S11 E14 Bride Part 2: Full and Total Love

Abiding Together

In this episode, we continue with part two of our series on the identity of Bride: Full and Total Love. We discuss the perfect model we have in Christ of love without reservation and the distinction between co-existing with those we love and living in complete union. We pray this week you would allow your heart to be transformed to love those around you fully and totally.

Sister Miriam’s one thing - Some People Do - Old Dominion

Heather’s one thing - Love Heals ring - Pink Salt Riot

Michelle’s one thing - Mary

Discussion Questions:

1. What stood out to you from this week’s episode?
2. What does it look like to love without reservation?
3. With your spouse, closest friends or a small group - Do you know enough of one another’s stories to love one another fully?
4. How do we learn to love another when they have parts that aren't beautiful in that moment? How can we learn to be like Christ then?

Journal Questions:

1. Where is yout heart holding back, guarding itself, or not loving fully, and why? Is there a fear of rejection, a fear of misunderstanding, or a fear of vulnerability?
2. Are you co-existing alongside your spouse, your family, or your community? Take a moment to pray for the grace of a deeper union. What would it look like to give more of your heart to these relationships?
3. How have you seen your love grow in maturity over time?

Quotes to Ponder: “My dear young friends, I want to invite you to ‘dare to love.’ Do not desire anything less for your life than a love that is strong and beautiful and that is capable of making the whole of your existence a joyful undertaking of giving yourselves as a gift to God and your brothers and sisters, in imitation of the One who vanquished hatred and death for ever through love (cf. Rev 5:13). Love is the only force capable of changing the heart of the human person and of all humanity, by making fruitful the relations between men and women, between rich and poor, between cultures and civilizations.” (Message for the 22nd World Youth Day: Palm Sunday, 1 April 2007) ― Pope Benedict XVI

Scripture for Lectio Divina: “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man[a] there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed. - Genesis 2:18-25