Bible Study
Come to Pastor Pam’s New Bible Study!
Thursday mornings at 10am in the Buxton Room
Starting October 12
In Jewish tradition, students don’t typically study the Torah (the Hebrew Bible) alone, but with a partner: “If you wave a sword around in the air, it never grows sharper. But if you strike it against another sword, both are sharpened.”
It’s great to hear Marisa or me interpret the Bible for you on Sunday mornings. But it’s only half the experience the Bible can provide. The other half is when you study it with others and sharpen everyone’s minds.
Fortunately, there’s an easy way to experience this grappling with the Bible texts: come to Bible study! Bible study is exciting, inspiring — and creates stronger connections among those who come. How? Three ways!
1. The First Way: Learning the Background
Rev. Pam will lead as we look at the places, people and culture within the Bible texts to be preached the following Sunday.
We’ll walk through the scripture, context, translations, parallel stories, and meanings that might have been understood in the past. We'll explore what we don’t know about the people and situations from the text!
Above all, we’ll do all this in a safe place, where everyone’s voice can be heard and everyone’s experience will be respected.
2. The Second Way: Wrestling with the Text
Did you know that “Israel” – the name that Jacob took after wrestling with the angel – means “God-wrestler”? As a child, you may have been expected to passively accept what the preacher said about a Bible text, but it’s much more exciting to wrestle the text to the ground – to make it give you a personal meaning, different for each of us.
Help unpack the text. Get to know the characters in a deeper way. Interpret these ancient texts for modern times. Even more, find your own stories in the Bible stories!
3. The Third Way: Help Shape Next Sunday’s Sermon!
Want an inside look at the text you’ll hear in church on Sunday? Want to be on Pam’s “team” for shaping worship? You will get to help determine what path Rev. Pam’s sermons follow. Tell her what you want to hear more of or don’t like about the text.
Join us for Bible Study on Thursdays at 10am! Past participants have remarked that it not only helps them feel more engaged on Sunday, it gives them a sense of ownership over the weekly message.
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