Monday, December 16, 2013

Elishah's Resourcefulness

So ... here's something we didn't get to discuss on Sunday, after our incredibly lively discussion about other aspects of Elishah's story. Whose idea was it to blind the Aramean raiding party who came to grab Elishah? How do you add that to the mix of thoughts about prayer from this episode in 2 Kings 6:8-23?

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Elijah's despair.

We didn't get to talk about the source of Elijah's seeming despair this morning. Here's a chance for you to express your thoughts.

Friday, November 29, 2013

A new post for comments.

Just because we haven't had a space for comments in a while, here's a new post for you to comment on anything about the new study that you'd like to comment on.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Themes

As promised, although a bit late, this post contains some suggested topics around which you can write about Ruth in preparation for our final session.

To prevent your accidental viewing of these themes, I have added comments to this post which contain the suggestions. Click on the comments link immediately below this post to see the suggestions.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Word Cloud





This is a Word Cloud of the book of Ruth. The size of the words indicates the relative frequency of each word shown. You can click on the picture to see a larger image.


Monday, September 30, 2013

Ruth -- Session 8 Discussion

Here's a spot for you to make any comments on our discussion from last Sunday, or anything else you'd like to say. If you have a suggestion for our next study you can include it in the comments. If you like one of the suggestions so far, vote for it over on the right hand side of the page.

Just click on the blue text below this post, which will have the word Comment(s) along with the number of comments made so far.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Ruth -- Session 6 Discussion

Here's a spot for you to make any comments on our discussion from last Sunday, or anything else you'd like to say. Just click on the blue text below this post, which will have the word Comment(s) along with the number so far.

Friday, September 13, 2013

Ruth -- Session 5 Discussion

Still time for you to get your comments in before Sunday.

I've copied Sandra's comment from an earlier post into this one. It's in both places now if you want to respond.

TAKE THE POLL!

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Ruth -- Session 4 Discussion.

This post is available for discussion about any topics that came up in our last session studying Ruth. I'm especially curious if anyone would care to share their answers to question Q12, specifically,

How do people deal with tragedy? How do you deal with tragedy? What are some guidelines and helps that have been valuable to you when confronting depression?

Friday, August 23, 2013

Ruth 3 Discussion.

Here's an entry for you to write comments about last Sunday's session Ruth 3.

If you weren't at class, and want to share some of your own thoughts with the group, add a comment to this post.

Or, if you were at class, and want to reflect further on all that we discussed, add a comment to this post.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Session 29 Discussion.

Here's an entry for you to write comments about last Sunday's session (29), At the Cross.

If you weren't at class, and want to share some of your own thoughts with the group, add a comment to this post.

Or, if you were at class, and want to reflect further on all that we discussed, add a comment to this post.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Session 28 Discussion.

Here's an entry for you to write comments about last Sunday's session (28), At the Last Supper.

If you weren't at class, and want to share some of your own thoughts with the group, add a comment to this post.

Or, if you were at class, and want to reflect further on the sacred rhythm Jesus put into place at the Passover meal, add a comment to this post.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Session 27 Discussion.

Here's an entry for you to write comments about last Sunday's session (27), On the Mountain.

Since I was especially interested in getting us to re-examine the transfiguration and how it enlarges our view of reality, you may want to talk more about other aspects of this incident. Some ideas are:
  • the significance of Moses and Elijah's presence and their departure
  • the cloud
  • the idea of Jesus' work in Jerusalem as an exodus
  • or ...
You can make a comment below, or comment on what others have said.

Monday, May 20, 2013

65.

One glance in my direction and you know I'm not a runner.

In high school I could run. Not the fastest, but fast enough. Not for a long distance, but long enough. But I never really enjoyed it. Never experienced a runner's high. Most of the time, my running was conditioning for a sport. Stadium steps for basketball. Or the hill in full football gear.

Some of the time, my only running was the laps we ran in P.E. I always ran them quickly, eager to get them over with. And often we ran multiple laps because somebody lagged behind, mouthed off, or broke some kind of rule. "Thanks to so and so, you can all run an extra lap." As if we would apply peer pressure to get so and so to do their calisthentics and warm ups correctly. And once in a while, those of us that ran quickly were rewarded with the opportunity to begin playing the current sport we were engaged in, while only the slackers were punished with an extra lap.

My wife's dad was a professor of physical education most of his life. He always said that those who ran the laps quickly should be rewarded with the opportunity to run an extra lap. Maybe if that had been the pattern growing up it would have made sense. And it makes sense to me now. But in high school that would have been crazy talk.

I say again, one glance in my direction and you know I'm not a runner. But on this birthday I have runner's thoughts.

"... let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. "


I get that.

In mid-life we may face a moment when we want to grasp for the unfulfilled dreams, wishes, or desires of youth, to turn back. At 65, I want to run twice as fast as I used to. And I'll gladly take the reward of an extra lap.