Good Shepherd
Evangelical Lutheran Church
Beginning September 21, 2008
Check back here for class notes, reading materials and future session topics.
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is pleased to announce a new kind of Bible Exploration Series to be offered on Sunday afternoons at 1:15. The series aims to survey the whole Bible, identifying “Five Cs” with which to explore the Bible’s individual books: i.e., the concepts, content, context, character, and concordance of each of the Bible’s books’ highlights will be stressed. (While the series aims at something like Readers’ Digest abbreviation format, and plans no more than two weeks to be devoted to any single book, a key objective is demonstrating the Bible’s “connectivity”, that is, how the unity and connectedness of the Bible’s writings can be seen from Genesis all the way through Revelation.)
Series leaders Jake Bach and Mike Nauertz emphasize that this series is “not your traditional Bible study.” The two expect to take different looks at key texts-sometimes disagreeing, Ebert & Roper-style, with the emphasis going toward how much more they find in common despite different traditions or perspectives. Nauertz and Bach will lead the series together, with a minimum of lecture and with an emphasis on group participation. The series will regularly pose the question: “how does this apply today?”, Nauertz pointed out. The series is open to all, and is not intended to be academic or lecture-oriented. “there will be something for everyone in this series. Whether you are new to the Bible or have studied in seminary, we expect you to be glad you joined us”, Bach added.
The first round of Bible Books explored will be the Pentateuch (first five books of the Bible), key to Torah for Jews and foundational for the religious setting in which Jesus lived, taught, and died. Nauertz and Bach emphasize that understanding Jesus requires knowing something of the background in which Jesus carried out his mission, and they target exploring this part of Scripture together by Christmas, then moving forward next into the Old Testament story and the rise and fall of Israel as God’s chosen people.
The Pacifica Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has embraced the Book of Faith Initiative, a five-year effort encouraging people of faith to “Open Scriptures, Join the Conversation.” Good Shepherd Lutheran is located at 1700 North Towne Avenue in Claremont, just 2 blocks below the Claremont/Towne Ave. exit off the 210 freeway. Series sessions begin promptly at 1:15 p.m., and conclude at 2:30 p.m. All are invited to this exploration. Admission is free.