the questions
In response to a friend of mine posting about some questions of faith and walking in the world, I wanted to tell everyone that I have this Bible study on Wednesday nights at my Logan Square apartment, 7:30 p.m.
To give a little background: it started when my friend Leah met me serendipitously at a party, and we figured out that not only were we connnected by the friend who brought her to the party, but that we had connections going way back to our parents, and that her sister was married to my uncle. We immediately got talking about our faith backgrounds-she was remarkably open, ripe for this conversation-and within minutes she had told me that she wasn't attending a church, had ascertained that I was only sporadically attending mine, and that neither of us were totally happy with this arrangement and that we were both looking for more in the way of study and fellowship with folks. She immediately insisted that I should start a Bible study at my place. I was unsure at first, and certainly didn't feel equal to the task of leading a Bible study. But I let it sit, prayed about it, asked around, and pretty soon we had a little circle of folks who just wanted to meet and learn about this Jesus guy.
That was pretty much what we had in common. Some of us were new believers, one athiest, one "hopeful agnostic," and several believers of different stripes who for one reason or another couldn't seem to get settled in a "church," and a couple folks from this church I'd been sporadically attending. I set out at the beginning that I wanted this to be a place where people didn't have to hold their tongues; while I thought it was important for people to be considerate and avoid driving wedges between each other, I also recognized that a lot of folks--myself among them--were feeling a bit alienated and lost in the environment often created by big churches, and I wanted this to be a safe place where folks could come and go as they pleased and explore their genuine questions, and have genuine discussions about what was going on with them, and have some support in the process (without getting backed into corners). I wanted it to be a good place for anyone, but I felt a particular tenderness towards making it a good place for those who were either not believers, new believers, or for some reason estranged from the "body." Although we all have different spiritual "baggage," we also have a lot in common.
What we do: we read the Bible. We talk about the Bible, and discuss what it might have to say about who humans are and who Jesus is. We set aside time for prayer and we pray, allowing for varying degrees of participation in this, of course. I don't lecture or "teach," exactly, because I'm not a Bible scholar of any high quality. I do it more like one of my old book groups or a poetry class: I read the passage first, and try to come to the group with a few thoughts and questions, and then I facilitate the discussion.
If anyone who's in the Chicago area on a Wednesday night has any interest in Jesus at all, or maybe would just like to hear what people have to say and maybe pray, know that you are welcome and invited whenever you might feel like it, once or anytime. It's a good laughing bunch, we try not to back down from the hard stuff, we have a good time, we look to God and we care for each other.
To give a little background: it started when my friend Leah met me serendipitously at a party, and we figured out that not only were we connnected by the friend who brought her to the party, but that we had connections going way back to our parents, and that her sister was married to my uncle. We immediately got talking about our faith backgrounds-she was remarkably open, ripe for this conversation-and within minutes she had told me that she wasn't attending a church, had ascertained that I was only sporadically attending mine, and that neither of us were totally happy with this arrangement and that we were both looking for more in the way of study and fellowship with folks. She immediately insisted that I should start a Bible study at my place. I was unsure at first, and certainly didn't feel equal to the task of leading a Bible study. But I let it sit, prayed about it, asked around, and pretty soon we had a little circle of folks who just wanted to meet and learn about this Jesus guy.
That was pretty much what we had in common. Some of us were new believers, one athiest, one "hopeful agnostic," and several believers of different stripes who for one reason or another couldn't seem to get settled in a "church," and a couple folks from this church I'd been sporadically attending. I set out at the beginning that I wanted this to be a place where people didn't have to hold their tongues; while I thought it was important for people to be considerate and avoid driving wedges between each other, I also recognized that a lot of folks--myself among them--were feeling a bit alienated and lost in the environment often created by big churches, and I wanted this to be a safe place where folks could come and go as they pleased and explore their genuine questions, and have genuine discussions about what was going on with them, and have some support in the process (without getting backed into corners). I wanted it to be a good place for anyone, but I felt a particular tenderness towards making it a good place for those who were either not believers, new believers, or for some reason estranged from the "body." Although we all have different spiritual "baggage," we also have a lot in common.
What we do: we read the Bible. We talk about the Bible, and discuss what it might have to say about who humans are and who Jesus is. We set aside time for prayer and we pray, allowing for varying degrees of participation in this, of course. I don't lecture or "teach," exactly, because I'm not a Bible scholar of any high quality. I do it more like one of my old book groups or a poetry class: I read the passage first, and try to come to the group with a few thoughts and questions, and then I facilitate the discussion.
If anyone who's in the Chicago area on a Wednesday night has any interest in Jesus at all, or maybe would just like to hear what people have to say and maybe pray, know that you are welcome and invited whenever you might feel like it, once or anytime. It's a good laughing bunch, we try not to back down from the hard stuff, we have a good time, we look to God and we care for each other.