In spite of a day of football games which shaped the Superbowl contest in two weeks, my thoughts today have been more on the Scriptures we studied in church this morning.
We now know that the Bears will meet the Colts in Superbowl XLI. I’m going to root for the Bears, because as a kid I listened to many a game on WLS radio in Chicago (no TV then) in the days when Bulldog Turner was snapping the football to Sid Luckman under the watchful eyes of Coaching legend George Halas. So… GO BEARS!
More important, however, are the things I am learning in the Lutheran tradition. Each Sunday during worship, we read three different sets of Scripture, one each from the Old Testament, New Testament and Gospels.
The Scripture selections are taken from the “Revised Common Lectionary” which pretty much escorts you through the entire Bible in three years, with a different Gospel focus (Matthew, Mark or Luke) each year.
Our senior Pastor Don Jukam has been conducting a month-long adult Sunday School class which is explaining how the Lectionary guides our Scriptural focus each week and how we can use The Bible Guide, a singular, complete background guide, to better understand the Bible.
Compiled by theologian Andrew Knowles and published by Augsburg Press, The Bible Guide explores, explains, and brings to life the history, stories, culture and message of God’s Word.
Click here to see (and purchase?) The Bible Guide on Amazon.com. It’s a marvelous assist to personal Bible study.
Today, for instance, we learned a key point from The Bible Guide regarding our Scripture Reading of I Corinthians 12. The Guide suggests that the Corinth Church had much to learn regarding spiritual gifts, or “things of the spirit”.
Paul is setting up in chapter 12 the famous “love” text, which follows in chapter 13. The Guide directed our thinking to realize that even the greatest gift (from ch 12) is worth nothing (noted by Paul), if it isn’t received and used with love (ch 13).
We are familiar with "the love chapter" because its contents are commonly quoted as a stand-alone at weddings and in sermons that attempt to define what love (itself) is. The Bible Guide points out that its context perhaps makes I Corinthians 13 more accurately an enhancement of the gifts, or "things," of the spirit mentioned in chapter 12.
It’s these small, seemingly insignificant but serendipitous discoveries that make The Bible Guide a wonderful (layman’s) help in studying the Scriptures. Knowing the history, the context and possible meanings certainly sheds wonderful new light on even familiar passages. Thanks be to God.
No comments:
Post a Comment