St. Matthew has a Bible study group that meets at 10:30 on Monday mornings. It will pickup for the coming year on September 10th. YOU would be very welcome. We usually meet in the Lounge.
This is a small group … it’s informal and it doesn’t matter how much you know or whether you join-in much or little. We usually proceed by reading text, questioning and discussing its meaning … we consider that the Spirit, active in the Word, ourselves and the group… “wherever two or three are gathered …” … is the teacher. In the process, we are learning to use different ‘helps’ and disciplines, and establishing core understandings that flow over to other readings.
Generally, we begin with prayer and, often, take maybe half our time dissecting the lessons in the bulletin from the previous Sunday. After that, we usually read through a section of a book of Scripture that we have chosen as our focus for a few months. We end in time for lunch. Last year, we worked through the Gospel of John and—something new and different—one of the “inter-testamentary” books—accepted by some denominations as inspired Scripture, and not by others … Luther says: “Good to read.” We choose the 2nd Century B.C. Book of Sirach (We found it much like the Old Testament book of Proverbs, which we had studied a year or two before.)
This Fall, we’ve also decided to begin by trying something new, this time, seeing what Scripture as a whole teaches about a subject: the Holy Spirit. When we’ve finished, we’ll choose our next book of the Bible for discussion.
Please consider joining us Monday at 10:30am, in the Lounge.
—Wayne Becker