TRUTHSEEKERS
Truthseekers for grades 6-12, is designed to engage and inspire, ensuring that spiritual growth is both fun and meaningful! We meet each Sunday at 9:10am and tackle provocative and challenging questions about our faith that students will face and sometimes struggle to address. We encourage questions and challenge students to think critically about their faith...discussions are supportive, fun and donut-fueled!
Weekly Lesson Summaries:
December 7, 2025
This week we bridged from our parable study where Jesus used stories to help us better understand the nature of the kingdom of God to a discussion of Advent which portends the coming of God’s kingdom. We touched on narrow if not misguided ideas of advent, sharing some of the most funny advent calendars (atheist, horror and medieval cats were among our favorites) as well Talladega Night’s Ricky Bobby’s insistence on only praying to the baby version of Jesus, representing an extreme version of culture’s focus on the birth of Christ without much regard to the rest of his story.
Of course, the rest of the story is an important part of Advent, and we discussed this in the context of what we learned about the Kingdom of God - that it is both the “now and not yet.” The kingdom of God is accessible to us because of Jesus’ first coming, but the full manifestation of it won’t come until his return.
Gina happens to have an art show on Advent entitled the “Now and Not Yet,” so we looked at three paintings from this to help provide a new perspective on our sense of time and place for this season. Reflecting Fleming Rutledge’s book of Advent sermons, she created pieces representing: 1) the beginning of our story and what went wrong, 2) the middle of our story and God’s plan to right all wrongs, and 3) where we are today and our hope for the end of the story. The paintings we viewed representing each of these parts of Advent are below and if anyone is interested in more background, they can be viewed here.
This week we bridged from our parable study where Jesus used stories to help us better understand the nature of the kingdom of God to a discussion of Advent which portends the coming of God’s kingdom. We touched on narrow if not misguided ideas of advent, sharing some of the most funny advent calendars (atheist, horror and medieval cats were among our favorites) as well Talladega Night’s Ricky Bobby’s insistence on only praying to the baby version of Jesus, representing an extreme version of culture’s focus on the birth of Christ without much regard to the rest of his story.
Of course, the rest of the story is an important part of Advent, and we discussed this in the context of what we learned about the Kingdom of God - that it is both the “now and not yet.” The kingdom of God is accessible to us because of Jesus’ first coming, but the full manifestation of it won’t come until his return.
Gina happens to have an art show on Advent entitled the “Now and Not Yet,” so we looked at three paintings from this to help provide a new perspective on our sense of time and place for this season. Reflecting Fleming Rutledge’s book of Advent sermons, she created pieces representing: 1) the beginning of our story and what went wrong, 2) the middle of our story and God’s plan to right all wrongs, and 3) where we are today and our hope for the end of the story. The paintings we viewed representing each of these parts of Advent are below and if anyone is interested in more background, they can be viewed here.
|
|
|
Finally, we talked about what it means to wait and hope for God’s Kingdom and Jesus’ return. It is a little heavy on ancient Hebrew etymology, but we watched an interesting video from the Bible Project on hope which helps us better view Advent as a season of waiting and hoping that goes beyond the 25 days in December or the 12 days of Christmas.
Truthseekers and Explorers classes will be on break until January 4. The Truthseekers will begin an apologetic study to help students prepare to tackle tough theological and religious questions that they will face from skeptical friends and teachers. We will review some ideas we studied last year and seek to put our critical thinking and understanding of science, history and logic to practical use, giving students a safe space to discuss and learn from one another.
Truthseekers and Explorers classes will be on break until January 4. The Truthseekers will begin an apologetic study to help students prepare to tackle tough theological and religious questions that they will face from skeptical friends and teachers. We will review some ideas we studied last year and seek to put our critical thinking and understanding of science, history and logic to practical use, giving students a safe space to discuss and learn from one another.
November 23, 2025
We finished our study of Jesus’ parables this week. We started with a review of the importance of parables in Jesus’ ministry and discussed how his parables painted a picture of the kingdom of God that was very different from what the religious leaders of his day might have understood. We watched a great summary on how to read parables from the Bible Project.
We finished with a rousing game of Parable Jeopardy to test what we learned. We featured the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, the Sower/Four Soils, the Mustard Seed/Yeast and then a set of bonus questions reflecting the 12 parables we’ve covered this semester.
We are off next Sunday following Thanksgiving (11/30) and then will do a one-class study on Advent on 12/7 before the students use the next two Sundays to prepare for a student-led Christmas Eve service.
We finished our study of Jesus’ parables this week. We started with a review of the importance of parables in Jesus’ ministry and discussed how his parables painted a picture of the kingdom of God that was very different from what the religious leaders of his day might have understood. We watched a great summary on how to read parables from the Bible Project.
We finished with a rousing game of Parable Jeopardy to test what we learned. We featured the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, the Sower/Four Soils, the Mustard Seed/Yeast and then a set of bonus questions reflecting the 12 parables we’ve covered this semester.
We are off next Sunday following Thanksgiving (11/30) and then will do a one-class study on Advent on 12/7 before the students use the next two Sundays to prepare for a student-led Christmas Eve service.
November 16, 2025
We discussed our last three parables this week, starting with the Parable of the Wicked Tenants. We started with the context for this story. Jesus used this parable to challenge the Pharisees after his cleansing the temple. Unlike some other parables that are a little more cryptic, similar to his actions in clearing out money changers and merchants, Jesus isn’t pulling punches with the Jewish leaders in this story. We discussed the roles of the players in the parable. The students agreed that: owner = God; servants = prophets; and, son = Jesus, was pretty straightforward. We had a good exchange on how the tenants did not have to be limited to the Pharisees and religious leaders of that day. It included Israel and Jewish people throughout their history, but could also apply to us today when we don’t respond to God’s hope to have a relationship with us, similar to the poor soils (path, rocky and thorny) from last week’s Sower/Four Soil parable.
We discussed our last three parables this week, starting with the Parable of the Wicked Tenants. We started with the context for this story. Jesus used this parable to challenge the Pharisees after his cleansing the temple. Unlike some other parables that are a little more cryptic, similar to his actions in clearing out money changers and merchants, Jesus isn’t pulling punches with the Jewish leaders in this story. We discussed the roles of the players in the parable. The students agreed that: owner = God; servants = prophets; and, son = Jesus, was pretty straightforward. We had a good exchange on how the tenants did not have to be limited to the Pharisees and religious leaders of that day. It included Israel and Jewish people throughout their history, but could also apply to us today when we don’t respond to God’s hope to have a relationship with us, similar to the poor soils (path, rocky and thorny) from last week’s Sower/Four Soil parable.
|
We then turned to the Workers in the Vineyard (Jesus’ repeated use of vineyard parables is a reminder of the importance of wine during the Roman Empire!), which is another example of the ways Jesus was teaching that God’s Kingdom is “upside down” from the way the world works. All the students agreed that it felt very unfair to pay those who had only worked an hour or so the same as those who worked all day in what might be similar conditions to what we would face during the summer in Florida! We compared Ricky Bobby’s “if you ain’t first, your last” mantra with Jesus’ “the last will be first, and the first will be last,” and what this says about God’s kingdom and his love for us, noting that we all fall short of God’s standards so that in some ways, we are all “last” and benefit equally from his grace.
|
|
Finally, we touched on the Hidden Treasure and Pearl of Great Value parables. These are really more in the camp of similitudes (and followed the Mustard Seed and Yeast “kingdom parables” in Matthew) and provide several insights to how Jesus was teaching about God’s kingdom. The kingdom is present and available to everyone, but can be hidden if you are not seeking it. It is priceless…worth everything we have, but we can attain it joyfully. And finally, different people find it in different ways…God wants a relationship with all of us but the nature of his love means he will meet us where we are if we are seeking him. Next week, we will have Parable Jeopardy, recapping what we’ve learned about Jesus’ parables.
November 9, 2025
This week, we recapped the key points from the Prodigal son before turning to Luke 14’s Great Banquet for a relatively high-level review. For the Banquet, the story involves a man throwing a great party. However, when the feast is ready, the invited guests refuse to come and offer a set of pretty pathetic excuses. In response, the master sends his servant to bring in “the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame” from the city streets; and when seats remain, he sends him again to the highways to compel people to come so the house will be filled. We’ve talked about Luke’s focus on Jesus’ ministry to social outsiders and made a distinction between those on the fringe of society to those on the highways which would likely be non-Jewish/gentiles. We talked about the nature of God’s grace, connecting this to the Prodiga Son story, and his inclusive invitation but the role each of us have in accepting his invitation (and how trivial our reasons for not accepting it can be).
For the Sower, we walked through Jesus’ interpretation of each soil. The path pictures a hard heart where the word cannot penetrate and is quickly taken away. The rocky ground shows shallow reception that springs up with enthusiasm yet withers under testing because it lacks roots. The thorny soil depicts real growth slowly strangled by “worries, riches, and pleasures,” so life with God is crowded out. The good soil hears, holds fast, and bears fruit “with patience,” signaling steady faith that endures and produces a visible harvest.
After that, we introduced Vincent Van Gogh noted that he had a particular interest in this parable, covering 30 times in sketches and paintings. We paused on two of Van Gogh’s more famous treatments of the sower—one wide field, one close focus—to help us reflect on the focus of the story….the scale of sowing and diversity of the soils and the character of the sower.
This week, we recapped the key points from the Prodigal son before turning to Luke 14’s Great Banquet for a relatively high-level review. For the Banquet, the story involves a man throwing a great party. However, when the feast is ready, the invited guests refuse to come and offer a set of pretty pathetic excuses. In response, the master sends his servant to bring in “the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame” from the city streets; and when seats remain, he sends him again to the highways to compel people to come so the house will be filled. We’ve talked about Luke’s focus on Jesus’ ministry to social outsiders and made a distinction between those on the fringe of society to those on the highways which would likely be non-Jewish/gentiles. We talked about the nature of God’s grace, connecting this to the Prodiga Son story, and his inclusive invitation but the role each of us have in accepting his invitation (and how trivial our reasons for not accepting it can be).
For the Sower, we walked through Jesus’ interpretation of each soil. The path pictures a hard heart where the word cannot penetrate and is quickly taken away. The rocky ground shows shallow reception that springs up with enthusiasm yet withers under testing because it lacks roots. The thorny soil depicts real growth slowly strangled by “worries, riches, and pleasures,” so life with God is crowded out. The good soil hears, holds fast, and bears fruit “with patience,” signaling steady faith that endures and produces a visible harvest.
After that, we introduced Vincent Van Gogh noted that he had a particular interest in this parable, covering 30 times in sketches and paintings. We paused on two of Van Gogh’s more famous treatments of the sower—one wide field, one close focus—to help us reflect on the focus of the story….the scale of sowing and diversity of the soils and the character of the sower.
|
|
We used this comparison to ask whether “Four Soils,” another name applied to the parable, is the better title since our response to the seed is typically the focus of the parable. We then talked about how we might be each of the kinds of soils at different times in our lives, so like a well-maintained farm or garden, cultivating “good soil” means ongoing work and a response to God’s grace—repentance that breaks hard ground and habits that deepen spiritual roots in a closer relationship with God. We are also called to be sowers and not just with those we might consider “good soil.” This sowing can come in different forms, but for most days, it comes down to treating others the way we want to be treated…even beyond our families and friends. God wants a relationship with all of us.
Finally, we linked this insight with what we took from the Prodigal Son. In both, God’s grace initiates and welcomes, yet a response is required. God has given us free will because a loving relationship cannot be forced. God’s kingdom is inclusive and God’s nature is to seek us, but we have to accept the invitation or become fertile soil. Next week we will finish our discussion of the four soils/sower and cover our last two parables of this semester’s study.
Finally, we linked this insight with what we took from the Prodigal Son. In both, God’s grace initiates and welcomes, yet a response is required. God has given us free will because a loving relationship cannot be forced. God’s kingdom is inclusive and God’s nature is to seek us, but we have to accept the invitation or become fertile soil. Next week we will finish our discussion of the four soils/sower and cover our last two parables of this semester’s study.
November 2, 2025
We really dug into the Prodigal Son parable this week, talking through aspects of the story that are better understood with some context of the times Jesus lived in. We started with discussing how outrageous it would be to ask your father for your inheritance (at that time, the youngest of two at that time would only receive 1/3 of the total). Unlike today where you might just sell some stocks and withdraw money from your bank, at that time, the father would have to sell land and livestock, diminishing his ability to earn money and provide for his family and staff. You are basically telling your father you wish he were dead. It is also notable, if not telling that the father complied with his request.
Famines were not uncommon in those days, with farmers not having modern irrigation or meaningful pest control. And for a Jewish man to fall into such a state of desperation that they not only would resort to feeding pigs, an animal considered unclean and unfit to eat, but they were jealous of their feed, we know he was desperate. The students had some very interesting discussion about this being the moment of repentance. Was the son sorry or really just hungry? We talked about the degree to which this mattered and what this tells us about the nature of God’s grace.
We then discussed the father’s reaction to the son’s return. Like the lost sheep and lost coin parables, the father initiates the contact, running out to meet the son in a way that would be a public signal to the community that he is welcoming him back, not even letting him finish his repentance speech (reinforcing the nature of his grace). His best robe was likely his own…not only demonstrating the value, but a literal covering of the son’s shame represented by his destitute situation. Similarly, a ring would have represented a reinstatement of the son’s family authority (a couple of the students had seen Dune making an otherwise obscure reference to the importance of the scene where Paul, the main character, places his father's signet ring on his finger, signifying his acceptance of his role as both the family heir as well as accepting his role as a prophesied leader). Finally, we talked about the value and importance of a fatted calf during Jesus’ time and how many people this would feed, reinforcing the intent to celebrate the son’s return with the larger community.
We took a moment to discuss Rembrandt and his treatment of this parable. We talked about why it likely had a special meaning for someone near the end of his life, reflecting on his relationship with God, and how the resulting care and energy might have contributed to it being viewed as a masterpiece. Beyond his well-known painting, Rembrandt did several pieces on the Prodigal Son, but as a particularly interesting contrast, he did one when he was much earlier in life representing the Son’s debauchery and used a self-portrait for the son (and his wife featured as well!). It is easy to imagine Rembrandt viewing himself as the son both in being lost and then received back in the arms of a loving God.
We really dug into the Prodigal Son parable this week, talking through aspects of the story that are better understood with some context of the times Jesus lived in. We started with discussing how outrageous it would be to ask your father for your inheritance (at that time, the youngest of two at that time would only receive 1/3 of the total). Unlike today where you might just sell some stocks and withdraw money from your bank, at that time, the father would have to sell land and livestock, diminishing his ability to earn money and provide for his family and staff. You are basically telling your father you wish he were dead. It is also notable, if not telling that the father complied with his request.
Famines were not uncommon in those days, with farmers not having modern irrigation or meaningful pest control. And for a Jewish man to fall into such a state of desperation that they not only would resort to feeding pigs, an animal considered unclean and unfit to eat, but they were jealous of their feed, we know he was desperate. The students had some very interesting discussion about this being the moment of repentance. Was the son sorry or really just hungry? We talked about the degree to which this mattered and what this tells us about the nature of God’s grace.
We then discussed the father’s reaction to the son’s return. Like the lost sheep and lost coin parables, the father initiates the contact, running out to meet the son in a way that would be a public signal to the community that he is welcoming him back, not even letting him finish his repentance speech (reinforcing the nature of his grace). His best robe was likely his own…not only demonstrating the value, but a literal covering of the son’s shame represented by his destitute situation. Similarly, a ring would have represented a reinstatement of the son’s family authority (a couple of the students had seen Dune making an otherwise obscure reference to the importance of the scene where Paul, the main character, places his father's signet ring on his finger, signifying his acceptance of his role as both the family heir as well as accepting his role as a prophesied leader). Finally, we talked about the value and importance of a fatted calf during Jesus’ time and how many people this would feed, reinforcing the intent to celebrate the son’s return with the larger community.
We took a moment to discuss Rembrandt and his treatment of this parable. We talked about why it likely had a special meaning for someone near the end of his life, reflecting on his relationship with God, and how the resulting care and energy might have contributed to it being viewed as a masterpiece. Beyond his well-known painting, Rembrandt did several pieces on the Prodigal Son, but as a particularly interesting contrast, he did one when he was much earlier in life representing the Son’s debauchery and used a self-portrait for the son (and his wife featured as well!). It is easy to imagine Rembrandt viewing himself as the son both in being lost and then received back in the arms of a loving God.
|
|
Finally, we spent some time on the older son’s situation and the father’s treatment of him. We also discussed what we thought the older son did after the father came out to speak with him. We talked about the way the son might represent a Pharisee and while Jesus was regularly preaching against the hypocrisy of Pharisees who were more concerned with following the letter of the law than the spirit of the law, if they were represented by the older son, not all of them were hypocrites. Perhaps more important to us today, in some ways, we can see ourselves in the older son as much as the younger. Most of us are not desperately bad or destitute, but we are all broken and in need of repentance. The father’s leaving the party to deal with his petulant son and reinforce the older son’s standing and to invite him into the celebration, demonstrated the same kind of love and grace he showed the younger son. Like God does with all of us, the father initiated the outreach and made the invitation, but it is up to the older son to respond.
October 26, 2025
This week we began to discuss three related parables in Luke 15. We began our discussion addressing some of the historical and Biblical context for Luke and his gospel, noting that unlike other gospel writers, Luke was likely a Gentile, a physician, and a skilled historian. Beyond the ways these impacted his writings, he also had a special focus on Jesus’ ministry to “outsiders” in the community which was a feature of his selections and treatments of Jesus’ parables.
We first reviewed the context of chapter 15 that begins with “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” And then we compared the two shorter “lost and found” parables used in this setting that built up to the Prodigal Son story.
This week we began to discuss three related parables in Luke 15. We began our discussion addressing some of the historical and Biblical context for Luke and his gospel, noting that unlike other gospel writers, Luke was likely a Gentile, a physician, and a skilled historian. Beyond the ways these impacted his writings, he also had a special focus on Jesus’ ministry to “outsiders” in the community which was a feature of his selections and treatments of Jesus’ parables.
We first reviewed the context of chapter 15 that begins with “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” And then we compared the two shorter “lost and found” parables used in this setting that built up to the Prodigal Son story.
|
The Lost Sheep and Lost Coin parables both shared some key lessons regarding the nature of God’s love for us. In both stories, the characters show us that God takes the initiative in seeking what’s lost, representing us. There is a communal celebration and joy upon finding what’s lost reflecting the value of what otherwise seems like a small thing, reflecting how God values us and wants to have a relationship with us. We also talked how the parables are different and whether the differences were important to Jesus’ message.
|
|
|
Setting up a more in-depth discussion next week, we watched a Bible Project video on this section of Luke that features the Prodigal Son that provides some more context for Luke 15 as well as a good summary of the story. We will finish our review of this parable next week.
October 19, 2025
After last week’s community service project in support of Cards for Hospitalized Kids, we returned to Jesus’ parables, with a close look at the Parable of the Two Sons. Like many of Jesus’ parables, the message is timeless and instructive, but our reading of it can also benefit from understanding the historical and cultural context of the place and time it was told.
The story is about a father who asks his two sons to work in his vineyard. The first son initially refuses but later goes, while the second son agrees but never goes.
Unlike other more well-known parables, there hasn’t been a lot of art created to portray this story. We thought this effort from ChatGPT was pretty good and it spurred an exchange on which son was which!
After last week’s community service project in support of Cards for Hospitalized Kids, we returned to Jesus’ parables, with a close look at the Parable of the Two Sons. Like many of Jesus’ parables, the message is timeless and instructive, but our reading of it can also benefit from understanding the historical and cultural context of the place and time it was told.
The story is about a father who asks his two sons to work in his vineyard. The first son initially refuses but later goes, while the second son agrees but never goes.
Unlike other more well-known parables, there hasn’t been a lot of art created to portray this story. We thought this effort from ChatGPT was pretty good and it spurred an exchange on which son was which!
We discussed aspects of the story that might be less understood to a modern reader living in a suburban/urban community starting with the importance of wine as well as the various steps and labor involved in making wine 2000 years ago. We made sure everyone knew who John the Baptist was and the nature of his “truth telling” and we then turned to Pharisees, their role in the Jewish community and their strict and public adherence to a litany of rules that were grounded in religious teaching but for which Jesus taught were often implemented in a way that missed the point.
Jesus uses this parable to show that those who are sinners and repent (like the first son) will enter the kingdom of God before the self-righteous including the Pharisees (like the second son), who claim to be obedient but are not. The main message is that genuine repentance and action are more important than words and outward appearances. However, we agreed that it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care if we are disobedient in the first place…just that his love and grace for us is such that even when we fall short, he is there for us.
Finally, we compared the message of the Good Samaritan and saw the connections between those who passed by the injured traveler and the second son…more concerned with appearances, their purity or even convenience vs. the Samaritan who like the first son, ultimately did the right thing.
Next week, we will dig into the parable of the Prodigal Son.
Jesus uses this parable to show that those who are sinners and repent (like the first son) will enter the kingdom of God before the self-righteous including the Pharisees (like the second son), who claim to be obedient but are not. The main message is that genuine repentance and action are more important than words and outward appearances. However, we agreed that it doesn’t mean that God doesn’t care if we are disobedient in the first place…just that his love and grace for us is such that even when we fall short, he is there for us.
Finally, we compared the message of the Good Samaritan and saw the connections between those who passed by the injured traveler and the second son…more concerned with appearances, their purity or even convenience vs. the Samaritan who like the first son, ultimately did the right thing.
Next week, we will dig into the parable of the Prodigal Son.
October 5, 2025
This week we dove head-first into our parable discussion, returning to the mustard seed similitude and including the yeast simile that was paired with the mustard seed in Matthew and Luke. Both show how God’s Kingdom began in obscurity, humbly, with a small group in a fringe territory of the Roman Empire and then advances and grows in mysterious way.
With the mustard seed, Jesus emphasizes the mismatch between beginning and outcome. One of the smallest seeds becomes a plant large enough to offer habitat to birds, signaling surprising expansion, hospitality and inclusion. The kingdom’s growth is organic, patient, and resilient, creating space where others can find rest and protection.
With yeast and a large quantity of flour, Jesus highlights action that is hidden yet transformative. A small portion of yeast, once worked into an improbably large amount of flour, will ultimately permeate the whole until the entire dough is leavened. Several students had made bread before and were able to speak to how yeast works. The kingdom operates from within communities and consciences, mysteriously altering textures and capacities until comprehensive change is achieved, leaving something that is transformed and life-giving.
We then turned to the Good Samaritan where Jesus answers a legal expert’s question about eternal life by validating the expert’s understanding of the core of Jewish law: beginning with the love of God and neighbor, but redefining “neighbor” to show that the kingdom is present wherever compassion overrides tribal identity and fear.
The priest and Levite reflect a reading of the law that protects ritual integrity at the expense of human life. They pass by to avoid defilement or danger or potentially even inconvenience. Jesus exposes their behavior as a misuse of holiness. In God’s reign, the law serves love. Law without love or mercy misses the point. The Samaritan, a hated enemy, becomes the agent of God when he shows love and care for his fellow man. He not only risks his own safety by stopping on a dangerous road, he takes the time to provide immediate care for the injured man, and provides for him financially, promising to pay for his ongoing care. Jesus’ charge, “Go and do likewise,” suggests the demands on us in God’s kingdom explicitly. The law is fulfilled when love acts across enmity and inconvenience, not just when it is with people we care about or is easy.
Building on the previous week’s discussion of the context of the times, set against many first-century Jewish hopes for a messiah who would hope for rapid political liberation and public displays of power and force, these mustard seed and yeast similitudes as well as the Good Samaritan redefine expectation.
Next week, the class will be undertaking a service project (we can provide documentation for the hours if helpful) and then we will return to our study of parables on 10/19.
This week we dove head-first into our parable discussion, returning to the mustard seed similitude and including the yeast simile that was paired with the mustard seed in Matthew and Luke. Both show how God’s Kingdom began in obscurity, humbly, with a small group in a fringe territory of the Roman Empire and then advances and grows in mysterious way.
With the mustard seed, Jesus emphasizes the mismatch between beginning and outcome. One of the smallest seeds becomes a plant large enough to offer habitat to birds, signaling surprising expansion, hospitality and inclusion. The kingdom’s growth is organic, patient, and resilient, creating space where others can find rest and protection.
With yeast and a large quantity of flour, Jesus highlights action that is hidden yet transformative. A small portion of yeast, once worked into an improbably large amount of flour, will ultimately permeate the whole until the entire dough is leavened. Several students had made bread before and were able to speak to how yeast works. The kingdom operates from within communities and consciences, mysteriously altering textures and capacities until comprehensive change is achieved, leaving something that is transformed and life-giving.
We then turned to the Good Samaritan where Jesus answers a legal expert’s question about eternal life by validating the expert’s understanding of the core of Jewish law: beginning with the love of God and neighbor, but redefining “neighbor” to show that the kingdom is present wherever compassion overrides tribal identity and fear.
The priest and Levite reflect a reading of the law that protects ritual integrity at the expense of human life. They pass by to avoid defilement or danger or potentially even inconvenience. Jesus exposes their behavior as a misuse of holiness. In God’s reign, the law serves love. Law without love or mercy misses the point. The Samaritan, a hated enemy, becomes the agent of God when he shows love and care for his fellow man. He not only risks his own safety by stopping on a dangerous road, he takes the time to provide immediate care for the injured man, and provides for him financially, promising to pay for his ongoing care. Jesus’ charge, “Go and do likewise,” suggests the demands on us in God’s kingdom explicitly. The law is fulfilled when love acts across enmity and inconvenience, not just when it is with people we care about or is easy.
Building on the previous week’s discussion of the context of the times, set against many first-century Jewish hopes for a messiah who would hope for rapid political liberation and public displays of power and force, these mustard seed and yeast similitudes as well as the Good Samaritan redefine expectation.
Next week, the class will be undertaking a service project (we can provide documentation for the hours if helpful) and then we will return to our study of parables on 10/19.
September 28, 2025
We spent more time reviewing the value of understanding the context when reading the Bible, spending a little time on the love poems of the Song of Solomon as an example. We discussed how understanding the value of goats, the beauty of Gilead and how local goats’ long black hair could influence how modern readers should read chapter 4’s “your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead,” to be a compliment. We turned to ChatGPT to help better see this possibility (not sure it did!).
We spent more time reviewing the value of understanding the context when reading the Bible, spending a little time on the love poems of the Song of Solomon as an example. We discussed how understanding the value of goats, the beauty of Gilead and how local goats’ long black hair could influence how modern readers should read chapter 4’s “your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead,” to be a compliment. We turned to ChatGPT to help better see this possibility (not sure it did!).
When Jesus was born, Israel was under the rule of the Roman Empire, and many Jewish people were looking to prophesies that a king from the line of David would liberate Jerusalem. Of course, Jesus was not the kind of king they were expecting and the kingdom he was preaching was “upside down” from what was expected. We watched this video from the Bible Project to better understand the nature of his kingdom.
We used this as the starting point to begin our review of Jesus’ parables. We talked about how parables can help make difficult concepts easier to understand and remember. And Jesus used parables in three key ways:
We used this as the starting point to begin our review of Jesus’ parables. We talked about how parables can help make difficult concepts easier to understand and remember. And Jesus used parables in three key ways:
- Provide insights to God’s character
- Clarity on what is expected from us
- Help explain the nature of the Kingdom of God
September 21, 2025
This week we talked about the importance of context in studying scripture. Even though it was written 1800-3500 years ago, the Bible holds up well even if we don’t know what was happening at the times its various books were written. However, its truth can be even more apparent and compelling when we understand how contemporary audiences would have read the text including its historical, political and cultural context. To demonstrate this, we used a short scene from Disney’s Cars movie as an example of how adults might giggle at an exchange between Lightning and Mater that most younger kids would not even notice.
This week we talked about the importance of context in studying scripture. Even though it was written 1800-3500 years ago, the Bible holds up well even if we don’t know what was happening at the times its various books were written. However, its truth can be even more apparent and compelling when we understand how contemporary audiences would have read the text including its historical, political and cultural context. To demonstrate this, we used a short scene from Disney’s Cars movie as an example of how adults might giggle at an exchange between Lightning and Mater that most younger kids would not even notice.
As we prepare to spend time with Jesus’ parables, we talked about the context of Jesus’ ministry, starting with what it was like to be a typical Jewish person living in Galilee and Judea under Roman Empire rule. We talked about what it was like to live 2000 years ago under Roman rule and highlighted some reasons they might have had reason to hope for a Davidic-type warrior-king savior. We spent some time discussing the Maccabean revolt lead by Mattias Maccabeus and his sons that happened only 170 years before Jesus’ time (and is still commemorated by Jewish families at Hanukkah). The Mattias’ warrior leader Judas, “The Hammer,” was likely the kind of Messianic figure in whom those living at the time would have placed their hope to redeem Jerusalem.
So Jesus’ message of peace, love and inclusion was not what most Jewish people would have been hoping for or expecting in a messiah or in his kingdom. Next week, we will kick off our study of Jesus’ parables to learn what he was teaching his followers about God’s kingdom and his hope for each one of us.
So Jesus’ message of peace, love and inclusion was not what most Jewish people would have been hoping for or expecting in a messiah or in his kingdom. Next week, we will kick off our study of Jesus’ parables to learn what he was teaching his followers about God’s kingdom and his hope for each one of us.
September 14, 2025
It was great to have the class back together to kick off the new school year this Sunday. After catching up from our summer breaks (including learning that Dr. Pepper is the group’s most popular beverage by a wide margin!), we recapped some of the key themes from last year as a basis for our first area of focus this fall.
We discussed the role of Christian apologetics and why this is important in our faith journey. We reviewed why it can be so important to use critical thinking, logic and an knowledge of history, science, math, and other areas of study to better explore and understand sometimes unprovable aspects of our faith as well as to defend against often prevailing alternative views that are also unprovable.
We used an example from a ChatGPT to discuss the danger in how large language models are trained…making them susceptible to apocryphal, incorrect but largely held points of view, or even malicious efforts to change history or facts.
We discussed John Welsey (and his brother, probably the biggest contributor to our 1982 hymnal) and introduced the Wesleyan Quadrilateral (see below) as a starting point for our spending several weeks on Jesus’ parables.
It was great to have the class back together to kick off the new school year this Sunday. After catching up from our summer breaks (including learning that Dr. Pepper is the group’s most popular beverage by a wide margin!), we recapped some of the key themes from last year as a basis for our first area of focus this fall.
We discussed the role of Christian apologetics and why this is important in our faith journey. We reviewed why it can be so important to use critical thinking, logic and an knowledge of history, science, math, and other areas of study to better explore and understand sometimes unprovable aspects of our faith as well as to defend against often prevailing alternative views that are also unprovable.
We used an example from a ChatGPT to discuss the danger in how large language models are trained…making them susceptible to apocryphal, incorrect but largely held points of view, or even malicious efforts to change history or facts.
We discussed John Welsey (and his brother, probably the biggest contributor to our 1982 hymnal) and introduced the Wesleyan Quadrilateral (see below) as a starting point for our spending several weeks on Jesus’ parables.
We will start with the historical context for Jesus’ role as Messiah and why he didn’t fit the liberating warrior mold many Jewish people were expecting. Jesus’ unexpected form of messiah has implications for the kind of kingdom God has in mind for us. We will then spend several weeks studying Jesus’ parables to learn more about his ministry as well as God’s kingdom.
We are looking forward to stimulating discussions and learning together this semester!
We are looking forward to stimulating discussions and learning together this semester!
May 4, 2025
For this "May the Fourth," we turned to the topic of miracles. It seems like there were a lot of miracles throughout the Bible, but we don’t really hear much about believable ones in modern times. If miracles were real in Biblical times, why don’t we see them anymore?
The students had a good handle on what a miracle is so we talked about why many Americans don’t believe in them - even going back to Thomas Jefferson who created a New Testament gospel narrative by cutting out all the miracles!
We then turned to the Bible and discussed how even though it covered roughly 1500 years, the miracles recorded seem to be in concentrated clusters around specific times when God seemed to have focused messages he wanted to convey…three notable ones were in the times of Moses/Joshua, Elijah/Elisha and of course, Jesus. In each time, the miracles conveyed a combination of God’s power and standing as the true God, his expectation of human behaviors towards God and one another, and his love and care for people. We highlighted some of the more interesting miracles. The students knew all of Jesus’…with the Old Testament giving us some of the more unusual ones. An unfamiliar one we covered was Balaam’s talking donkey which suggests an image of Shrek’s Donkey (apart from the animal abuse and high-stakes situation!).
For this "May the Fourth," we turned to the topic of miracles. It seems like there were a lot of miracles throughout the Bible, but we don’t really hear much about believable ones in modern times. If miracles were real in Biblical times, why don’t we see them anymore?
The students had a good handle on what a miracle is so we talked about why many Americans don’t believe in them - even going back to Thomas Jefferson who created a New Testament gospel narrative by cutting out all the miracles!
We then turned to the Bible and discussed how even though it covered roughly 1500 years, the miracles recorded seem to be in concentrated clusters around specific times when God seemed to have focused messages he wanted to convey…three notable ones were in the times of Moses/Joshua, Elijah/Elisha and of course, Jesus. In each time, the miracles conveyed a combination of God’s power and standing as the true God, his expectation of human behaviors towards God and one another, and his love and care for people. We highlighted some of the more interesting miracles. The students knew all of Jesus’…with the Old Testament giving us some of the more unusual ones. An unfamiliar one we covered was Balaam’s talking donkey which suggests an image of Shrek’s Donkey (apart from the animal abuse and high-stakes situation!).
|
We finished our discussion covering the differences between divine providence and miracles. For example, while many insist that Jesus created massive amounts of food, it is possible that Jesus’ miracle could be more simply explained - the crowd, being inspired by Jesus’ example, began sharing whatever food they had brought themselves. If the latter, it wouldn’t preclude the possibility of “science-defying” miracles. The group agreed that an all-powerful God could use providence or miracles to achieve his will.
|
April 27, 2025
This week we discussed how a good, loving and all-powerful God could have created humans knowing some, or maybe many, wouldn’t be saved.
We discussed what the Bible says about why God created people, including his expectation that we’d be caretakers for his creation as well as his hope that we’d remain in relationship with him. To try to help explain why an all-powerful being would seek to create something that he knew would be fallible, we used a very inadequate analogy of how many of our families have chosen to adopt puppies even though we know they will be disobedient, eat our shoes, make messes and ultimately die. We also know that they will be trusted companions, a source of joy, and an important part of our family for the times they are with us.
We talked a little about the importance and role of free will in any healthy relationship and acknowledging that much of the ideas behind predestination, determinism, and God’s middle knowledge goes beyond what we can cover in class (and beyond the capacity of our class’ teachers!), we highlighted these ideas to reinforce that thoughtful Christians can have varied and informed views that merit respect regardless of what makes the most sense for each of us.
We returned to the idea that God’s ultimate plans and hopes for us are not to optimize our happiness in this life. And it is important to understand that an all-powerful creator’s knowledge and perspective would dwarf ours…even as our knowledge and understanding have made huge leaps in recent decades. We returned to a dog analogy…dogs seem to assume anything a human is eating would be good and worth begging for…but humans understand that dogs are incapable of processing the caffeine found in chocolate and we know not to share this even if the dog thinks they’d be very happy to have it. It is likely that God’s understanding of what’s good for us would similarly transcend our capacity to conceive of it.
Regardless, we know that even though we all make decisions that separate us from God and we regularly neglect or even abuse our responsibility as caretakers, God still has given us a way to be reconciled with him and his love for us includes restoring our role as caretakers in his new Eden/new Earth.
April 13, 2025
Today, we reviewed what Palm Sunday represents, why we recognize it the Sunday before Easter, and what’s the deal with palms (??).
Palm Sunday kicks off Holy Week when Jesus and his disciples traveled to Jerusalem for Passover. As most of the students knew, as Jesus entered the city, people welcomed him with shouts of “hosanna,” laying clothes and palms onto his path. Hosanna means “save us” and we discussed how this sort of treatment would usually be reserved for kings triumphantly returning from battle. Since they were living under oppressive Roman rule, it is possible people were viewing Jesus as a potential military leader who could “save” them from their oppressors. This would be an ironic misunderstanding of Jesus’ mission. While he was entering Jerusalem as a king, he was bringing a kind of peace and victory. His riding on a colt of a donkey, a humble and peaceful animal, was a clear indicator of his having a different kind of mission.
We covered how this fulfilled a prophecy from the Old Testament (Zechariah 9:9) and touched on how some confusion has been raised in the literal phrasing of the story, “they brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.”
Today, we reviewed what Palm Sunday represents, why we recognize it the Sunday before Easter, and what’s the deal with palms (??).
Palm Sunday kicks off Holy Week when Jesus and his disciples traveled to Jerusalem for Passover. As most of the students knew, as Jesus entered the city, people welcomed him with shouts of “hosanna,” laying clothes and palms onto his path. Hosanna means “save us” and we discussed how this sort of treatment would usually be reserved for kings triumphantly returning from battle. Since they were living under oppressive Roman rule, it is possible people were viewing Jesus as a potential military leader who could “save” them from their oppressors. This would be an ironic misunderstanding of Jesus’ mission. While he was entering Jerusalem as a king, he was bringing a kind of peace and victory. His riding on a colt of a donkey, a humble and peaceful animal, was a clear indicator of his having a different kind of mission.
We covered how this fulfilled a prophecy from the Old Testament (Zechariah 9:9) and touched on how some confusion has been raised in the literal phrasing of the story, “they brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on.”
We talked about the various interpretations people have had over time, including the absurd idea of Jesus sitting on a colt that is sitting on a donkey (!) and reviewed what the more likely explanation is.
Finally, we talked about the symbolism of Holy Week happening over Passover, covering short videos on Passover and the events of the week through Jesus’ crucifixion.
Finally, we talked about the symbolism of Holy Week happening over Passover, covering short videos on Passover and the events of the week through Jesus’ crucifixion.
April 6, 2025
This week, addressing one of our student’s questions, we talked about whether our pets will be with us in heaven.
We started our discussion covering what the Bible says about heaven, dispelling some common beliefs. We reminded the group what Father Ryan taught us in a previous class including that we do not become angels. We talked about the idea of a physical and spiritual word and how these can intersect. Perhaps more provocative to some people’s beliefs about the afterlife, we dug into what the Bible says happens to us after we die. This is not an easy topic so we watched two videos from the Bible Project, covering one that highlights what the Bible means when it addresses “eternal life,” and then one that covers the idea of how Jesus has brought heaven to us and how God’s plan is ultimately for us is to ultimately be resurrected in new bodies in a new Eden on a new Earth.
Ultimately, the Bible doesn’t address animals in new Earth, but Christians believe we will have resurrected bodies on a new Earth in a New Jerusalem (Isaiah 65:17–19; Revelation 21:1-5). We know that there were animals when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, so if the new Earth represents God’s new Garden for us, it seems probable that we’d have animals there as well. And if we are resurrected in new bodies, is it possible that our past pets will be there as well?
This week, addressing one of our student’s questions, we talked about whether our pets will be with us in heaven.
We started our discussion covering what the Bible says about heaven, dispelling some common beliefs. We reminded the group what Father Ryan taught us in a previous class including that we do not become angels. We talked about the idea of a physical and spiritual word and how these can intersect. Perhaps more provocative to some people’s beliefs about the afterlife, we dug into what the Bible says happens to us after we die. This is not an easy topic so we watched two videos from the Bible Project, covering one that highlights what the Bible means when it addresses “eternal life,” and then one that covers the idea of how Jesus has brought heaven to us and how God’s plan is ultimately for us is to ultimately be resurrected in new bodies in a new Eden on a new Earth.
Ultimately, the Bible doesn’t address animals in new Earth, but Christians believe we will have resurrected bodies on a new Earth in a New Jerusalem (Isaiah 65:17–19; Revelation 21:1-5). We know that there were animals when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, so if the new Earth represents God’s new Garden for us, it seems probable that we’d have animals there as well. And if we are resurrected in new bodies, is it possible that our past pets will be there as well?
March 30, 2025
We completed our review of how we might treat the claim that all religions point to the same God. We discussed the principles and beliefs that tie together the world’s major religions and also highlighted the shared heritage, prophets and beliefs of the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. We then applied some of what we learned last week regarding relativism and objective truth. Can a monotheistic religion’s belief in a single, all-powerful God be reconciled with one that does not have a god or deity as a central concept or one that features multiple gods? Similarly, even though both Christians and Muslims believe in an all-powerful, eternal God that created the universe, the two religions describe the character of God and his desired relationship with humans in very different terms and of course, Christianity holds that Jesus is the son of God and the way to be reconciled with God whereas Islam claims Jesus was a great prophet but not the son of God.
We discussed the potential challenges of Jesus’ claim that “no one comes to the Father except through me,” including for those who pre-dated Jesus (e.g., prehistoric man) or who might never heard of Jesus. We can’t be certain how to consider these challenges, but given what Christians believe about God’s hope to have relationships with us and what the Bible says (2 Peter 3:9, John 3:16, Romans 1:19-20), we reviewed ways people might come to God through Jesus including those that lived before him or whose circumstances meant they never heard of him during their lives on Earth. We finished our session with a video addressing “How Can Jesus Be the Only Way.”
We are approaching the end of the semester with classes continuing through May 11. Our focus for these classes will continue to cover “tough questions.” Responding to the students’ vote, next week we will talk about whether or not there are animals in heaven!
We completed our review of how we might treat the claim that all religions point to the same God. We discussed the principles and beliefs that tie together the world’s major religions and also highlighted the shared heritage, prophets and beliefs of the Abrahamic religions, Judaism, Islam and Christianity. We then applied some of what we learned last week regarding relativism and objective truth. Can a monotheistic religion’s belief in a single, all-powerful God be reconciled with one that does not have a god or deity as a central concept or one that features multiple gods? Similarly, even though both Christians and Muslims believe in an all-powerful, eternal God that created the universe, the two religions describe the character of God and his desired relationship with humans in very different terms and of course, Christianity holds that Jesus is the son of God and the way to be reconciled with God whereas Islam claims Jesus was a great prophet but not the son of God.
We discussed the potential challenges of Jesus’ claim that “no one comes to the Father except through me,” including for those who pre-dated Jesus (e.g., prehistoric man) or who might never heard of Jesus. We can’t be certain how to consider these challenges, but given what Christians believe about God’s hope to have relationships with us and what the Bible says (2 Peter 3:9, John 3:16, Romans 1:19-20), we reviewed ways people might come to God through Jesus including those that lived before him or whose circumstances meant they never heard of him during their lives on Earth. We finished our session with a video addressing “How Can Jesus Be the Only Way.”
We are approaching the end of the semester with classes continuing through May 11. Our focus for these classes will continue to cover “tough questions.” Responding to the students’ vote, next week we will talk about whether or not there are animals in heaven!
March 23, 2025
This week we dove into the first of a series of “tough questions for Christians,” where the students will be picking topics they’d like to explore as a group. We discussed the idea that all religions point to the same God. We reviewed some related points, starting with the fact that the time and place of someone’s birth will have a big impact on the religion someone might practice. This is sometimes used as an argument against the validity of religion and God’s existence. We challenged the logic of this as well as noted that the same correlation of religious belief and birth time/location would apply equally well to many of the atheists using this argument!
We revisited the idea of objective and subjective truths. And we discussed the appeal of the emotional appeal of the idea that the world’s religions could all point to the same truths and the same God, including an inadequate review of the Baháʼí Faith which supports this idea. Next week we will continue this discussion (including a review for anyone who missed this week) and discuss different ways Christians have interpreted John 14:6 where Jesus says “…no one comes to the Father except through me.”
This week we dove into the first of a series of “tough questions for Christians,” where the students will be picking topics they’d like to explore as a group. We discussed the idea that all religions point to the same God. We reviewed some related points, starting with the fact that the time and place of someone’s birth will have a big impact on the religion someone might practice. This is sometimes used as an argument against the validity of religion and God’s existence. We challenged the logic of this as well as noted that the same correlation of religious belief and birth time/location would apply equally well to many of the atheists using this argument!
We revisited the idea of objective and subjective truths. And we discussed the appeal of the emotional appeal of the idea that the world’s religions could all point to the same truths and the same God, including an inadequate review of the Baháʼí Faith which supports this idea. Next week we will continue this discussion (including a review for anyone who missed this week) and discuss different ways Christians have interpreted John 14:6 where Jesus says “…no one comes to the Father except through me.”
February 24 + March 2, 2025
The last two weeks we have tried to tackle one of the student’s questions that came up from our discussion about the Holy Spirit’s appearance in Genesis’ creation story, “did God really make the world in seven days?” We began noting that an all-powerful God living outside of time and space could do anything. We even discussed the possibility that God created the world 15 minutes ago, creating compelling remnants of history, planting seeds of our memories, etc. A fun if maybe a little mind-blowing thought exercise but a reminder that virtually any creation story is feasible and the importance of approaching these kinds of discussions with humility and respect for different viewpoints. We shifted to another philosophical argument for God’s existence found in the "watch theory" of something that exists must have a cause. If you were walking through the woods and happened to find a watch, you would only conclude that someone had left it there. The argument suggests that just as a watch clearly requires a watchmaker, the complexity, beauty and precision of the universe must have had a cause and been designed by a similarly intelligent being. While this theory is over 200 years old, with our understanding of the origins of the universe are much further advanced, the analogy has aged well. The Big Bang theory would indicate that the universe is over 14 billion years old. Many Christians would hold that God’s hand was at work in architecting an otherwise impossible set of precise conditions that would allow for an proliferation of solar systems and planets leading to the formation of Earth 8 or 9 billion years later. Stephen Hawking, a brilliant scientist but also a notable atheist, noted that “if the rate of expansion one second after the Big Bang had been smaller by even one in a hundred thousand million million (100,000,000,000,000,000 or 100 quadrillion), it would have re-collapsed before it reached its present size.” There were many other highly improbable (if by chance) conditions that had to align for solar system to form and then for a planet with the life sustaining conditions of Earth to form. We put in Hawking’s probabilities along with some others that scientists have estimated as similarly unlikely into a ChatGPT to ask for an illustration of how likely these scenarios could come to pass via chance. It’s illustration and conclusion are telling!: “The Earth has roughly 7.5 sextillion grains of sand, which is 7.5 followed by 17 zeros. Imagine a universe made entirely of sand, with every planet, star, and galaxy consisting only of sand grains. The probability of this event happening is similar to someone picking one pre-selected grain from one of the 100 sextillion (1 followed by 23 zeros) planets in the universe. At this scale, probabilities become so small that they lose practical meaning—such an event is essentially impossible in any realistic scenario.” We then returned to Genesis’ creation story and the origin of mankind. We discussed some possibilities for Adam and Eve. Acknowledging that God could have created the world roughly 10,000 years ago for those subscribing to a “young Earth” more literal reading of Genesis. Others read the Genesis creation story as mytho-history, noting its literary style and similarities to ancient Near East mythology and appealing to what science can demonstrate about human history. It is interesting to consider the possibility of a historical Adam who could have been the first human capable: of understanding right and wrong, reasoning, complex communication creating art, and other things that distinguish humans from other animals and similarly reflect being made in God’s image. Some scientists hold that homo sapiens ancestors, potentially homo heidelbergensis, were the ancient humans whose brains were developed enough to exhibit the behaviors and capabilities unique to man, potentially 800,000 – 900,000 years ago. Intriguingly, Chinese scientist very recently determined that it was around this time that it is likely the world population shrank to very small numbers around this time, potentially to something as low as 1280 people, possibly due to climate change. February 16, 2025
Building on last week’s introduction to the Holy Spirit and the Hebrew word ruach, we watched another Bible Project video which reminds us that the Holy Spirit makes its first appearance in the first verses of the Bible at the creation of the world. We discussed more about the role of the Holy Spirit, how it intercedes on our behalf and what this represents about God’s love and interest in having a relationship with us. This led us to discussing the Holy Trinity, an even more challenging subject. We reviewed some common metaphors for understanding the Trinity, including an apple, egg and three leaf clover as well as the explanatory limits of these. Thinking about the various roles the students play, son/daughter, grandson/granddaughter, brother/sister…in each case, not unlike the Father, Holy Spirit, and Jesus, they have different roles in their relationships and are viewed as a different part of the family, but always remaining the same person. We also used the understandability of 3-D world paired with the reality of there being other dimensions, at some point concepts that most of us can’t understand (e.g., superstring theory featuring 10 dimensions) as examples of the limits of our understanding of an all-powerful God existing apart from time and space. Finally, we returned to C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity and watched a clip from the Three Personal God chapter (2.36-7.36). He talked about why studying theology can help us understand God and reinforced the role of each aspect of the Trinity in our lives. And made the point that our understanding all points to a God the father that loves and cares for us, has taken steps to reconcile our relationship with him through his son, and has given us an intercessor to help us grow and build that relationship. 
February 10, 2025
After discussing Jesus’ resurrection, this week we covered what happened next. We learned about the Jewish festival of Pentecost and began to discuss the Holy Spirit. The Bible Project has a nice summary of this part of Acts which overviews how the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles, marking the beginning of the spread of Christianity and finishing with the martyrdom of Stephen (and the introduction of Saul/Paul). We revisited the fact that all but one of the 12 disciples died for their beliefs (one of the reasons we covered why it is reasonable to believe in the resurrection) and also talked about more recent Christian martyrs, including the 16th century Japanese Christians who refused to deny their beliefs in the face of death as well as Dietrich Bonhoeffer who as part of his resistance to Hitler’s oppression of the German church taught a secret youth group. 
We finished by beginning to discuss the different names and forms associated with the Holy Spirit (including the Holy Ghost!). We introduced the Hebrew word “ruach,” meaning breath or wind, that appears hundreds of times in the Bible. Next week we will spend more a little more time with the Holy Spirit and finish with exploring the mysterious Holy Trinity.
February 2, 2025
Congratulations to all you students who were confirmed today! This week we finished discussing the historicity of Jesus, with a focus on aspects of Jesus’ life that are crucial to our Christian faith, including aspects of his life and ministry that are less accepted by non-Christian historians. We started with many of the things Jesus called himself and the picture this paints of who Christians believe about him: Son of Man; Son of God; Messiah; Bread of Life; Good Shepherd; Vine; Alpha and Omega; Immanuel. We also discussed some of his most prominent miracles and the nature of these to get even more of a complete view of Jesus’ love for us and the nature of his power over nature, sickness, evil, death as well as his compassion, care and love for people. It isn’t possible to prove Jesus did or didn’t perform miracles, but we covered some reasons why using a conventional assessment of historical events, there are good reasons to believe that Jesus performed the miracles reported in the Bible. All of this is important in understanding the impact and meaning of his death and resurrection. We watched a Bible Project video on Luke’s reporting of Jesus’ resurrection. Beyond the ways Christians believe in faith, we talked about how we can use logic, critical thinking and indisputable historical facts to make a case for believing Jesus was truly resurrected. Compared to most other explanations, his resurrection are better explanations for his empty tomb, his followers’ martyrdom as well as numerous eyewitness accounts. We finished with discussing the role of Jesus in reconciling man with God, revisiting one of the things Jesus called himself, Immanuel, or “God with us.” And his resurrection represented his defeating death and the establishment of a new kingdom where we can have a relationship with God. We closed with a very well-known Bible verse: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 January 26, 2025
After a couple of weeks of confirmation classes, we returned to discussing the historicity of Jesus. We reviewed the reasons most rational people, applying the same criteria they’d apply to knowing any other historical figure, would agree that Jesus was a real person who lived 2000 years ago in Galilee and Judea (no, he was not American or even Chinese as suggested in a recent SNL segment defending Tik Tok!). We talked about Jesus’ earthly family, what he probably looked like and what 1st century non-Christian historians shared about him. Acknowledging that not every historical writing or relic about Jesus was true, we also briefly talked about the “naughty” early life Jesus featured in the largely debunked Infancy Gospel of Thomas. We also touched on the Shroud of Turin, which supposedly was Jesus’ burial cloth but later was shown to have been created around the time of its discovery in the 14th century. We used logic to confirm that just because something about a historical figure is untrue, doesn’t bring everything about the figure into question (e.g., George Washington’s chopping down a cherry tree and then owning up to it). We concluded with the idea that while most educated people would agree that Jesus was a real person whose teachings and life became the basis of Christianity and who was crucified by the Roman government (both Roman and Jewish non-Christian historians from the 1st century wrote as much), it is obviously uncommon for non-Christians to believe that Jesus was resurrected following his death. Next week, we will talk more about the historicity of this as well as why this is important to Christian faith. January 5, 2025
This week we built on our discussion regarding royalty and the view as Jesus’ role fulfilling the covenant God made with David in the Old Testament, and then spent some time on the historicity of Jesus. Many developed countries are not only becoming increasingly more agnostic or atheistic, but they are much more inclined to question whether Jesus was even a real person (e.g., a survey in the UK indicated that 40% of British believe Jesus is a mythical figure who didn’t actually live). We highlighted the reasons virtually no serious historian, including those who don’t practice Christianity, would suggest that Jesus didn’t exist. We used the telephone game to highlight how important it can be to have contemporary manuscripts to have accurate history as well as the value of corroboration of sources. There were more than 5 times the amount of contemporary writings and more independent and corroborating manuscripts documenting Jesus’ life than there were for Julius Ceasar. Using the “embarrassment criterion” (the idea that authors would likely not include actions or events that could undermine or embarrass an authoritative figure), many historians would point to Jesus’ death by crucifixion, a degrading and humiliating form of execution, as a point in support of a likely highly probable historical fact about Jesus. We began to cover other facts about Jesus that are generally accepted…his Jewish faith, his language, his family. We even reviewed the story covered in Deacon Martha’s sermon of 12-year-old Jesus getting separated from his family in their annual trip to Jerusalem, remaining behind to speak with Jewish leaders. It paints a picture of a brilliant, educated, and independent boy who already had a good sense of his purpose and relationship with God. During the next two weeks, the students preparing for confirmation will meet with Father Ryan. On 1/26, we will pick back up with our study of the historical Jesus, taking a look at aspects of his life that are less widely accepted as historical facts but very important to our Christian faith. December 22, 2024
In anticipation of Christmas, this week we talked about royalty, including kings (and queens) and what this has to do with Jesus. We spent a little time discussing some of the most powerful monarchs in history, comparing the basis for power (money, land, military prowess, cultural/religious impact). This list had some familiar names, including Ramses II, Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great, but we also discussed King Solomon, who might have been one of the wealthiest rulers and at least for a time, the wisest as well. Solomon inherited his kingship from his father, David. King David would not make any “history’s most powerful” lists, but he would likely be near the top of the Old Testament’s most important figures. We touched on David’s plans for the temple (and why he wasn’t allowed to do the actual building) and connected this previous classes’ discussions of the importance of the temple for Jewish people along with the role of Holy of Holies and the ark of the covenant. In spite of David’s many failings, God saw David’s extraordinary love and trust for him and made a covenant with him that “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” 2 Samuel 7:11 Christians believe that this covenant was fulfilled in the coming of Jesus whose familial lineage (and even place of birth) tied him to David. However, as we all know the Christmas story, he came to us in very different circumstances expected of royalty. Similarly, though he was repeatedly referred to as “the son of David,” Jesus would be a very different kind of king of a different kind of kingdom. Jesus’ life and death represents God’s desire to restore a relationship with us in a new kingdom. We watched this short video from The Bible Project to provide more perspective on God’s fulfilling the Davidic covenant and the Kingdom of God. Just a reminder, there will be no class (Truthseekers or Confirmation) next week. We will resume Truthseekers on the following week (1/5/25) at 9am in the Guild Room. Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! December 15, 2024
This week Father Ryan joined our class and conducted a very interesting discussion on Angels. We spent time in the Bible to learn about the role and nature of angels and quickly learned that the image that comes to many of us when we think of angels is not Biblically based. Ezekiel 1:15-17 has a particularly challenging one very much unlike the image currently hanging on Christmas trees. 
We also reviewed the hierarchy of angels from the Orthodox Christian tradition. It surprised most of us to learn that archangels that include the named angels from the Bible (including Gabriel, Michael and Raphael) are only the second lowest ranked angels in the hierarchy!
Father Ryan’s presentation works well as a stand-alone summary so we are attaching it below to provide Bible references and some provocative illustrations. The class will be meeting again next weekend (12/22) before taking a break in between Christmas and New Year’s. 
November 24, 2024 This week we finished covering the concept of atonement and why this is such an important idea in the Christian faith. We built on our discussion from last week with the practice of sacrifice in different religions (including a couple of disturbing historical practices of human sacrifice!) and discussed the role of sacrifice in ancient Judaism. This led us to touch on the role and design of the temple, including the holy of holies which housed the Ark of the Covenant. It was so holy and sacred that the high priest could only enter the room once per year during Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement. On that day, the priest would go past the curtain that otherwise separated the room from the rest of the temple and sprinkle the blood of sacrificial animals on the Ark, symbolically atoning for the Jewish people’s sins. We discussed the idea of how our sins separate us from God and the role of Jesus’ death in atoning for us. When Jesus died, the curtain that separated the people from the Holy of Holies split in two, symbolizing a new covenant, access, and relationship with God enabled by Jesus’ sacrifice. We finished class talking about the holiness of God. We used the sun as a metaphor for God’s holiness. It is a critical life-sustaining force in our solar system, but it must be respected because of its awesome and dangerous power. We watched this video from the Bible Project on the topic. November 10, 2024
This Sunday we returned the CS Lewis’ Mere Christianity to try to answer a relatively challenging but critically important question that is central to our faith: “Why did God send his son to die for us?” We watched and talked through his Chapter, “The Perfect Penitent.” We talked about penance, a word that isn’t commonly used today (and used a scene from the Indiana Jones series to help!). And then we watched the first 10 minutes of a Lewis doodle video to help us work thru the main points of the chapter. Lewis references different theories on atonement, using an analogy with food to make the point that getting or understanding the right theory isn’t necessary. In the same way humans know they need to eat whether or not they understand the science behind nutrition, we don’t need to find or even understand the right atonement concept to appreciate God’s grace and love for us. Next week we will spend a little more time on atonement before shifting our focus to advent, including looking at some interesting prophesies about Jesus and addressing some related questions about God’s nature. 
November 3, 2024
This week we recapped our discussion about our mind/body, soul and spirit (see last week’s notes) and moved back to our study of C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity with some background topics to set up a review of “The Perfect Penitent” chapter. We walked through a view of Christianity expressed in this summary:
We used the analogy of our understanding compared to a dog’s (or a toddler’s)…the dog may feel aggrieved that it is kept on a leash and not allowed to eat chocolate, but humans know this is for their own good. If God is viewing our relationship with him as eternal, it is conceivable he views our pain and suffering in our extremely short (relative to eternity!) time on Earth differently than we do. In fact, there are numerous times of objectively evil human behaviors that God seems to tolerate in the moment that even we might see in a different light with the benefit or historical perspective…e.g., the 400 years of Jewish slavery in Egypt, Christian martyrs whose death impacted millions (e.g. we briefly referenced Dietrich Bonhoeffer), or even Jesus’ crucifixion. We then briefly highlighted some of the very high-level points of the world’s major religions, comparing and contrasting with Christianity. We also spent a little time talking about how Jesus shows up in the Quran. Some were surprised to know that Muslims revere Jesus. He is mentioned more often that Muhammad, and the Islam faith shares many of the same beliefs about Jesus’ life as Christians (virgin birth, performed miracles, a great and wise prophet, will return in end times). However, the Quaran is clear that Jesus is not the son of God and that he was not crucified and resurrected. While many hold onto the idea of relativism when it comes to others’ religious beliefs, we talked about the logical challenge of reconciling one faith saying a Jesus was just a prophet, but not the son of God with another that said Jesus is one with God, existing before the creation of the world and the way to eternal life. Logically, it is not possible that both of these beliefs about Jesus can be true. Just looking at what Jesus said about who he was and his relationship with God, C.S. Lewis held out a logical framework that many today refer to as “Lunatic, Liar or Lord” argument. The idea is that for someone to claim to be the son of God and the only way to eternal life, that this person is wrong…either he wrongly believes this and is mentally unstable or he knows it is untrue and he is lying. Or he is correct and accurately claiming what otherwise seems like an outrageous identity. Jesus was by all counts, wise, knowledgeable and stable…not likely to be mentally ill. And would a liar allow himself to be crucified when all he had to do was back off his claims? We will start next week by revisiting this argument before digging into a very interesting chapter in Mere Christianity. We will explore the idea of penitence starting with a climatic scene from Indiana Jones, the Last Crusade and then finish with a discussion around atonement. 
October 27, 2024
It was great to be able to meet again and after sharing hurricane stories, we reviewed our discussion from the last class - what makes a human different from other intelligent animals? We touched on the idea of free will vs. operating strictly from instinct as well as the role of our body/mind, soul and spirit in making us who we are. We discussed two Hebrew words to help us understand what the Bible says about our soul. Interestingly, some people would argue that many of the references to a “soul” in the Old Testament is an incomplete translation. The Hebrew word “nephesh” is often translated as soul, but it literally means “throat” and usually in the Old Testament, it is intended to mean a person’s whole self or life. While the Bible isn’t clear on the distinction between a person’s body, soul and spirit, it is clear that who we are is not limited to just our body or that our lives are limited to just the time that we have on Earth. We watched this informative video from the Bible Project that took us a little deeper into this idea and what nephesh means. The second word, “ruach”, can mean breath or wind or spirit. It is often used to illustrate God’s life-giving breath. We talked about our spirit potentially being the part of us that can be connected to God through his Holy Spirit. We talked a little about what it might mean to our nephesh or humanity to be spiritually dead (e.g., Hitler) or even what it could mean for someone in a permanent coma or suffering from something like Alzheimer’s disease. We finished with a brief discussion on whether animals might have souls and for some added fun for next week, we all agreed to start the next class sharing each other’s results of this “what animal are you?” test. | |||||
September 22, 2024
Today we picked back up on our discussion of the distinction of something being right or wrong due to cultural norms (e.g., removing shoes before entering a Japanese home) or something being intrinsically true (e.g., 2+2=4).
We then watched segments of the animated reading of the second chapter of Mere Christianity, addressing objections to the idea of universal moral truths. One of the examples C.S. Lewis used was the sometimes conflicting impulse to both run away and run towards a dangerous situation to help another person. Both of these impulses could reflect evolutionary instincts (the first is survival of the individual and the second is a communal survival), but Lewis holds that the feeling that we “ought” to help is a separate force representing the “Law of Nature” or truth as it relates to what is right and good.
He went on to challenge the logic that just because we were taught something by our parents, schools or even churches, it doesn’t follow what is taught is just a cultural practice or human convention and therefore not objectively true. Noted that driving on the right side of the street is a human convention, but math exists apart from human invention or design. Lewis argues that morality exists apart from human conventions. He notes that evidence for this can be seen in the fact that some societal or cultural practices are better (or worse) than others. For example, almost everyone would agree that the behaviors of leaders and people in Nazi Germany or Taliban-ruled Afghanistan are worse or just wrong compared to those in most other modern societies. If we say this, we must be appealing to a common standard of right and wrong.
For the second half of class, we connected what we learned with one of the students’ top questions: What is a soul? Do animals have souls? We talked about the high intelligence of certain animal species and learned about bonobos, an emotionally intelligent endangered primate that along with chimpanzees, are the closest living species relative to humans. Humans however, have a wider range of capabilities than even our closest animal relatives. Why? We began to discuss the idea of the human body, soul, and spirit. In our next class we will continue our discussion and learn about a Hebrew word that was generally translated as “soul” in the Bible but might have a slightly different meaning from how we typically view it and tackle whether animals other than humans have souls.
Today we picked back up on our discussion of the distinction of something being right or wrong due to cultural norms (e.g., removing shoes before entering a Japanese home) or something being intrinsically true (e.g., 2+2=4).
We then watched segments of the animated reading of the second chapter of Mere Christianity, addressing objections to the idea of universal moral truths. One of the examples C.S. Lewis used was the sometimes conflicting impulse to both run away and run towards a dangerous situation to help another person. Both of these impulses could reflect evolutionary instincts (the first is survival of the individual and the second is a communal survival), but Lewis holds that the feeling that we “ought” to help is a separate force representing the “Law of Nature” or truth as it relates to what is right and good.
He went on to challenge the logic that just because we were taught something by our parents, schools or even churches, it doesn’t follow what is taught is just a cultural practice or human convention and therefore not objectively true. Noted that driving on the right side of the street is a human convention, but math exists apart from human invention or design. Lewis argues that morality exists apart from human conventions. He notes that evidence for this can be seen in the fact that some societal or cultural practices are better (or worse) than others. For example, almost everyone would agree that the behaviors of leaders and people in Nazi Germany or Taliban-ruled Afghanistan are worse or just wrong compared to those in most other modern societies. If we say this, we must be appealing to a common standard of right and wrong.
For the second half of class, we connected what we learned with one of the students’ top questions: What is a soul? Do animals have souls? We talked about the high intelligence of certain animal species and learned about bonobos, an emotionally intelligent endangered primate that along with chimpanzees, are the closest living species relative to humans. Humans however, have a wider range of capabilities than even our closest animal relatives. Why? We began to discuss the idea of the human body, soul, and spirit. In our next class we will continue our discussion and learn about a Hebrew word that was generally translated as “soul” in the Bible but might have a slightly different meaning from how we typically view it and tackle whether animals other than humans have souls.
September 15, 2024
This week we reviewed the concept of objective truth and then continued to discuss the first chapter of Mere Christianity. A reminder of the main theme of this foundational chapter:
Everyone has a shared sense of right and wrong that isn’t cultural and doesn’t need to be taught.
• There are objective truths
• Morality is an objective truth and universal
• This reality is a strong argument for a creator/God
This is a meaty/challenging Bible verse (like much of the letter to Romans!), but Paul summarizes the idea that Lewis calls the Law of Nature:
“For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.” Romans 2:13-15
A much more accessible idea, we talked about how Homer Simpson’s regular struggle with his shoulder angel and devil illustrates Lewis’ point that we know right/wrong but often do the wrong thing.
We then pivoted and discussed potential objections to the idea of objective morality. One is that our sense of right and wrong are really just a result of culture, societal conventions, and evolution. This mistake is in viewing it in a binary/all-or-nothing lens. Cultural norms and even laws certainly play a role in what we view as right or wrong (e.g., taking a hat off for the national anthem, driving on the right side of the street). We talked about how human herding can be part of this (see long lines for iPhone releases and Germans supporting the Nazi regime). On the other hand, there are certain things that have always been viewed as wrong across history and cultures.
Setting up next week’s discussion where Lewis addresses some common objections, we watched the “we found a witch, can we burn it?” scene from Monty Python’s Holy Grail. Beyond illustrating some hilarious logical fallacies, we will use this to help us understand Lewis’ use of witch burning as an example of something that was culturally acceptable in the 17th century but not now. We will start next week’s discussion with learning how he addresses this!
This week we reviewed the concept of objective truth and then continued to discuss the first chapter of Mere Christianity. A reminder of the main theme of this foundational chapter:
Everyone has a shared sense of right and wrong that isn’t cultural and doesn’t need to be taught.
• There are objective truths
• Morality is an objective truth and universal
• This reality is a strong argument for a creator/God
This is a meaty/challenging Bible verse (like much of the letter to Romans!), but Paul summarizes the idea that Lewis calls the Law of Nature:
“For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.” Romans 2:13-15
A much more accessible idea, we talked about how Homer Simpson’s regular struggle with his shoulder angel and devil illustrates Lewis’ point that we know right/wrong but often do the wrong thing.
We then pivoted and discussed potential objections to the idea of objective morality. One is that our sense of right and wrong are really just a result of culture, societal conventions, and evolution. This mistake is in viewing it in a binary/all-or-nothing lens. Cultural norms and even laws certainly play a role in what we view as right or wrong (e.g., taking a hat off for the national anthem, driving on the right side of the street). We talked about how human herding can be part of this (see long lines for iPhone releases and Germans supporting the Nazi regime). On the other hand, there are certain things that have always been viewed as wrong across history and cultures.
Setting up next week’s discussion where Lewis addresses some common objections, we watched the “we found a witch, can we burn it?” scene from Monty Python’s Holy Grail. Beyond illustrating some hilarious logical fallacies, we will use this to help us understand Lewis’ use of witch burning as an example of something that was culturally acceptable in the 17th century but not now. We will start next week’s discussion with learning how he addresses this!
September 8, 2024
We kicked off our new semester with a recap of some of the big questions we covered last year and the role of logic, problem solving and an understanding of history in Christian apologetics. We also reviewed the importance of objective truth in our faith but also in society using Tiananmen Square and the Jewish holocaust as examples where the government (and others) have tried to use propaganda and the control of historic information to influence how large populations understand the truth (with a brief break to calculate the amount of sodium one of our chip-loving students consumed in the first half of class!).
We quickly recapped the top arguments for God’s existence before turning to one of our areas of focus for this semester. And if God exists, is Christianity our best explanation for his role in creation and relationship with people?
One of the ways we will explore this is to “read” together parts of C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity.” We reviewed a little of Lewis’ interesting biography (including why everyone called him Jack) and highlighted that the content of Mere Christianity was originally delivered to the British people during WWII as part of a radio program. We found a neat animated video series that recreates the radio addresses and accompanies this with hand drawn images to reinforce the message. Given all the background we covered, we only got through the first half of the first chapter/video that sets the stage for the rest of the book.
Lastly, the group voted on their top big questions they’d like to cover or revisit this semester so we will plan on covering the following in the coming weeks:
- What is a soul? Do animals besides humans have souls?
- Can people who have never heard of God go to heaven? What about cavemen? Aliens?
- Angels and Demons/Devil
- How to respond to the toughest arguments against God’s existence
We kicked off our new semester with a recap of some of the big questions we covered last year and the role of logic, problem solving and an understanding of history in Christian apologetics. We also reviewed the importance of objective truth in our faith but also in society using Tiananmen Square and the Jewish holocaust as examples where the government (and others) have tried to use propaganda and the control of historic information to influence how large populations understand the truth (with a brief break to calculate the amount of sodium one of our chip-loving students consumed in the first half of class!).
We quickly recapped the top arguments for God’s existence before turning to one of our areas of focus for this semester. And if God exists, is Christianity our best explanation for his role in creation and relationship with people?
One of the ways we will explore this is to “read” together parts of C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity.” We reviewed a little of Lewis’ interesting biography (including why everyone called him Jack) and highlighted that the content of Mere Christianity was originally delivered to the British people during WWII as part of a radio program. We found a neat animated video series that recreates the radio addresses and accompanies this with hand drawn images to reinforce the message. Given all the background we covered, we only got through the first half of the first chapter/video that sets the stage for the rest of the book.
Lastly, the group voted on their top big questions they’d like to cover or revisit this semester so we will plan on covering the following in the coming weeks:
- What is a soul? Do animals besides humans have souls?
- Can people who have never heard of God go to heaven? What about cavemen? Aliens?
- Angels and Demons/Devil
- How to respond to the toughest arguments against God’s existence
|
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
1200 Snell Isle Blvd NE St. Petersburg, FL 33704 727-896-9641 office@stthomasstpete.org |
