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"God is love." Let's talk about love, looking at the first letter of John. Again, this season of Ponder Anew, we are working through the Bible, one book at a time! In so doing, we will talk about Eagles Football, the greatest African theologian of all time and once again, why this Lutheran thinks Aquinas, the ultimate Roman Catholic thinker, may have gone too far in trying to make everything organized.  1) I make the claim that "God is love" would not have made obvious sense to people millennia ago. Did you buy this argument?  2) A pagan culture tends to have a sense of gods being far off, unmoved by human concerns. Do you think that people today live with a sense of God's loving presence in their lives? If not, what might the claim that "God is love" mean to them?  3) Many people have migrated towards more of a new age sense of spirituality, whereby gods/divinity is found in nature. We simply have to use the right tools or methods to access this divine. What might people who have this sense of the gods/divine hear in "God is love."    4) Do you know people who struggle with "God is love" because of their interaction and experience with legalistic religion?  5) How does Christian specificity about Jesus change what is meant by "God is love."  Note: I had some additional content on Buddhism, but I felt I was too far away from my area of competence, but generally, I am convinced that Buddhism also doesn't necessarily lead to the argument that God is love, certainly not as Christians understand love in Jesus.  6) Augustine speaks about well-ordered love. What stood out to you here? What are ways in which people talk about "love" that has little to do with real "love." What can help us distinguish between lust (not just for other people) and love?  7) Aquinas offers clarity about what our priorities within well-ordered love look like. What is your sense of our proper priorities when it comes to love? How do we balance the obligation of loving all of our neighbors with the finite amount of time we have?

It wasn't part of the original plan for us to cover 1 and 2 Peter (2 Peter is really short!)  But reading this book of the Bible convinced me there was a podcast within!  Note, here is the link to the icon I discuss:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_(Andrei_Rublev) Questions to consider 1)  How might heaven NOT be like retirement with a younger body?  Where does Jesus fit into your heaven? 2)  What are ways that "participate in the divine nature"?  How have you experienced God's grace not simply external to you, but actually within yourself? 3)  Have you experienced "the divine nature" in worship?  In serving others?  In Scripture? 4)  Do you find yourself drawn more towards a theology that assumes as human we can climb to God or more drawn to a theology that assumes that God has to come down to us?  How might you argue for or against human free will when it comes to salvation? 5)  To what extent can we experience heaven here on earth? 6)  What spiritual disciplines are essential for your life?

First Peter assumes the church is a powerless minority seeking to survive in the face of a brutal and pagan empire.  Peter challenges the early followers of Christ to be ready to give the apologetic, their defense, of the faith.  In some ways, we can find increasing resonance with Peter's emphasis on living as a spiritual minority.  However, after many centuries of Christian power, Peter's understanding of faith, power and empire likely feels foreign to us and in fact, many of us may feel a need to apologize for the previous mistakes of Christians in power.  Questions 1)  Do you feel like a minority as a Christian?  Do you feel like a minority within a minority as a Christian of your particular type (say Lutheran)? 2)  How might it be different for young Christians today verses young Christians three generations ago? 3)  Are there times when you've felt called to give a defense of the hope within you? 4)  What are the central things of the Christian faith you would want to emphasize or communicate to some who was a non-believer? 5)  Have you ever had to apologize for the Christian faith?  For what do you have to apologize? 6)  What can be lost if we apologize too much for the faith? 7)  What might be ways for Christians solidly in a church to interact with non-believers?

"But the book of James says that faith without works is dead!"  So goes the classic critique of Lutheran theology.  Turns out, actually, that Luther acknowledged faith without works is dead!  Alas, we will need to muddy the waters before we clean up this mess! As we continue to work our way through the Bible, one book at a time, some discussion questions 1)  What verses challenged you in the book of James? 2)  What verses offered you encouragement in the book of James? 3)  Did the letter feel like it was written by someone who cares for you or not? 4)  What do you make of the fact that both Paul and James have different interpretations of Abraham's faith, works and righteousness? 5)  Do think faith without works is dead?  Can you measure the works of another person or yourself to determine what kind of faith the person has? 6)  What would be the problem if the whole Bible read like James?  What would be missing from the Bible if we didn't have James? 7)  Can a congregation hold people together who come from different economic backgrounds?

Hebrews can be a tough book to read because it makes a lot of dense arguments that rely on a heavy dose of Old Testament quotes.  However, it gets at two basic questions: How do we deal with people who have lost the passion in their faith? Will people who leave the faith be saved? Some questions to ponder 1)  Have you ever known someone who was a "backslider" who walked away from the faith?  What brought them back?  2)  Have you ever been away from the faith for a long time?  What brought you back? 3)  When it comes to people attending church on Sunday less frequently, what might it look like for the church to a) resist this?  b) adapt to this?  c) accept this? 4)  Did the distinction between the preached and unpreached God make any sense?   5)  How can we comfort parents of people whose children left the faith?

In honor of the shortest of Paul's letters, we take up the biggest of questions:  How do Christians respond to evil?  Should and can this response be political?   1) I argue that although Jesus challenged political leaders, he was not interested in change through political means. Does this seem fair? How might you describe Jesus' attitude towards politics to a non-Christian?  2) What are issues -- dare we call them evil -- where your faith makes you feel summoned and inspired to combat them on a person level? Where you actively seek to help people through time, treasure and talent, who are impacted by X, Y or Z.  3) What are issues -- dare we call them evil -- where your faith makes you feel summoned and inspired to combat them politically? Where you actively seek to help people through advocacy, voting, donations to campaigns or even running for office?  4) Do you think local congregations should be most focused on   a) cultivating Christians who can fight evil outside of church   b) creating caring communities that include people on the margins (don't fight the world, create a counter balance to the world)  c) engaging in direct aid to local people who are suffering   d) engaging in advocacy for local issues (township, city or school board)  e) engaging in advocacy for statewide or even federal issues  5) What is your response when pastors discuss politics?    6) I spend a lot of time talking about the rise of bishops from upper class families. Just curious for your response to this reality. Does this church need leaders who can play "chess" as the world does?  7) People in Paul's day couldn't see the problem with slavery because it was so woven into the fabric of his culture. What things about our culture might future generations look at as terribly evil even though we assumed they were normal?

Is obedience a virtue?  How do we square the modern command: "Be yourself" with Paul's strong sense of social order, obedience and self-restraint?  As we continue reading through the New Testament, we come to Titus.  It is a short letter, but it gets at a question of vital importance for us in the age of authenticity:  What do we do with the Bible's uplifting of obedience? 1)  Would you agree we are a society that values individual expression?  What is evidence of this? 2)  Would you agree we are a society that distrusts institutions?  What is evidence of this? 3)  What is lost and what is gained in a world in which corporal punishment is no longer used?  What is lost and what is gained in a world in which obedience is a second tier virtue? 4)  What might be attractive about a church or Christianity that highly valued self-expression?  What might be problematic about this? 5)  What might be attractive about a church or Christianity that highly valued obedience and strong pre-existing roles for people in society?  What might be problematic about this? 6)  What might be ways forward of a middle path, that avoids the excesses of self-expression"ism" and also avoids the pitfalls of repressive and rigid religion?

Paul didn't write just one, but wrote two letters to Timothy.  We use this opportunity to reflect on Paul's relationship with Timothy, namely, that of a mentor.  We reflect on what it means to be a mentor, especially a spiritual mentor? 1)  Who have been key mentors in your life?  What made them good mentors? 2)  Whom have you mentored? What have you learned about yourself, life or even your "trade" through this mentoring? 3)  Do you have a relationship with a godparent or a godchild?  What made this meaningful (or not!)? 4)  Who have been your spiritual mentors?  How is this kind of mentoring different? 5)  What could your church to do better foster spiritual mentorship?

Why do people not get along on teams, in businesses and in organizations or even churches? As we work through the Bible in a Year, we turn to Paul's first letter to Timothy.  In this letter, Paul is seeking to help his mentee, Timothy, manage the church.  It may surprise us to consider that so early on in the church life, they needed to develop clarity around church leadership positions.  However, if anyone has ever been a part of an organization that is bigger than a single household, you know how important structure and leadership expectations are! Some questions to consider 1)  What are times in your life where you have experienced conflict due to a lack of clarity about expectations? 2)  What are times in your life where you have experienced conflict due to a lack of clarity about boundaries and lanes? 3)  Have you been a part of religious organizations that have handled staff and volunteer expectations well?  What kind of expectations have you ever had of yourself made clear to you? 4)  What kind of behavior do you expect out of your clergy?  5)  How can a religious organization have expectations but also grace for the humanness of their leaders? 6)  What did you think of Pastor Rob's definition of immaturity as a lack of awareness about our reaction to stress? 7)  How do you help people see their immaturity?  What has helped you become more aware of how your reaction to stress impacts others? 8)  What has helped you become a more self aware person who can better navigate stress?  What tools have you developed?

The oldest written evidence of what the first Christian communities look like is... Paul's First Letter to the Thessalonians! One of the themes that emerges in this letter is Paul's concern for Christians returning/assimilating to the broader culture around them.  He quite often reflects on the idea of holiness in the letter. 1)  What do you think about when you hear the word "holiness"? 2)  What do people mean that the Bible is "holy"?  In what way do you consider the Bible "Holy"? 3)  What is gained by having a written record of biblical events and stories?  Is anything lost by moving from an oral to a written tradition?  What might we lose or gain in a post-reading culture? 4)  Do you think that for most people their idols are concrete things or more typically abstract things (like their career, or their kid's success)? 5)  What pieces of Christian art do you find moving? 6)  Do you think it is important for Christian community to have a different standard for sexual ethics than the surrounding community? 7)  Do you think that sexual ethics should be one of, if not the, defining holiness issue for Christians?

Probably the briefest book of the Bible that will get its own podcast in our reading of the Bible:  Colossians.  But, wow, there is so much in this short epistle! Some questions: 1)  What did you make of Pastor Rob's claim that Christianity demands theology? 2)  Do you consider the Gospel writers to be theologians?  How might you answer the question:  How do Matthew, Mark, Luke and John distinctly answer the question "Who is Jesus?" 3)  What are the biggest mysteries of the Christian faith in your mind?  4)  Do you think Christianity needs to lean more into the mystery or clarity of teaching when presenting the Gospel to our world? 5)  What might it mean for Jesus to be the "Image of God"? 6)  In what ways is Jesus like us as humans?  In what ways is Jesus not like us as humans? 7)  How important is having common doctrine to have a healthy community?

"Paul seems different than Jesus!"  Sometimes Paul says things in his letters that don't quite resonate.  In fact, they confuse, if not even offend us.  As we continue working through the Bible, one book at a time, we come to Ephesians.  We will use this letter to take up the question of what we make of Paul today, when some of the things he says seem to come from a galaxy far, far away and a long, long time ago. 1)  What are parts of the Bible you struggle with? 2)  What are ways you justify ignoring those particular parts of the Bible? 3)  What do you think of the argument that Paul did not write Ephesians or other letters in the Bible?  (Feel free to do other internet research!) 4)  When you read Paul, are there moments when you say to yourself:  "This man was truly inspired by God!" 5)  Does Ephesians 5 and what Paul says about marriage inspire you?  What can we gain from Paul regarding marriage?  6)  What do we make of "Slaves and Masters" talk in the Bible?  What gives us permission to ignore parts of the Bible that acknowledge the reality of slavery? 7)  What might be a helpful filter for determining what we "take" from the Bible and what we "leave" as a cultural relic from a distance place?

As we head into Easter, we resume our weekly podcast, picking up with the book of Philippians.  This is admittedly not the directly next book in the Bible, but Philippians 2 is part of the Holy Week readings and as the podcast reveals, Pastor Rob has an argument to make:  Paul is not responsible for American Christianity's focus on the individual, the transactional nature of religion and its escapism.  Questions:   1)  What do you think it means to have the same mind among you as Christ Jesus? 2)  Would you say your faith tends to be more personal or more communal?  Are both necessary?  Can you have a personal relationship with Jesus if you don't have a community of faith?  Can you have a community of faith without people having an individual relationship with Jesus?  Can you nurture both at the same time? 3)  For people today, what do you think is the significance of Paul's argument that Jesus was not like other Greco-Roman gods? 4)  Would you say the best way to introduce people to Christianity is by talking about it in terms of transaction or in terms of transformation?  Or even in terms of conformation? 5)  How has Jesus Christ conformed you to his life of death and resurrection? 6)  Do you believe that Christianity is inherently escapist -- get me outta here? 7)  Do you find there are times when you are ready for heaven? 8)  Did Pastor Rob convince you that Paul is NOT to blame for the problems of American Christianity?  Or are there other problems that need to be addressed!

Two weeks ago, we heard about Paul telling Christians in Corinth that just because Jesus had come doesn't mean they could throw aside all ethical considerations.  This week, as we read Galatians, we hear Paul telling Christians that the ethical doesn't amount to much. What is going on?  This week we delve into the brilliant theology of Paul in his letter to the Galatians, but also begin to unpack the back story.  Ultimately, what we experience profoundly shifts our theological imagination and what we end up believing about the law, faith and righteousness. Read the whole letter (you could skip chapters 3 and 4 if needed, but it is so short!)  Some questions for consideration: 1)  Have you ever been part of a community, like Galatia, that felt too legalistic and too exclusive.  Did you choose to stay?  Why or why not? 2)  Have you ever had an experience of such sheer grace, like Paul, that you could not conceive of a world in which God could actually embrace humans outside of grace?  What was it like talking to people that weren't blown away by God's grace after you had been? 3)  Have you ever had a phase of life, like Luther, where you have earnestly tried to be a better human and have failed?   4)  Have you ever been part of a community in which accountability, even accountability to Christ's teaching, was important?  Can community - or any relationships - thrive outside of accountability? 5)  Have you ever been part of a community where ethical teachings helped set healthy boundaries for the community or for you as an individual?  Do you know people or have you been a person where you needed moral clarity from a church and did not receive this? 6)  Have the teachings of Jesus ever been a source of inspiration to you that has ever changed your course in life? 7)   What might it mean for Christ to live in us?

As we work our way through the Bible, one book each week, we come to 2nd Corinthians.  In some ways, the book reads as an awkward apology and fundraising letter at the same time.  Ouch!  On the other hand, it reads as a very personal reflection, by Paul, on what it means to have Jesus with us in times of suffering, challenge and division.  Paul writes about the cross in 1st Corinthians.  But in 2nd Corinthians, Paul writes through the cross, that is, what faith looks like when things in life are hard. You can probably read 1-2 chapters a night, but I would especially focus on chapters 4 and 5, perhaps even reading them more slowly. Questions:   1)  Have you ever had to apologize and ask for money at the same time? 2)  Have you ever been mad at a faith leader (as the Corinthians were at Paul!) 3)  Do you sense that God is more alive in your life when things are good or when they are bad?  Why is it that many people actually stop attending church when life is hard? 4)  Have you ever felt like a clay pot - ordinary, fragile but holding, or at least capable of holding, something good? 5)  What is the appeal of a faith where as long as you believe enough, good things will happen?  What is a potential problem with this? 6)  Are there times in your life where you've needed to engage in conflict for their to be true reconcilation? 7)  Are there times in your life where conflict was avoided and therefore true reconciliation did not happen? 8)  When have you experienced reconciliation in your life?  What role did faith play in this?