A New Start.

There is an interesting background to this blog. It began several years ago as a series of weekly Bible studies with a group of seniors in Glen Abbey United Church, in Oakville, Ontario. From eight to twelve people gathered each Tuesday morning for a two hour session with whatever biblical subject or book they found interesting or had been suggested by the author of this blog.

As the series continued from October to April each year, the enthusiasm of the members grew. As the autumn leaves turned from green to gold, one or another member would approach me with the question,"When do we start again?" Over the years, we have dealt with a variety of themes and texts drawn from our Christian heritage. Some of those studies have appeared as other blogs which can still be addressed by anyone interested.

After completing studies of The Nativity of Jesus and The Passion during the past two years in keeping with the appropriate seasaon of the Christian year, the group decided to focus on The Ministry of Jesus as described in the Gospel of Luke. The introductory notes for each session have formed the basis for this blog.
Generally speaking, our discussions ranged far and wide from the actual words of the gospel to the historical and exegetical background of the text to the relevance for a particular passage in our lives and times.

We have not studied in ignorance. As leader I have drawn on many resources in my own library gathered over the past sixty years of ministry and any available wherever they could be found, especially on the ever-present Internet. We have also followed the excellent study of Luke published in the Westminster Bible Companion Series by Sharon H. Ringe (Westminster John Knox Press, 1995.) This volume, entitled simply Luke, has given our group some valuable insights into the text itself, the life and times of Jesus' ministry in Galilee as well as the historical background of later first century CE period in which Luke's Gospel was composed. We can only thank the author and editors of this series for the excellence with which they have made available such clear and useful material for biblical study to ordinary enthusiasts like our small group.

Ir remains only to add that our studies introduced in the subsequent entries to this blog may be used by anyone or any group wishing to enjoy the fruits of the Spirit's guidance in opening to Bible at a deeper and more practical level. As Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote in his latest book, Eternal Life: A New Vision Beyond Religion, Beyond Theism, Beyond Heaven and Hell (HarperOne, 2009): "The goal of all religion is not to prepare us to enter the next life; it is a call to live now, to love now, to be now and in that way to taste what it means to be part of a life that is eternal, a love that is barrier free and the being of a fully self-conscious humanity."