Bible Study

Coffee and Tea ready for the Bible Study group, even though I quickly learned I'm the only coffee drinker.  

I think that every day I have slightly more awe for the professors and pastors who taught me.  The minute that something seems easy, it becomes very evident that it is easier to watch than it is to do.  This has been particularly obvious to me as I prepare for my Bible Study and Confirmation Class.  

Maybe it's even harder because my theology is so much a "to each their own" approach that I have trouble teaching people something and letting it be.  I very often say, "but I could be wrong; what do you think?" and you know, I still think that's the right way to go when teaching people-- especially the very intellectual group that this congregation is-- but it sure is hard to get a lesson plan together with that approach.  Or at least it's new.  Maybe it's just new.  

Blessed I am that this congregation knows I'm trying on a lot of different hats to find the right one.  Bible Study hats?  

Well, the Bible Study is actually going tremendously well in my opinion.  We just talk and share stories and asks questions.  We don't look for definite answers; we look for ways to live into our questions so that they can be a part of the journey.  

One of my favorite Bible Study moments so far (okay, there have only been two meetings) was today when we read this: 

"Near the end of his life Thomas Jefferson spent a great deal of time editing his own version of the Bible. He took out all of the passages that he found difficult to believe or that offended his sensibilities. When Jefferson was finished, his “Bible” was only forty-six pages long.  By contrast, when I encounter such difficult-to-believe passages in the Bible, I have learned not to dismiss them entirely.  After all, God is not restrained by the borders of my imagination.  But I don't pretend to believe things I don't believe, either.  Instead, I try to keep such passages in the kind of place where I will be sure to pick them up again." -- Martin Copenhaver, from this document.  

I just love this concept-- we could throw it all out and have almost no book left, or we could realize that our imagination doesn't even begin to be capable of understanding this enormous and complex "book of books," but it sure is fun to try.  

Anyway, I don't know what this entry is for.  Maybe to say, "Wow, professors and other Bible Study leaders, you're awesome."  Or maybe to say, "Come to my Bible study!  You won't be bored!"  Or, of course, "Please don't just throw the Bible out the window."  But probably all three.