Chapter Three: Fully Equipped

Chapter Three:  Fully Equipped

1. John Bell recounts an experience he had with a group of teenagers who had the opportunity to ask him anything they wanted about Jesus. He played a game with them called “Spin the bottle with Jesus” when they could formulate questions of Jesus (if he were present). Was it a surprise to you that many in his teenage audience wanted to know about Jesus’ sexuality? Why do you think it was their primary curiosity? If it’s something you’ve never wondered about, do you have a sense of why not?
   
   
2. How does a renewed awareness of Jesus' sexuality speak to your faith, your ministry, your life? What customs, behaviours and practices might it impact in your life?
   
   
3. John Bell speaks openly, honestly and directly with these teens and it caused controversy amongst the organizers of the gathering. What do you make of Bell’s approach with these teens and his pastoral and theological response? How might we find ways to be as open and vulnerable with others as Bell seeks to be?
   
   
4. In this chapter Bell goes to great lengths to remind readers that birth and childhood was risky in the time of Jesus. He shares some alarming statistics about infant mortality and the death rates for women giving birth. What’s wrong with romanticizing what his childhood may have been like or what it was like for Mary? How might this way of thinking change how you remember Mary?
   
   
5. Bell also describes how “fractured” families were much more common than “intact” families. He speaks of how with the prevalence of disease, war and dislocation were so common that it made the biblical mandate to care for widows and orphans critical.  How does this awareness of how difficult life would have been for Jesus and his extended family impact upon us at time when “fractured” families (for different reasons, including divorce) are also common? How might we act to provide care to others as a result?