News - Beta Groups RSS Feed

I’m pretty sure this is the correct Gospel for this coming weekend… and it is a good one! If you’ve ever had a hard time believing in the resurrection of Jesus, you are in good company this week, with his own disciples. The comforting news is that Jesus wants us to know that He is indeed risen and real! I hope you have wonderful conversations this week.

Happy Easter! I hope you had a beautiful Holy Week and Easter weekend. Here's this week's Beta, in case you are planning to meet this week. I hope you have wonderful conversations and prayer! Happy Easter!

Hello Beta leaders! We are approaching Holy Week, and this week’s Beta looks at one of the two Gospel readings from the Palm Sunday Mass. Two things that strike me on Palm Sunday every year are imagining how the disciples felt this week, not knowing what we know about how the story turns out… and, remembering that some of the very people who met Jesus with cheers and praise on Palm Sunday may have also been part of the crowd only days later as He carried His cross. For both groups of onlookers, the disciples and the crowd, this must have been a week of chaos, confusion, and discouragement. Can you relate? It’s tempting to jump over the sadness of Holy Week and go straight to the Good News of Easter, but I encourage you to linger here a bit longer, feeling the feelings of Holy Week, even though we know the “spoilers.” I pray you have wonderful conversations in this in-between moment!

Hello Beta leaders! This week’s Gospel reading is challenging; if you’re like me, it will take you a bit of reading to understand what is happening in this chaotic scene. But the resources this week are SO helpful, and I hope you find them enlightening too. Here are the links for the Sway (online) version, and attached is the formatted Word document. I pray wonderful conversations for your groups this week!

Rejoice! We’re over half way through Lent, and there is good news in the air. What better way to celebrate than with the best Good News? I pray your group will have great conversations over this Gospel. I was really struck by the fact that the last time it came up was around a year ago, and although the scripture hasn’t changed, I’d bet your readers have. I wonder how this year of living will affect your conversations, your prayer, and your faith?

Here’s the Beta for the 3rd Sunday of Lent. We’re almost at the halfway mark! Would you and your groups join me this week in praying for our Alpha Day Away this weekend?

I hope your Lent has gotten off to a good start.

If I had to describe Jesus’ personality based only on the Gospel readings from the last couple of weeks, I’d say “it’s complicated.” The Jesus we read about is doing amazing things, but there’s a real humanness to him that comes through, I think. Kids’ coloring pages always present Jesus as this smiling, floaty figure, un-ruffled and cheery all the time, but here, he seems to be “in a MOOD.” This might be an interesting time to talk about how your group members think about Jesus, and whether their understanding of Him has changed since their childhood days of coloring pages, especially if they’ve been getting to know Him better through Beta-ing for a while. I pray, as always, for amazing conversations in your group this week!

Hello beta leaders! I could have written 20 questions for this week’s beta, there’s a lot to dig into here. You probably know that at MQOA we have discerned a need for our parish to be a place of hospitality and healing, and both are featured in this reading! MQOA’s next night of Healing Prayer online will be Tuesday, February 9 at 7:00, please invite your small group members to check it out! You can learn more about how healing ministry works, view the Alpha Film Series video on healing, and (at the bottom of the page) find out more info on our monthly healing prayer nights: www.mqoa.org/healing

Our weekly column from Margo Morin, MQOA's Pastoral Associate

Welcome to Ordinary Time!

Happy New Year to you all! I hope you are starting this new year with a profound sense of hope and peace, even while things continue to be scary as all h*ck. Know that you are in my prayers and that we are guided by a God who wants good for us, as individuals, and as a parish/community. Here’s this week’s Beta- I love the questions this week, there’s so much to talk about; why Jesus was baptized, the implications of our own baptism, the Holy Spirit, the Trinity- oh my! So much.

I hope you’re having a good Advent. This week, barely into our year of Mark, we take a side trip into the Gospel of John. John the Baptist is a vivid character, and I hope you have some fun conversations around how he identifies himself (or… doesn’t) this week. Enjoy!