"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
Earlier this week I posted a list of Do’s and Don’ts for leading Bible study, focusing particularly on the preparation before the group gets together. Today I would like to continue that list, looking at some of the Do’s and Don’ts concerning the start of the meeting itself.
Some people have difficulty sharing during Bible Studies…
I saw someone post this on Facebook and thought it was simply brilliant:
Everyone puts their phones in the middle of the table. Whoever cracks first by touching their phone, pays for the entire meal.
The purpose of the game was to get everyone off their phones, away from twitter, facebook, texting, etc and to encourage conversations. In other words, help cure the “Anti-Social Social Media Craziness”. Here are the rules:
1. The game starts after everyone sits down.
2. Everybody places their phone in the middle of the table.
3. The first person to touch their phone loses the game.
4. Loser of the game pays the bill for everyone’s meal.
5. If the bill comes before anyone has touched their phone, everybody is declared a winner and pays for their own meal.
Are You Game?
This year in the JP2 Group, more and more people have been stepping up to lead Bible study. This has been wonderful, and has brought with it a number of benefits.
Firstly, the variation in leadership has added some real diversity and insight to our Bible study sessions and helped keep the group fresh.
Secondly, in our community we often have people who attend JP2 for some time and then move on to another city. It is my hope that, by having led at JP2, these people will have the confidence at their new parish to support similar ministries or, if such ministries do not exist, then start them!
Finally, as the number of leaders in a group increases, the group becomes more self-sustaining, reducing the pressure on the group’s original leader, thus freeing him or her up to spend more time crocheting and playing the banjo…
I’ve led Bible studies, in some form or another, since about 2004. In doing so, I’ve made all kinds of mistakes. Seriously, name a mistake, I’ve done it. In fact, not only will I have done it, I’m pretty sure I’d have done it in far more spectacular fashion than you! :-p
Therefore, drawing upon my vast wealth of mistakes, in an effort to help those readers who are also involved in leadership, I’ve compiled a list of Do’s and Don’ts for leading Bible Study.
Life continues to be a bit hectic so I’m afraid these notes will be rather brief again…
This Sunday is the feast of “Corpus Christi” (Latin for “Body of Christ”), a feast which came about during the 13th Century. Our First Reading describes the institution of the Yahweh’s covenant with Israel through the Patriarch Moses. While instituting the Eucharist in our Gospel Reading, Jesus speaks about a new covenant in His blood. In the Second Reading we hear more about this covenant, brought about through Christ, our great High Priest.
Every time we go to Mass we renew our covenant with the Lord. Let us approach the Eucharist this week mindful of this great covenant, purchased for us by the very blood of Christ.
In all He did from the Incarnation to the Cross, the end Jesus Christ had in mind was the gift of the Eucharist, his personal and corporal union with each Christian through Communion. He saw in It the means of communicating to us all the treasures of His Passion, all the virtues of His Sacred Humanity, and all the merits of His Life. -St. Peter Julian Eymard
A lot of Christians choose a “life verse”, a favourite verse from the Bible which is a source of encouragement and inspiration. If I had to pick one passage from the Bible I guess I’d choose the following text from 2nd Corinthians:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
Here’s what Tim Hawkins has to say about his favourite Bible verse…
Last week we had the final session of our Theology On Tap series here in San Diego. I had not encountered Theology on Tap (ToT) until I came to America so, in case you have not been exposed to it, it’s an outreach and catechesis initiative embraced by many Catholic dioceses as part of their Young Adult ministry.
Typically what happens at ToT is that the Catholic Young Adults from a diocese take over a bar or restaurant. They eat some food, drink a beer and then listen to a talk given by a speaker. The idea behind ToT is to give young Catholics an opportunity to hang out together (or if you want to be super-spiritual about it, “fellowship”) and learn about the faith in a relaxed, informal setting.
The talk was entitled: “The Reality Behind the Fantasy of Porn : An interview with an ex-porn star who shares her story”. The chap conducting the interview was Matt Fradd, a recent addition to the Catholic Answers team. He’s been involved in the area of chastity for some time and, in particular, helping men and women recover from pornography. Recently I went to the recording of his new DVD, The Man Talk.
During this final session of ToT, Matt interviewed his friend April, who was in the porn industry for some time, but who now works to help those who wish to get out of that life.
The porn industry is massive and, as the title of the talk suggests, the purpose of the interview is to show the reality of porn, rather than the fantasy which is so often sold to us. As Matt says in his talk Taking Down Goliath, the problem with porn is not that it shows too much, but that it shows too little, reducing a woman to a collection of body parts to be lusted after, rather than a person to be loved.
Main Talk (Download)
Q&A (Download)
(The intro/outro music is Public Domain and available here)
UPDATE: During the talk Matt mentions an interview he did with a girl who had recently become a stripper. The interview is available here on his blog.
