Anyway... we ditched the official discussion notes and just had an ad-hoc time around D's sermon. From my perspective, I summarized the sermon as being about knowing your telos, and that any misrelation to that is despair. I brought in themes from SK's Sickness Unto Death, the demonic and the suicidal.

 

I found a few reactions interesting. They didn't know what despair was. They struggled to think of any time when they were in despair. One lady said, "Oh, there was this time at work when I felt really frustrated, but I wouldn't call it despair." Another guy reacted that it just didn't "stick" with him; it felt "like pop psychology" urging him to feel better about a problem that wasn't bothering him in the first place, trite admonitions to "be all you can be" or whatever. Other Christians responded that we don't and shouldn't despair if we're "in Christ", so that's why they don't feel this. I was honestly surprised and amazed that sincere Christians would be this unaware of our continual misrelation to God, others, self. They seemed to conflate despair with depression, and surely it's no sin to be depressed sometimes. They missed my point.

 

Likewise many didn't know what their telos was. A misguided application of our Meyers-Briggs temperment types came up. One woman commented God had designed her, as an INTJ, to not need much relation with others. Relating to others is something Es need and do, not Is. I described my picture of heaven as when we will have no misrelation to God, others, self... our intimacy with each other will be more intense than the best marriage here. And not just with a small group, with everyone you encounter. She said that's a very E picture, and basically that didn't sound like heaven at all to her. So... do Is have a different telos than the Es? For the first time, I started thinking of I-ness as a dysfunction; in our glorified state I doubt we'll have such inclinations.

 

And, relatedly, the group doesn't know what beauty is. Just as they struggled to think of being in despair, likewise they struggled to think of examples of beauty. I tried to describe the already-but-not-yet aspect of the Kingdom, and conversely the already-but-not-yet aspect of Hell. In each moment, both aspects are present in this world. Take God's omnipresence seriously. In each moment, God is there. That beauty is immediately accessible to all, and to misrelate to that is despair. But consistent with their unawareness of despair, neither could they could they easily think of times when they found beauty in the mundane.

 

At any rate, it's a process of discussion...and so as long as respectful discussion is going forth in the presence of Jesus, I believe that growth (of various types) will take place to.  It's all a process.