Healing of the Paralytic II

Hi Everyone

Great class last week, with 17 of us Bible studying the story of the healing of the paralytic. Thanks, Laura, for great facilitation. We used most of the time in class for small group discussion, answering our five questions: What does the story tell me about me? What does the story tell me about God? What does the story tell me about my relationship with God? and . . . What will I do?

I appreciated the sharing in our corner; and the opportunity to ponder those questions. For me, the part of the story that kept drawing my eye was when Jesus forgave the man's sins. I'm sure God is telling me I have further to go in fully understanding that amazing love, for myself. What I will seek to do is fully accept that unconditional love; an internal, attitude "do". Relaxing a bit more this week in the reality of God's delight in me (and you), knowing sins within and without me are taken care of by Jesus Christ's love -- what a wonderful experience. Laura and I hope each of you are finding new closeness to Christ as you "do" what God is leading you to do through this Bible study.

For this week -- we will begin a study of Jesus' great message, presented in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7, and in Luke.6:17-46. Please read through this material prior to class; no need for in depth study, just a quick scan with an eye to subject matter and any particular differences that easily stand out. We'll begin class with a short overview, comparing the contrasting the versions, then proceed to more in-depth study in smaller groups.

New participants are always welcome, so feel free to invite anyone you may think would enjoy and benefit from this class and study.

As always, class notes are also posted at www.stpaulpastor.blogspot.com. Feel free also to refer your friends, family and acquaintances to this site, whether or not they can or wish to come to class on Sunday. By the way, all the notes from last year's study "The Old Testament Made Easy" are also archived and available at this blog site.

God bless & look forward with excitement to being with you on Sunday

Dan and Laura

New Testament Made Easy Week III: Synoptic Gospels

Here are notes from week III, "New Testament Made Easy" class:

Laura, following up on awareness of different learning styles, put together a basket of art and craft supplies for our use during class. This is a way to encourage active listening for those who find it helpful to use their hands or draw or colorize during class. Several folks made good use of colored markers/pencils and pipe cleaners.

After our opening prayer we took a few moments to share insights from our own researches into the "synoptic gospels", from web based resources. For all our information, www.ibs.org, the site for International Bible Society, is a great and useful place for general research & outlines of books of the Bible.

We spent a good amount of time talking over a three-way comparison of the story of healing of the paralytic, content shared by Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We began to move through analysis to application to our lives, thinking about the message of sin, healing, and forgiveness through Christ. With some background established about how to compare/contrast the three gospel books, it feels like we are eager to move toward discussion of what the Scripture means for us.

We hope, in preparation for this coming Sunday, we will all have thought about our four basic questions:

1. What does the story tell me about me?
2. What does the story tell me about God?
3. What does the story tell me about my relationship with God?
4. What will I do?

We will continue our discussion this Sunday, September 28.

Have a great week. Laura and I are blessed, blessed to have you all in this class.

New Testament Made Easy Week II: Synoptic Gospels

Hi All

Thanks for your presence and participation last Sunday! Laura and I are enjoying you all and look forward to upcoming sessions together.

Here are some highlights from last time:

We spent the first part of class working a little more on the theory of "sources" as applies to similarities and differences among three Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We presented a diagram representing how common and unique oral and written sources about Jesus may have found their way into the respective books. This diagram is on printed notes; if you missed you may pick one up next Sunday.

We discussed, as a large group, some of the characteristics that distinguish common stories from each other in the "synoptic" Gospels. We reviewed a chart comparing three accounts of the calling of Matthew Levi, noting that all three books treat the story in a very similar way with small differences in detail. Of interest for example is that Matthew's book refers to this disciple as only "Matthew", while Mark and Luke refer to him as 'Levi the son of Alphaeus' and 'Levi'. How interesting, since Matthew writes to a Jewish audience, yet uses his Greek name, "Mathias", while Mark and Luke, who write to more general audiences use his Hebrew name. We also noticed that some of the words of Jesus are identical, word for word, in each book, giving an example of evidence scholars note when theorizing that there was, at one time, a collection of the sayings of Jesus, which all three writers may have used.

We also explained that the "Q" document, a theoretical work that may have been used by these three authors, is called "Q" because it is a German word "Quelle" (pronounced "kwell-eh", accent on first syllable, thanks, Harold), meaning, literally, "source".

We discussed last week's reading assignment: Matthew and Luke, chapters 1 and 2. We figured out pretty quickly that these chapters share a common subject, the birth of Jesus Christ, but present different accounts, emphasizing different characters, and with different details. For instance, in Matthew Joseph is the recipient of an angel's message about Jesus; in Luke Mary receives a message. Luke also goes into much more detail, in general. We didn't mention that Mark does not contain an account of Jesus' birth. So chapters 1-2 of Matthew and Luke are an example of content that is unique to each writer.

In order to focus on the message and meaning of the birth stories, we split into four groups of four and discussed two passages from Matthew and Luke that speak to the "why" of Jesus' birth. Both Matthew 1:18-24 and Luke 1:76-80 refer to Jesus as the one who will forgive sins and bring salvation from a merciful God.

For next week, we invite you to review a couple of web sources:

www.wikipedia.com, search "synoptic gospels"
www.crivoice.org/pdf/synoptic.pdf, search "synoptic Gospel problem"

Laura will be your lead teacher on Sunday, September 21, 10:00 a.m. in the church parlor. Hope to see you then, and also be aware that guests are welcome. Feel free to refer anyone to the class blog, www.stpaulpastor.blogspot.com for class notes and opportunity to comment. We also welcome questions and insights sent to this email address, pastordanta@mac.com.

Blessings!

Pastor Dan and Laura

New Testament Made Easy Week One

For this Sunday, please prepare for class by reading the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke, with an eye toward comparison/contrast. This will start us on a study of the three "synoptic" gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

Some review/key points from September 7:

* Purpose of the class is to enhance our church's mission, to grow in our understanding and application of Scripture to life, and to have a good time together!

* The New Testament is like a "library" of books of different types, all pertaining to the life of Christ and of the early Christian churches. The New Testament contains 27 books of several types: Gospels (presentations of the life of Jesus Christ), History (Acts, about the growth of the early church), Letters (to churches, individuals, and groups of Christians).

* The New Testament, as we know it, was not compiled until near the end of the fourth century A.D. Until that time, Christians read and claimed as sacred text many different books. What we know as our canon of Scripture (what is standard for us) and our "orthodox" Christian theology stems from decisions made after over three and half centuries from the time Christ walked the earth.

* Our four Gospel books can be characterized by their authorship and audience:

-- Mark, "The Rebel", earliest of the gospels, closest to ancient sources, depicting Christ's power over against evil and demonic forces
-- Matthew, "The Rabbi", wrote to a Jewish audience and focused on how Jesus fulfilled descriptions of the Messiah in the Jewish scriptures
-- Luke, "The Chronicler", Dr. Luke, Paul's companion, who exhibits a physicians compassion for all people and a particular eye for historical detail
-- John, "The Mystic", attributed to the "Beloved Disciple", and a book very different than the others because it comes from a different ancient Christian community and unique sources; describes Jesus Christ as the incarnation of the eternal Word (logos), the Light of the World and of human life and hearts.

* Be prepared to consider four questions for application during our studies:

1. What does the Scripture tell me about me?
2. What does the Scripture tell me about God?
3. What does the Scripture tell me about my relationship with God?
4. What will I do?
* * *
See you Sunday, 10:00 in the church parlor, at the back of the sanctuary!