We come to the Bible longing to seek God and a stronger
relationship. These words we find in
scripture contain the Word of God for us.
We find that God has a desire to be with us, to teach us and guide us,
and give us power.
Through engaging the Bible we discover many things; most
importantly: the incredible mercy of God which creates new life. We come to the Bible to see ourselves as we
truly are and to discover the “more” God made us to be. We find that our infinite worth derives not
from what we manage to accomplish (as much as God does love that). Our worth is established by what God bestows.
One great part of a Bible study is the interaction among
those who gather. The more we know of
the Bible, seeing what God did in the past, the more we are able to see and to
participate in what God is doing now.
We will meet at the back of the Sanctuary from 6:30 to 8:00
p.m. Here the topics for the five weekly
sessions beginning August 29th.
Come to each session having read the texts and with questions and
responses.
Session One: The Bible – What is it? How was it formed? Why study it?
How do you get to its meaning for today?
What does it matter? What do I do
with the contradictions?
Read: Psalm
84, Hosea 11, I Kings 19, I Chronicles 22, Acts 9, Exodus 20,
Deuteronomy
5-6, Micah 4 and 6, Philemon, Luke 15, II Timothy 3:16-17
Session Two: Creation - Is it really “good?” What is our role? Do science and the Bible really
disagree? Why are there two stories of
creation? Why are we going to explore
Mars?
Read:
Genesis 1 and 2, Psalms 8, 19, 33, 104, 127 and 128, John 1, Job 38-40
Session Three: Brokenness - What is wrong with life in
creation? Why can’t people get
along? Why have profits become more
important that prophets? What are God’s
warnings? What are the consequences of
human sin?
Read: Amos
1-4, Job 11-37, Isaiah 1-7, Romans
Session Four: Poverty
– What do we do with the least, the last, and the lost? How do we help without becoming suckers and
enablers? Do we make victims into
criminals?
Read: The Book of Luke, Acts 10
Session Five: Acts of
the Holy Spirit – Where is new life for us and for the church?
Read: Acts 15-28, Ephesians
1-4, 1 Corinthians 12-13 and Romans 12,
James 3-5
I have always been amazing and blessed by the rich diversity of the Bible, all of it held together as a giant love letter from God. On one level there is no way to say: "The Bible says....."because the Bible says so many different things. Why does the Bible begin with two very different stories describing the creation. It is assumed by the Biblical writers (and it is joyfully probably) that you will get caught up in conversations and questions; the Bible grabs you and holds you. I imagine conversations between Esther and Job, between Peter and Paul. And often the questions are more gripping that my desire to jump to ready answers. My questions of a text soon have my realizing that I am being questioned? Then things really get interesting. What did it mean when it happened? For what purpose was this written down? What does it say about God? What does it say about human beings? What difference does it have in my life, my church, my family, God's world? Often it is more important to find the questions, to which my life can be an answer.
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