Monday, August 16, 2004
STANDING TALL
I wrote in my last Blog about my Sabbatical. The major purpose of the Sabbatical, in addition to getting some rest, is to read, study and prepare for our church’s "50 Day Spiritual Adventure" which begins September 12th. We have done these "Adventures" at the church for several years. There is an over-all theme for the 50 days. The theme is developed through weekly topics relating to the theme. Each week’s topic is developed through the Sunday sermons, a book to read, individual journals and small home group studies. These "Adventures" have been very beneficial in the past.
This year’s theme is especially interesting to me. "STANDING TALL—FACING FEARS THAT GRIP THE SOUL". The topics we will study are concerns that everyone in the country seems to be discussing or at least thinking about. The topics are: terrorism and war; financial insecurity; rejection and betrayal; skeletons in the closet; failure and disgrace; disease and death; the paralyzing what-ifs; fear of the gathering doom.
It all sounds depressing and gloomy. But these are relevant topics. And the good part is that the 50 Day Adventure will give us an opportunity to explore what the Bible teaches about all these things.
One of the exciting aspects of the study is the way they tie the messages of the themes into the Christian themes taught in J. R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy, "THE LORD OF THE RINGS." The author of the study relates the experiences of the characters in the trilogy to the particular fear being studied that week.
It all sounds very interesting to me! I hope it all works out well for my church. I hope we can reach out to people in our communities who need answers to these topics.
Jim
posted by jim 4:15 PM 0 comments
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