The Broken Way by Ann Voskamp
Week 2: Chapter 1 — Broken and Blessed
Read Chapter 1 of The Broken Way. Key passages: Matthew 14:19–20 (the feeding of the five thousand); Luke 22:19.
Previewing Week 2 of The Broken Way
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 11-week guide when you’re ready.
Voskamp asks what it would mean to stop seeing our brokenness as a problem to be solved and start seeing it as a gift to be given.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Voskamp returns again and again to the eucharistic sequence: taken, blessed, broken, given. In this chapter, she argues that this is not just what happened to the bread at the Last Supper — it is the shape of every faithful human life. Do you find that sequence comforting or frightening? Why?
2.She reflects on how Jesus gave thanks (the word eucharist means 'thanksgiving') before he broke the bread — not after the breaking was resolved, but in the middle of it. What does it mean to give thanks in the breaking, before you can see the outcome? Have you ever experienced that kind of prior gratitude?
3.Voskamp uses the image of a grain of wheat that must fall into the ground and die (John 12:24) to talk about how abundance comes through surrendered brokenness, not through self-protection. Where in your life are you most tempted to protect yourself from the falling and dying that might lead to fruit?