Have you ever had questions about the Bible? Questions like:

• Who wrote the Bible?
• What do we do with all the contradictions?
• What about Science? Evolution? 
• Why is Jesus so graceful and loving in the New Testament when God appears to be a violent and wrathful bully in the Old Testament?
• What about LGBTQ+ people?
• Are women really second class citizens?
• Is the Bible pro-slavery?

It's OK to struggle with the Bible. Really! The Bible isn’t always going to behave the way we expect or want it to. And why should it? Jesus wasn’t exactly known for behaving, so why would the Bible?

Bible Scholar Pete Enns says, "I believe God wants us to take the Bible seriously, but I don't believe [God] wants us to suppress our questions about it... The problem isn't the Bible. The problem is coming to the Bible with expectations it's not set up to bear." (The Bible Tells Me So. HaprerOne Publishing.)

You are not alone if you have struggled to understand the violence and contradictions in the Bible, or if you can't seem to make sense of the bible as a holy rulebook. Join us for a summer study about the Bible,  as we wrestle with the bible together in ways that can help us stretch and grow into an even truer faith, and an even closer relationship with God.

Preview the study by watching the Session 1 video and viewing the discussion guide below.

SCRIPTURE:
Read each passage of scripture taking time to answer the following questions:

1. What does this passage of scripture say about God?
2.  What does this passage of scripture say about us (humanity)?
3. What does this passage of scripture say about the relationship between God and us (humanity)?

 
SCRIPTURE ONE: JOHN 20:19-22, CEB
It was still the first day of the week. That evening, while the disciples were behind closed doors because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. When the disciples saw the Lord, they were filled with joy. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

SCRIPTURE TWO: EPHESIANS 2:10, CEB
Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.

VIDEO: Week 3

VIDEO DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

• Pastor Joshua invites you to “take note of those around you, the people you see, embodying Christ.” Who do you see embodying hope? How do they inspire you to see a better future?
• Theologian Jürgen Moltmann wrote, “In human beings, knowledge of the ‘living God’ awakens a thirst and hunger for life. It makes [us] dissatisfied with what [we] are and impels [us] to look for a future in which more life will enter the lives [we] already have.” He continued, “Those who hope in Christ can no longer put up with reality as it is…in the light of the promised future that is to come.” What do you think Moltmann means by “reality as it is?”
• In John 20:19-22, Jesus says to his disciples, “As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.” What did Christ do, being sent by the Father? What are we to do, being sent by Christ? What are some of the things that keep you from doing as Christ did?
• Pastor Joshua says that to fully embody Christ we need to both “act” and “wait.” Which one comes more naturally to you? Why do you suppose the other is harder?
• Pastor Joshua asks, “In what ways do you feel the Holy Spirit leading you, nudging you, prompting you to live differently/changed in your faith life? What is Christ asking you to do right now, today, to embody hope?”

CHALLENGE:

1. Set aside time this week to “wait.” Nurture your faith by reading scripture or doing a devotion and praying. It might help you to re-read John 20:19-22 and Ephesians 2:10 each day this week.
2. Find a way to “act.” Activate your faith by going and doing, by serving others. 

SCRIPTURE:
Read each passage of scripture taking time to answer the following questions:
1. What does this passage of scripture say about God?
2. What does this passage of scripture say about us (humanity)?
3. What does this passage of scripture say about the relationship between God and us (humanity)?

SCRIPTURE ONE : REVELATION 22: 1-5, CEB
Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, shining like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb through the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life, which produces twelve crops of fruit, bearing its fruit each month. The tree’s leaves are for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more. They won’t need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will shine on them, and they will rule forever and always.

SCRIPTURE TWO: 1 PETER 3:15, CEB
Instead, regard Christ the Lord as holy in your hearts. Whenever anyone asks you to speak of your hope, be ready to defend it.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS :

• Chris quotes Peter Berger who said that transcendence is, “…phenomena that are to be found within the domain of our ‘natural’ reality but that appear to point beyond that reality and toward a new reality.” How would you describe transcendence? Do you think a new reality is possible?
• Chris defines Christian hope as, “a confident expectation that what God began to do in Jesus Christ will one day be made complete or made whole.” What do you think God began to do in Jesus Christ?
• What do you think Chris means when he says that, “Jesus has given us a picture of the new future and this new future is the only thing that really matters?” Why does hope matter for the Christian?
• What do you think it means when, according to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Christians “must accept infinite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope?”
  
• In what ways do you look forward to experiencing a Revelation 21 and Revelation 22 future?
  
• According to I Peter 3:15, we must be ready to explain or defend our hope. In what ways might you explain the hope that you live with?
  
• What is the best way to live with confident expectations?

CHALLENGE:
Hopelessness is the inability to envision or imagine a better future. We go to scripture, studying it, to better understand God’s vision for a better future. This allows us to imagine the world as God desires it so
that we may in turn model it in our own lives.

1. Read Revelation 21 and 22 this week and ask yourself, in what ways do you look forward to experiencing a Revelation 21 and Revelation 22 future? Consider how you can model this future in your life now?
   
2. Begin every day this week by praying the first part of Psalm 40:1, “I put all my hope in the Lord.” (CEB)

SCRIPTURE :
Read each passage of Scripture; taking time to answer the following questions for each Scripture read:
1. What does this passage of scripture say about God?
2. What does this passage of scripture say about humanity?
3. What does this passage of scripture say about the relationship between God and humanity?

SCRIPTURE ONE : ROMANS 8:35-39, NRSV
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

SCRIPTURE TWO: ISAIAH 6:1-5, NRSV
I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

​DISCUSSION QUESTIONS :

• What is your favorite Easter tradition and why?
• What is your favorite part about worship on the weekends and why?
• Paul says to the Romans that, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.” In what ways or when do you feel most connected to God in worship?
• Pastor Scott said in the video that, “Most people come to worship with different motives or reasons…people come longing for help, saying Lord help me, or heal me, inspire me, move me, bless me, fill me, use me, feed me, do whatever you want to me, but whatever you do don’t leave me the way you found me…” Why do you come to worship? In what ways has worship changed or transformed you How do you incorporate worship into your everyday life?
• Isaiah is swept up into an overwhelming scene of heavenly worship. The seraphim’s songs, shaking the doorpost, declares that “the whole earth is full of his glory” - all of creation full of God’s glory! Have you ever had an experience of feeling swept up and overwhelmed by God’s glory and presence in worship? What about in creation? Though we don’t worship creation (we worship God), how are creation and worship connected?
• In what ways does worship cultivate hope in ourselves? In our communities? In our world?

CHALLENGE :
1. The average person worships about twice a month. Be more than average and worship every weekend this month.
2. Invite someone to attend worship.