After several years of traveling from synagogue to synagogue in the part of the world we know as Greece and Turkey, the Apostle Paul was planning a preaching mission in Rome, the imperial capitol. He had received many reports of the growing Christian community in that city. Like all the other early Christian communities,…
Saul, Israel’s First King In the Old Testament, we find many stories of the key figures in the history of ancient Israel. One of the most interesting of these is the story of Saul, the first king of Israel. It is a story in which God changes His mind twice. First, he allows Israel to…
Paul’s Letter to the Churches of Galatia Originally, the Christian movement was essentially a sect of Judaism. The leadership of this movement, which was known as “The Way,” was centered in the city of Jerusalem. The head of this movement was James, the brother of Jesus. Outside of Judea, in the larger Roman…
The Sermon on the Mount In the early chapters of Matthew’s Gospel, we find a collection of the teachings of Jesus that are traditionally referred to as the “Sermon on the Mount.” Matthew tells us that Jesus traveled throughout the region known as Galilee teaching in synagogues and the open air. As his reputation spread…
Wednesday Morning Bible Study Summer 2019 The Book of Job Guided by Bruce Johnson This summer the Wednesday Morning Bible Study Group will be reading and discussing some of the poems found in the Old Testament Book of Job. In these poems, some of the great mysteries of our faith tradition are explored. The…
Wednesday Morning Bible Study Summer 2019 Paul’s Letter to Timothy This summer the Wednesday Morning Bible Study group is discussing the book of Second Timothy. You are invited to make this weekly seminar part of your busy life. The group meets every week in the parish library from 10:30 to noon. As the…
Wednesday Morning Bible Study Spring 2019 Absalom, Son of David David’s best know son was, of course, Solomon who succeeded his father as king of Israel. However, David had another son who organized an armed rebellion against his father and came very close to seizing the throne. This son’s name was Absalom. The story…
Wednesday Morning Bible Study Epiphany 2019 The Corinthian Correspondence The setting for the ministry of Jesus was rural Galilee. Thus, many of his parables have an agricultural theme. But the Biblical record clearly shows that as Christianity spread through the Roman world, it was a largely urban phenomenon. One of the earliest Christian…
Wednesday Morning Bible Study November/December 2018 Hymns of Second Isaiah In the concluding chapters of the Book of Isaiah we find a collection of beautiful hymns from the liturgies of ancient Israel. As we prepare to enter the Advent Season, we will be revisiting these familiar passages from the Hebrew Scriptures. Come and join us…
Song of Songs The author of the Book of Kings tells us that David’s son, Solomon composed more than a thousand poems. (I Kings 4:32) The Old Testament book known as the “Song of Songs” contains a collection of love poems attributed to King Solomon. Some are written from the perspective of a woman —…