Part 1 in a book discussion series on the book "The Myth of Happiness". Use in a church homegroup, sunday school, or Bible study.

1. A Semi-Charmed Life
"Most Christians I know have just enough of the Gospel to make them miserable, but not enough
to make them joyful" -- Tony Campolo
"Joy is the gigantic secret of the Christian." -- G.K. Chesterton
1. What words come to mind when you 7. Read John 15:11, Luke 6:23, Gal. 5:22-23,
think of the word "joy"? Phil. 4:4, and 1 Thes. 5:16. Constrast these
promises and exhortations with something
Tony Campolo once said,"Most Christians I
2. Biblically speaking, is joy the same thing know have just enough of the Gospel to
as happiness? make them miserable, but not enough to
make them joyful".
3. How joyful are you right now in your life?
What factors are producing it? Or hindering 8. Does the joy that is described in these
it? passages reflect what you regularly
experience in your Christian walk? If not, do
you think this joy is something realistically
4 . "Thirst, seek, and settle" is a common attainable on a day-in, day-out basis?
life cycle for unbelievers and believers alike.
What do you think that cycle is?
9. Read Ecc. 1:2, 18. How is Solomon an
example of a believer living a joyless life?
Can you think of other people in the Bible
"I want something else to get me through this or Christian history who suffered a similar
semi-charmed kind of life." -- Third Eye Blind, "joy gap"?
"Semi-Charmed Life"
10. How does the dynamic "real time"
5. Have you experienced this cycle in your nature of our lives influence our ability to
life? live joy?
11. What are some ways in which we water
down biblical joy and live out "pidgin joy"?
6. What is the common, almost clichéd
response to settling?
12. How big of a deal is joy to the Christian
life?
"I know see that I spent most of my life in
doing neither what I ought nor what I liked." --
The Screwtape Letters Announcements
Next homegroup: Jan 30 instead of Feb 6
Friday Night Lights: Lars and the Real Girl
7:00pm, Worcester State, Room: Sullivan 101