Into It | Dangerous Songs study guide

Chapter 8: Newness

Study Guide for Dangerous Songs: The Psalms and a Gloriously Disrupted Life

First Words of Newness

New things can be exciting and/or scary. Name some examples of Newness that was both yearned for and resisted.

Change and Changes

How do you feel about change?
What is your process for making decisions? Do you make a list of pros and cons, ask advice from trusted friends, roll dice?
Listen to Like Jerusalem Surrounded By Hills (Psalm 125). People have different radars for signs of God’s love. Do you notice evidence of God’s presence surrounding you?

Labyrinth Season

If you have experienced a labyrinth walk, share your experience.
Listen to Teach Me Your Way (Psalm 86). When things ripen toward change, a prayer like, “Show me, help me, lead me, guide me” is a good one for some of us. Is this true for you?

Do We Really Want to Sing a New Song?

What is your relationship to new music, fashion, foods, games, art, etc.?
Listen to God Has Brought Us to Life (Psalm 66). It’s a kind of story-turned-icon about the history of the people. Do you have a story you tell yourself about your family or your lifetime?

What Should I Do?

Describe your personal decision-making process that is brilliantly unique to you.

The Right Path

Listen to the song To You (Psalm 25) or the chant I Lay Open (Psalm 25). How does the translation of the Hebrew term nephesh from soul to whole life change the meaning of this verse?
When it comes to designing our lives, some of us are built for patient wonder, others for decisive clarity. How are you with the unknown?

God as Midwife

From halfway down page 157: “Deep trust and mature faith prompt the psalmist to identify God as the one who not only brought them into the world, but who is still the midwife of every transition in their life.” Discuss the gifts and challenges to imagining God as midwife.
Listen to You Were My Midwife (Psalm 71). Reflect together on how you see God involved in your life and the life of all creation.
Listen to A Life of Trust (Psalm 40). We notice our own trust when we are secure and steady and also when we’re scared and shaken. Are you in a season of one or the other right now in your trust of God, or somewhere in the middle?
How does faith (or trust) in God evolve over time?
From page 160: “Newness can feel like exhilaration because in the embrace of newness, we experience ourselves as a different person, one who has made it through the wilderness of the unknown and come out with a gift. That hard-won gift is maturity, a leveling up of trust.” Discuss.
When we’re confused, faith feels different than when you’re clear. Listen to Steady, Steady Love (Psalm 143) or watch the lyric video. When you’re in a time of bewilderment, what support do you need?
After reading the “Allowing the New Thing,” section, go to the Psalm 4 page and listen to I Will Lie Down and Sleep in Peace (Psalm 4) or Rest In Shalom (Psalm 4).

Creators of the New

The author calls you an artist. Last paragraph on page 163: “As a maker of your own life, both the confidence and the trepidation about the New Thing are honest experiences of a rich, complicated life.” If you were ever told that doubt was bad or that confusion is a sign of weakness, we are here to assure you that you’re doing just fine.