4. L’Engle says that it takes humility and courage for us “to stop and behold, to observe and contemplate” the universe. Why do you think this is so? In what way is truly observing and contemplating a powerful act?
5. Reflect on Dinah’s story in this chapter. What about the story stands out to you? How did it make you feel? Do you see yourself in the story or the character in any way? Why do you think the author chose to speak from Dinah’s perspective rather than Levi’s?
Chapter 4: Judah
1. How does Judah’s story—including his behavior as the pragmatic, but not necessarily compassionate, brother of Joseph—enhance or challenge your understanding of Jesus as the “lion of Judah”? Does anything about Judah’s story surprise you?
2. As L’Engle asserts, “there are no stories in Scripture that do not have a purpose, a proper place.” What, then, is the purpose of Judah and Tamar’s story? How does this reading deepen your understanding of our story, as Christians?
3. What examples from Scripture does the author cite in her discussion of fire? Considering these, why do you think our modern interpretation of hell involves fire? What is the difference between the fire of God and the fires of hell, according to L’Engle?
4. What does the lineage of Jesus—traced through Joseph’s line, not Mary’s—emphasize? Why is this important?
5. Reflect on Judah’s story in this chapter. What about the story stands out to you? How did it make you feel? Do you see yourself in the story or the character in any way?
Chapter 5: Dan
1. What does the author say sometimes “heightens our awareness of God’s creation”? Has this been true for you? Describe a time in which your awareness of creation was heightened. Was this experience important or profound? Why or why not?
2. Why, according to the author, has the world tried to tame the story of Christmas? What are we, like the Magi, called to do? Why is this important? How is this approach to Christmas different from society’s approach?
3. When does religion become “bad religion”? How can we recognize bed religion in ourselves?
4. Repeatedly, L’Engle emphasizes the importance of observation and contemplation in our lives. This, she argues, brings joy. She asks a series of questions in this chapter, wondering how anyone who has truly loved—truly observed and contemplated another—can kill or maim or destroy. How can you work to observe and contemplate the world around you? Why is it important to acknowledge the interconnectedness of all things, from humans to nature to the universe? What weight does this idea give to you and your place in Creation?
5. Reflect on Potiphar’s wife’s story in this chapter. What about the story stands out to you? How did it make you feel? Do you see yourself in the story or the character in any way?
Chapter 6: Naphtali
1. Have you ever wondered what the earliest biblical characters turned to in times of trouble? As L’Engle points out, “There were as yet no Psalms to comfort him, no written Scripture to give him guidance and hope.” To what do you turn for comfort and guidance in times of distress? Do you turn to Scripture? If so, what would you do if it wasn’t available, as it wasn’t available for Joseph?
2. Have you ever had a dream that meant something, or you believe was sent by God? If so, describe it. Why did this dream feel more important than other dreams? What did you learn from it?
3. L’Engle says of Joseph: “We are told that God was with him, but we are not told of his own awareness of God.” Do you think God is with people who are unaware of God? Why or why not? What does this idea tell you about God?
4. This chapter highlights the “incredible reversals” that Joseph experienced in his life—from prison to palace. Have you experienced an incredible reversal in your own life, even if not as dramatic as Joseph’s?
5. Reflect on the prisoner’s story in this chapter. What about the story stands out to you? How did it make you feel? Do you see yourself in the story or the character in any way?
Chapter 7: Gad
1. Have you ever felt forsaken by God? L’Engle says that Joseph “did not question but accepted the afflictions that came upon him as he accepted the power.” Do you struggle to accept affliction? In what ways have you been given power? Do you struggle to accept that? Why or why not?
2. What does the author mean by “new morality”? Where do you believe we have strayed in our morality? How can our morality be realigned into the “new morality” about which she speaks?
3. Why is Madeleine L’Engle a Christian, according to this chapter? Do you understand her meaning? Does it resonate with you? Why are or aren’t you a Christian?
4. Do we need mystery? Why or why not? What is important about mystery in our faith? What happens if we can not accept mystery?
5. The author wrestles with questions about what happens after death in this chapter, sharing her belief that God is not finished working in us just because we die. She says, “There are many important lessons to be learned before we are ready for the unveiled glory of the Presence.” What do you believe about life after death? Do you agree with the author, that God still has things for us to learn? Do you believe our souls enter immediately into “the Presence,” as she calls it?
6. What is your reaction to people who are judgmental? How do you keep from falling into judgmentalism in response?
7. Reflect on Gad’s wife’s story in this chapter. What about the story stands out to you? How did it make you feel? Do you see yourself in the story or the character in any way?
Chapter 8: Asher
1. In the story of Jacob and his sons, Jacob repeatedly rejects every son but Joseph and Benjamin. When the brothers say they must take Benjamin to Egypt, he rejects them yet again. L’Engle says, “Jacob was too involved in his own grief to understand what he was doing to his sons.” Have you ever experienced this kind of grief—either as the one grieving or the one wounded by another’s grief? How did that experience make you feel?
2. The author says that “most of us are alive only occasionally.” What does she mean by this? Do you agree? When have you felt most alive? How does this chapter inform your understanding of the “spiritual body” about which Paul writes?
3. Which aspect of Jesus—divine or human—do you tend to focus on more naturally? Which aspect is easier to understand? Which is more mysterious?
4. Why did Jesus use parables? What is the closest we can come to truth, according to this chapter? In what ways do the parables of Jesus lead you to truth? How do they challenge you?
5. The author discusses the changing of language and how it affects us. She is particularly frustrated with the shift in meaning of certain words, which she discusses in detail. What words does L’Engle find objectionable, and why? What do you think about these words? Are there words whose meanings have changed in recent years that frustrate you?
6. Reflect on Asher’s story in this chapter. What about the story stands out to you? How did it make you feel? Do you see yourself in the story or the character in any way?
Chapter 9: Issachar
1. Have you ever had an experience in which “God’s hand was so visible that it was impossible not to recognize it”? If so, what was it? How did the experience move or strengthen you?
2. What reminds you to value time? Do you try to be aware of the passage of time, of how fleeting it is? Is this reality beautiful or frightening to you?
3. What, in L’Engle’s words, is “normal”? Do you agree with her? Have you ever thought about it in this way? When you are struggling or depressed or grieving, how do you find normalcy?
4. Why do you think Joseph played the game of “cat and mouse,” as L’Engle says, with his brothers before revealing his identity? Have you ever tested your own relationships in a similar way?
5. The author begins the conversation in this chapter about “good art” and how being a Christian does or does not matter to the art. Do you think a person’s faith or lack thereof informs their art? Can art be “good” if it is not explicitly Ch
ristian? Can art be Christian if the artist is not? (For her complete thoughts on this subject, see Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art [Convergent, 2016].)
6. Reflect on Asenath’s story in this chapter. What about the story stands out to you? How did it make you feel? Do you see yourself in the story or the character in any way?
Chapter 10: Zebulun
1. L’Engle acknowledges that “words have incredible power to heal or to harm.” In what ways have words healed and harmed you?
2. How are words used in today’s society? Think of the ways technology is changing language and the ways technology uses and expands language. Is the potency of our vocabulary being lost or strengthened? How so? The authors says, “As our vocabulary dwindles, so does our ability to think, and so does our theology.” Do you agree? If so, why do you think this is true?
3. Why is the language used to describe the Virgin Birth important? What is the difference between conceived by the Holy Spirit and conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit? Have you ever read different translations of the Bible and noticed how the language changes or enhances the text?
4. Reflect on Benjamin’s story in this chapter. What about the story stands out to you? How did it make you feel? Do you see yourself in the story or the character in any way?
Chapter 11: Joseph
1. The author says, “Pain, lying long dormant, can rise up and be as acute as when it was first felt.” Have you ever experienced this? How so? What do you think is the purpose of pain in moments like this?
2. We never “get over” deep pain, L’Engle argues. What instead do we do? How have you learned to live with pain in your own life? How has this changed you?
3. What is absolutism? In what ways does the author say it has been manifested? What is dangerous about absolutism? Why do you think humans can become absolute in their beliefs about something? In what ways does absolutism offer a false sense of security?
4. L’Engle says, “It is not that difficult to believe in the impossible because it is the impossible that gives us joy. The possible really isn’t worth bothering about.” What does this mean to you? What impossibles do you believe in? What about these impossible things gives you joy?
5. What is the difference between passion and fanaticism? How are these things manifested in our society today? How are they manifested in you?
6. When we are in communion with the Creator, the author says, we are less afraid. Of what are we afraid without this communion? How is this true in your own life?
7. Do the author’s thoughts on death align with, challenge, or expand your own in any way? How so?
8. Reflect on Joseph’s servant’s story in this chapter. What about the story stands out to you? How did it make you feel? Do you see yourself in the story or the character in any way?
Chapter 12: Benjamin
1. Where have you put down roots? Have you ever been uprooted? How did you adjust to uprootedness?
2. Have you ever struggled to understand your own motivations? Does recognizing your true motivations help you to let go and move on? How?
3. Throughout the story of Joseph and his brothers, the characters must suffer consequences for their actions for many years to come. Reuben, for example, pays for his mistake with Bilhah for the rest of his life, never receiving the honor usually paid to the firstborn son. Are lasting consequences a familiar theme to you in some way? How does God’s grace intersect with Reuben’s story? With your own?
4. Joseph says that his brothers intended evil in their dealings with the younger Joseph, but that God “meant it for good.” Has there ever been a time in your life when something seemed bad—either someone meant evil for you or you found yourself in a place where there were no good options—and yet, eventually, it became clear that God meant it for good?
5. Reflect on Joseph’s story in this chapter. What about the story stands out to you? How did it make you feel? Do you see yourself in the story or the character in any way?
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