The Shack

Chapter 6a

 

·        Mack is in shock from seeing Jesus, Sarayu, and Papa (p. 88)

·        Mack feels obligated to talk to Papa (p. 89)

“Well I sort of feel obligated to go in and talk to him, uh, her.”  “Oh,” now Jesus was serious.  “Don’t go because you feel obligated.  That won’t get you any points around here.  Go because it’s what you want to do.”

§         Is your relationship with God out of obligation or want?

 

·        Mack wants to speak his mind to God, but couldn’t. (p.90)

“Suddenly Mack wanted to ask a thousand questions, or say a thousand things, some of them unspeakable and terrible.  He was sure that his face betrayed the emotions he was battling to control, and then in a flash of a second he shoved everything back into his battered heart’s closet, locking the door on the way out.”

§         Have you ever held back your “true” feelings to God?  Why?

 

·        Mack questions the music God is listening to (p. 90)

“So God listens to funk...I thought you would be listening to George Beverly Shea or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir – you know, something churchier.”

§         What do you question God about?

 

·        Mack admits that calling God Papa is hard for him. (p91)

·        Papa tells Mack that he can be the Papa he never had. (p.92)

·        Mack’s first “real” question comes out to Papa. (p.92)

“If you couldn’t take care of Missy, how can I trust you to take care of me?”

§         Do any of you feel this way about God?  Why?

 

·        Papa tells Mack he wants to heal his wound, but Mack doesn’t see how. (p.92)

“Honey, there’s no easy answer that will take your pain away.  Believe me, if I had one, I’d use it now.  I have no magic want to wave over you and make it all better.  Life takes a bit of time and a lot of relationship.”

§         Do you feel you have the patience to stay in relationship with God?

§         Do you hunger for that relationship?

 

·        Papa believes in getting the head issues out of the way. (p.93)

“I often find that getting the head issues out of the way first makes the heart stuff easier to work on later…when you’re ready.”

§         Are there head issues you need to get out of the way?  What are they?

 

·        Papa explains why he appeared to Mack as a black woman. (p.93)

“For me to appear to you as a woman and suggest that you call me Papa is simply to mix metaphors, to help you keep from falling so easily back into your religious conditioning.”

§         Do you feel that religion has conditioned you?  In what way?

 

·        Papa talks to Mack about Freedom. (p.94-95)

“At this point, you don’t even comprehend that freedom is an incremental process…Mackenzie, the Truth shall set you free and the Truth has a name: he’s over in the woodshop right now covered in sawdust.  Everything is about him.  And freedom is a process that happens inside a relationship with him.  Then all that stuff you feel churnin’ around inside will start to work its way out.”

§         Do you or are you taking the incremental steps with Jesus towards freedom?

 

·        Mack notices the scars on Papa’s wrists. (p.95)

·        Mack thought God left Jesus at the cross (p.96)

Mack was surprised.  “At the cross? Now wait, I thought you left him – you know – ‘My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’”  “… Regardless of what he felt at that moment, I never left him.”  “How can you say that? You abandoned him just like you abandoned me!”  “Mackenzie, I never left him, and I have never left you.”  That makes no sense to me,” he snapped.  “I know it doesn’t, at least not yet.  Will you at least consider this: When all you can see is your pain, perhaps then you lose sight of me?”

§         Do you feel like God has abandoned you? Why?

§         When you are in pain do you lean into God or do you lose sight of him?

 

 

The Shack

Chapter 6b

Summary Notes:

·        Jesus found his way through the pain to put himself in the Father’s hands (p96). (Luke 23:46)

·        We were created to be loved.  Living as if unloved is a limitation. (p97).

·        Pain has a way of clipping our wings and keeping us from being able to fly (p97).

·        Unresolved pain can make us forget we were ever created to fly (p97.)

·        Papa explains Jesus as fully God, but choosing to be human moment by moment (p99). (John 1:1-18)

·        Who wants to worship a God who can be fully comprehended? (p101).

·        Love is not the limitation, love is the flying.  God is love (p101). (I John 4:8)

·        God cannot act apart from love (p102).

·        Papa tells Mack to start with whatever small trust he has (p102).

·        Mack is sorry Jesus had to die.  Papa and Jesus aren’t sorry.  It was worth it (p103).

 

Splinters from “Shaq:”           shaq.jpg

1.      Do you sometimes live as if you are unloved?

2.      How do you react to emotional pain?

3.      Is there any unresolved pain in your life? 

4.      On a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you think you comprehend God?

5.      On a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you trust God?