A New Light: Small Group Resources

A digital version of the A New Light Study Guide can be viewed or downloaded by clicking here.

Below you will find the 'Go Deeper' Resources, which will be updated at the start of each week.

Week 1 | March 9 - 15, 2025

Sermon: Forever and a Day | Rev. Jessica Vaughan Lower

Scripture: Hebrews 13:8-16

Our Book of Order, which is the other part of our constitution in the PC(USA) in addition to the Book of Confessions, states in F-2.01-02 that our creeds and confessions “declares to its members and to the world who and what [the church] is, what it believes, and what it resolves to do. These statements identify the church as a community of people known by its convictions as well as by its actions. They guide the church in its study and interpretation of the Scriptures; they summarize the essence of Reformed Christian tradition; they direct the church in maintaining sound doctrines; they equip the church for its work of proclamation. They serve to strengthen personal commitment and the life and witness of the community of believers. The creeds and confessions of this church arose in response to particular circumstances within the history of God’s people. They claim the truth of the Gospel at those points where their authors perceived that truth to be at risk. They are the result of prayer, thought, and experience within a living tradition. They appeal to the universal truth of the Gospel while expressing that truth within the social and cultural assumptions of their time. They affirm a common faith tradition, while also from time to time standing in tension with each other. These confessional statements are subordinate standards in the church, subject to the authority of Jesus Christ, the Word of God, as the Scriptures bear witness to him. While confessional standards are subordinate to the Scriptures, they are, nonetheless, standards. They are not lightly drawn up or subscribed to, nor may they be ignored or dismissed.”

Questions to consider:

How familiar are you with our confessional statements? What is the purpose of confessional statements? What role do they play in our reformed faith tradition?
Consider this essay excerpt from “The Confession of 1967” in Book of Confessions: Study Edition, Revised (2017). Why might it be a valuable practice for us to treat the confessional statements as products of their time but also instructive for our current reality? What does it say about our tradition that we allow for statements that stand “in tension with each other?” What does this allow for?

`“Since 1967, the social influence of the mainline church has come to seem less impressive. From one direction, declining numbers and budgets have focused these churches on questions of institutional survival. From another, profound shifts in American society have challenged values long associated with the Christian tradition. Presbyterians find themselves thinking anew about the church’s relationship to culture and the dangers of accommodating the gospel to [other] values… C67 does have a helpful word for the church in our time. While we may see clearly how it reflected a particular moment in time because of our relative closeness in both culture and history, we also recognize that the church still must make progress on all these tasks: on issues of race—when almost all congregations are racially homogenous; on issues of peace-making—when divestment from makers of the tools of war is seen by some too radical for the church; on issues of poverty—as income and wealth gaps soar; and on issues of sexual relations—as sexual harassment and violence remain far too common within the church” (p. 366).

Week 2 | March 16 - 22, 2025

Sermon: How Can We Glorify God Each Day? | Rev. Dr. Tom Tewell

Scripture: Psalm 73: 24-26

Consider this excerpt from “The Westminster Confession of Faith” in Book of Confessions: Study Edition, Revised (2017) alongside this excerpt from the Directory for Worship in our Book of Order:

Westminster Confession (6.112): “The light of nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is good, and doeth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might…”
Book of Order (W-5.01): “We respond to God’s grace both in public worship and service and in personal acts of devotion and discipleship. Personal life and public worship are deeply connected. Christian life springs from Christian worship, where we find our identity as believers and discover our calling as disciples. Christian life flows back into worship as we present to God the prayers of our hearts and the offering of our lives…”

The Westminster Confession is part one of the Westminster Standards which includes the Shorter Catechism and was composed by the Westminster Assembly in England in 1647. This was a critical moment for Protestantism in England as the Puritans and the Presbyterians argued for their respective methods of church governance. The Directory for Worship is informed by scripture as well as the creeds and confessions and is what guides our PC(USA) church today in our preparations for worship and understanding what it means to worship God.

Questions to consider:

How does the Directory for Worship build on or clarify the message of the Westminster Confession for our modern ears? How do both texts treat God’s sovreignty, or supreme power/authority, over our whole lives?
Thinking back to the Shorter Catechism, how do these texts shine a light on what it might mean to “glorify” God? How do they encourage us to make God our center?