Are you missing your youth group or Sunday School class? We are, too. To help, we’ve created a virtual discussion guide about our theme passage from Ecclesiastes 3! So, gather up your people—friends, family, Bible study crew—schedule another Zoom call, and dig in. Don’t have a group to talk with, not to worry! These questions work great for personal reflection, too.
Discussion Guide
Part 1: Start with reading the theme passage: Ecclesiastes 3:1-14. This discussion will focus on verses 1-8, but reading the entire passage will be helpful.
“For everything that happens in life—there is a season.”
What are the happenings in your life right now? Go deeper than “staying at home because of the pandemic.” What have you noticed is happening in you during this season?
Pick a few examples from verses 2-8 and have the group share how they have been experiencing them recently. Here are some examples:
What has made you cry or laugh within the last week?
What loss are you mourning? What new dance have you learned?
What are you searching for? What have you needed to give up?
Part 2: Watch the Bible Project’s explanation of the wisdom of Ecclesiastes. This video does not give attention to the specific passage we’ve been looking at but does provide a lot of context and further helpful discussion topics.
What has this season revealed to you as “hevel?” Remember, hevel is not meaninglessness, it is like a vapor or smoke. It is temporary or fleeting.
What has this season revealed to you as not hevel? What has become more important to you?
A major theme in the book of Ecclesiastes is that because of the marching on of time and the inevitability of death, we are largely without control over a lot of things. This is a very somber truth, especially in a season during which we are experiencing that reality in a very overwhelming way. What does being out of control feel like for you?
Starting at 6:10, the narrator describes that trusting God frees us. How have you experienced the freedom that comes with trusting God with your life? What other times in scripture is that point illustrated? What can be difficult to believe about how trust and freedom are connected?
At 6:25, the narrator describes that the hope of God’s justice and that all hevel will be cleared away will fuel honesty and integrity before God even though we remain puzzled by God’s mysteries. Unpack that together. What is it like for you to sit with God’s mysteries? How are you experiencing the connection between hope and mystery in your life currently?
Part 3: Wrap up your conversation by sharing ways in which you can lift one another up from afar. How can your group support each other during this time? What prayers have come out of your discussion?
Share the highlights from your discussion by posting on social media. You can tag Mountain TOP on Facebook or @mountaintop1975 on Instagram and use the #mtopseasons.