Your Story
We discuss the importance of knowing our own lens, or story, as we approach the story of Scripture. When we approach it with humility, an openness to being changed, and an awareness of the ways our own story impacts the way we receive it, we accept God’s invitation for our story to be caught up in the story of redemption shared in Scripture.
Asking the Right Questions
One of the most important lessons we have learned when it comes to engaging Scripture is we have to ask the right questions. When we try to make the Bible something that it isn’t or place expectations on it that it cannot bear, we end up hurting ourselves or others. We share how we have learned to ask the right questions and explore Jesus’ teaching that Scripture is always intended to help us love God and love others.
Chiasm - Pyramids & Hourglasses
We tackle chiasms! A literary device that sounds weird but is a structure that Bible authors used in order to point us to important lessons found in their writings. We teach the basic idea and then look at how the story of Zacchaeus found in Luke 19 is a chiasm and what this means for it’s interpretation.
God Doesn't Waste Ink
We discuss the importance of context when reading Scripture. Using a line a Rabbi taught Phil that “God doesn’t waste ink,” we explore why we need to pay attention to not only the passage we are reading, but the words, phrases, and larger movements of the text that surround it. We use an example from Ephesians 5 and the call for “women to submit to their husbands” to show what can happen when we lose context.
Envelopes, Repetition, Repetition, Inclusion
We dive into the importance of repetition in Scripture. Authors would repeat words, sometimes right next to each other and sometimes at the very beginning and end of a book or letter, to point out a major theme or give direction for how to understand everything else they are writing about. We discuss passages from all over Scripture to help you see how repetition can bring God’s living Word to life for us today.
Playing With Numbers in the Bible
We dive into the importance of numbers in the Bible. Through the use of Numerology and Gematria, big names with simple meanings, we can gain insight into what the authors of the Bible were trying to convey to us. Understanding the symbolism and connections they were making can help us better understand this story of God and humanity that is still speaking today.
Stringing Pearls with Gezera Shava
We explore an ancient interpretation method known as Gezera Shava and a concept some today call “stringing pearls.” With these tools, we connect words and passages together to help gain greater insight into what God’s Word is communicating. This is perhaps one of the most important and most common occurrences in the Bible and changed our lives when we began incorporating it into our Bible reading and study. We teach the concept, share some examples from the New Testament, and discuss how quoting shows like “Friends” or “The Office” can be a form of modern day Gezera Shava or stringing pearls.
Wrestling with Scripture Like Jacob
We look at the story of Jacob wrestling with the man/angel/God as an example for our invitation to wrestle with Scripture. Things may not always make sense and sometimes we won’t have answers, and that is ok. We are invited to continue wrestling until we are blessed, until the Good News brings us life. Sometimes we will have to remain in tension and mystery for a long time, and that can be a good place to be. Sometimes not having the answers, but staying in the game, is the blessing.
The Beauty of Bible Translations
We dive into Bible translations! What might sound boring or trivial can actually open up a world of possibilities when we understand how the Bible is translated and that each translation is trying to accomplish a very specific task. We help you understand where different Bible translations fall on the spectrum so that you can decide which one to use depending on how God might be speaking to you through the Living Word!