Salt and Light - Week Four
June 28, 2026
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Week 4 Paradigm shifts
Context:
In our final week we read the Bible alive to the paradigm shifts in the texts — the clean breaks and sudden twists. Part of being salt and life is bringing prophecy and critique to the mainstream. Showing the world that another way is possible. Light can blind and burn and salt can sting and scour.
What paradigm shifts have you seen in your lifetime? Perhaps a leap in science in technology? A change in social attitude and values? Or a more personal change in your own life? Discuss!
The group leader leads a quick discussion on any initial thoughts and reactions to these ideas before moving on to the next section: Introducing the readings.
Introducing the readings:
This week we take a look at three short readings as we consider: 1 the internal paradigm shift to a life of freedom, 2 the external paradigm shift to a life of compassion, and 3 the cosmic paradigm shift to a life of holiness. Our first reading is from Paul’s letter to the Romans where the apostle urges these early Christians to embrace a new kind of freedom where they are in the driving seat of their lives. Next we look at just a few verses from the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus sends out his 12 disciples and urges them to have a profoundly new outlook to the world. And finally we read just two verses verse, again from Matthew’s Gospel, where the curtain in the temple is torn at the moment of Christ’s death on the cross in a paradigm shift for the universe. This moment is highly charged and symbolic as the curtain in the temple separated the innermost holiest part of the temple. With Christ’s death there is no longer any barrier to God’s holiness. God does not live in a temple made by human hands, God now lives in us!
Read: Romans 6: 12-23, Matthew 10: 40-42 and Matthew 27: 50-51
A volunteer reads these Bible texts and then the group leader reads the following words from the Response to initiate a discussion on the readings and theme.
Response:
Paul wants the Romans to grasp the shift in their lives that newfound freedom in God will bring — from having no control giving in to their worst habits, to being in the driving seat of our own lives. He juxtaposes the false-freedom of indulging in sin — inflicting pain and misery on ourselves and others — with the freedom of no longer being controlled by our impulses.
The ‘Q:’ sections are questions that are thrown out to the group to initiate discussion on the passage and themes. Pause after each to discuss the ideas.
Q: Paul talks about the ‘gift of eternal life’. Do you think this is simply a promise of an afterlife, or an invitation to a new kind of eternal life that begins here and now? What freedom does living an eternal life here and now offer us?
Q: What paradigm shifts have we experienced in our social lives as we have got to know Christ? How have we found ourselves welcoming God when we have welcomed others?
In our final reading, just these two verses, the curtain in the temple is dramatically torn. It is a paradigm shift for reality. The death of Jesus, the tearing of the curtain in the temple is THE profound paradigm shift in our lives. In Jesus there is no barrier between us and God, no separation. God does not live in a temple made of human hands! God lives in us!
Q: The torn veil, is symbolic that God is no longer understood as contained in a location behind a curtain. We are the living containers or temples of God’s grace. Knowing this
How should it change the way we walk about in the world? Should our presence shed light into the places we live and work?
Let’s take time as a Connect group to pray into this space — the beautiful paradigm shift at the heart of the universe — that God became one of us in Jesus, to show us how much we are loved, how much we belong, how much we matter.
Pray: What are our prayers for the light of God that we each carry in us?
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