Christ mourn? What does hope have to do with the way we grieve? Read Hebrews 4:16 and Romans 8:28. Why is it safe to release our grief to our Father? What does He intimately understand? What is comfort? What can comfort do? What can’t it do? Read 2 Corinthians 1:3-5. What should we do with the comfort extended to us?

6. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what you haven’t mourned. Ask Him to help you acknowledge it, name it, share it, and remember the hope you have in our God of comfort.