Category Archives: Bible

Book Club Style Bible Study — Date Corrected

On Thursday, July 6, 2023 (time to be announced), I plan to lead a book club-style session on God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships by Matthew Vines. The book sets out a biblical case for affirming gay and lesbian men and women—and, by extension, the entire LGBTQ+ community.

As I’ve said before, the argument that the United Methodist Church is having over the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ folks is not a matter of biblical authority; it’s a question of biblical interpretation. This book presents the case for an LGBTQ+ affirming reading of the Bible. I think it’s vital that those who want to be an affirming church for queer people know the biblical reasons for doing so.

There will be copies of the book available in the back of the sanctuary. You can also order copies online from all the usual places, including my favorite locally owned bookstore in Council Grove at flinthillsbooks.com. (I couldn’t find any copies at the Dusty Bookshelf website.)

Starting Lent with the Prophet Isaiah

Lent is a time preparation. A time to intentionally turn back to God that we might better celebrate Easter. This morning I started A Way Other Than Our Own by Walter Brueggemann. He in turn started with this proclamation from the prophet Isaiah:

Seek the LORD while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake their way,
and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the LORD,
that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
(Isaiah 55:6-7, NRSV)

That’s good news. Mercy, pardon, life abundant, life everlasting are freely available from the God who longs to be in relationship with us.

Bible Study Schedule

At the suggestion of a well-respected local educator, I’ve drafted the following schedule for our Bible study on Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again by Rachel Held Evans.

Session 1 (Wednesday, November 9, 2022): “Introduction”

Session 2: “The Temple” and “1. Origin Stories”

Session 3: “The Well” and “2. Deliverance Stories”

Session 4: “The Walls” and “3. War Stories”

Session 5: “The Debate” and “4. Wisdom Stories”

Session 6: “The Beast” and “5. Resistance Stories”

Session 7: “The Water” and “6. Gospel Stories”

Session 8: “The Sea” and “7. Fish Stories”

Session 9: “The Letter” and “8. Church Stories”

No Scripture Can Mean That God Is Not Love

Railing against the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, John Wesley made an important point for the interpretation of scripture.

“[The doctrine of predestination] destroys all [God’s] attributes at once. It overturns both his justice, mercy and truth. Yea, it represents the most Holy God as worse than the devil. . . . But you say you will ‘prove it by Scripture’. Hold! What will you prove by Scripture? That God is worse than the devil? It cannot be. Whatever that Scripture proves, it never can prove this. . . . There are many Scriptures the true sense whereof neither you or I shall know till death is swallowed up in victory. But this I know, better it were to say it had no sense at all than to say it had such a sense as this. . . . No Scripture can mean that God is not love, or that his mercy is not over all his works.”
— John Wesley [1]

[1] John Wesley, “Free Grace,” in The Sermons of John Wesley: A Collection for the Christian Journey, ed. Kenneth J. Collins and Jason E. Vickers (Nashville, Tenessee: Abingdon Press, 2013), 28-29.

Bible Study: God’s Faithfulness

This evening, Wednesday, October 19, 2022, at 7 p.m., we’ll have a Bible study on God’s faithfulness. You can attend in person in the parlor or you can join us via Zoom at bit.ly/3AOWXnf. You don’t need to read anything ahead of time to participate. (Most people don’t.) We’ll begin with a short video introduction and then continue the discussion from there. If you want to watch the video or study the materials ahead of time you can go here.

Link: bibleproject.com/explore/video/faithful/

A Book Study on the Bible

Our next Wednesday Night Adult Bible Study will be on Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again by Rachel Held Evans. The plan is to start Wednesday, November 2, 2022, at 7 p.m. 

From the publisher:

“If the Bible isn’t a science book or an instruction manual, what is it? What do people mean when they say the Bible is inspired? When New York Times bestselling author Rachel Held Evans found herself asking these questions, she embarked on a journey to better understand what the Bible is and how it’s meant to be read. What she discovered changed her—and it can change you, too.”

The book is available at all the usual places, and copies have been ordered so you can pick one up at church. The suggested donation is $14, but feel free to give whatever you can or just take one.

Bible Study: God’s Loyal Love

This evening, Wednesday, October 12, 2022, at 7 p.m., we’ll have a Bible study on God’s loyal love. You can attend in person in the parlor or you can join us via Zoom at bit.ly/3AOWXnf. You don’t need to read anything ahead of time to participate. (Most people don’t.) We’ll begin with a short video introduction and then continue the discussion from there. If you want to watch the video or study the materials ahead of time you can go here.

On the Attributes and Justice of God

At Wednesday night Bible Study we’ve been studying the attributes of God found in Exodus 34:6: “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” In our most recent study, we looked at some quotes from Abraham Heschel that I want to share with you:

“The prophets had no theory or ‘idea’ of God. What they had was an understanding . . . To the prophets, God was overwhelmingly real and shatteringly present. . . . To the prophets, the attributes of God were drives, challenges, commandments, rather than timeless notions . . . They disclosed attitudes of God rather than ideas about God.”

“To the prophet . . . God does not reveal himself in abstract absoluteness, but in a personal and intimate relation to the world. He [God] does not simply command and expect obedience; He is moved and affected by what happens in the world, and reacts accordingly. Events and human actions arouse in him joy or sorrow, pleasure or wrath. He is not conceived as judging the world in detachment. He reacts in an intimate and subjective manner. [God is moved, affected, grieved, gladdened and pleased by what people do.]”

“This notion that God can be intimately affected, that He possesses not merely intelligence and will, but also pathos, basically defines the prophetic consciousness of God. “

God is not indifferent to injustice, but God is slow to anger. (In the King James Version the Hebrew word for slow to anger is translated as longsuffering). That’s why, in the Bible, we continually see God giving people chance after chance, opportunity after opportunity, to repent and turn back to God. It is why, I believe, the years between Jesus’s first and second comings have stretched so long. Like the loving father in the parable, God is ever ready to abandon all dignity and rush down the road to welcome us home.

It is to our benefit that God is slow to anger, but it is also to our benefit that God will not allow injustice to stand forever. The world will be set right and all will be well in the end. No matter what we have done, it is not yet ever too late to turn to God. It is also never too early, and sooner is better than later.