email: whitpresby@mindspring.com
Daily Bread:
Strength for the Journey
Series 2 – Introduction/Review of the Old Testament "Amazing Grace"Feb.
6, 2002
Opening
Prayer
Gracious god, help us to remember that we do not live by bread alone, but by
every word that comes from you. Make
us hungry to eat the bread of your word daily that we may pass from blindness to
sight, having been sought out and found by your grace. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, Amen.
1.
Make sure everyone knows everyone else’s name.
Sing
Verse 5 only of “Amazing Grace.”
When
we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright
shining as the stars
We’ve
no less days to sing God’s praise
Than
when we first begun.
2.
Questions or comments in review?
3. Show the video of Miss Cleo. What is she trying to do? Make this list on the white board. Contrast this with the list below of what the prophets are doing.
Today we are working with Prophecy. Books that make up this block of literature are:
What is Hebrew Prophecy versus telling the future.
Heb prophecy is about the present first.
It is about keeping the people holy, reminding them whose they are, where
they have come from and how they are to behave.
Even though we do not know what God has in store for the future, we do or can know that the future is in God’s hands. This knowledge can satisfy the very human longing to know the future.
Literature may appeal to us in different ways, sensory, emotions, logic. Poetry (last class) appeals largely to emotions. Prophecy does similar, in that prophecy uses a lot of figurative language. Here through, the prophets themselves do figurative things.
4. Isaiah. In two major blocks:
Chapters 1-39 – Before the Exile. Social injustice is the most dependable sign that there is something wrong with the relationship between either an individual and God or a people and God. Is 1:15-17
Chapters 40-66 – After the Exile. Blindness to God’s way is a cardinal sin in II Isaiah. Is 58:6-9.
Favorite story:
Isaiah 20 – The naked Isaiah.
Isaiah 40 (Comfort you my people…)
Servant songs: 42, 49:, 50, 52-53. God’s servant, either an individual or the servant nation. The New Testament sees this as pre-figuring Jesus, or the messiah.
Ch. 61:1-3 – Luke sees this passage being fulfilled in Jesus ministry, Luke 4:16-30
Ch. 24-27, Ch. 33-35, Isaiah’s apocalyptic material.
Ch. 44:28 – Cyrus is God’s servant. God acts in history and uses people even outside the covenant community
5. Jeremiah – He lived at the time when the Babylonians were confronting Judah and he tried to warn Judah(Southern Kingdom) that if they did not change their ways, there would be serious consequences. We have more biographical detail of Jeremiah’s life than any other prophets.
Jeremiah was a favorite character in our list of favorites.
Famous Stories:
Jer 7 – The condemnation of the idolatry of the Temple in Jerusalem
Jer 19:10ff & 27:2ff Jeremiahs acts out his prophecies; (street theater.)
Jer 31:31-34 – the new covenant. Judgment must come, but it will be replaced with a new and more enduring relationship with God.
Jer 29:11-14 – God promises to bring them back from exile.
6. Lamentations of Jeremiah – a small collection of community laments over Jerusalem, associated with Jeremiah, following its destruction by the Babylonians.
7. Ezekiel – Prophet of the Exile. Ezekiel has two parts, prophecies of warning, happening before the Fall of Jerusalem (Chs. 1-24) and another (Ch. 33-48) after the Fall of Jerusalem. These latter are prophecies of hope.
Favorite story: the wheel, Ch. 10
Other stories – Valley of dry bones, ch. 37; Eating the scroll, Ch. 2:8 to 3:3.
8. Daniel – Apocalyptic literature. Six stories and four dream visions. Apocalyptic literature usually comes out of tough times, using signs and symbols, usually from the past (the Babylonian Exile in this case), to interpret current history and to provide hope for the future.
Favorite stories: Lions Den Ch. 6:10 to 28.
Ch. 3:19-30 - Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego & the fiery furnace;
Ch. 5, the writing on the wall, from where we get our English expression.
9. Twelve minor prophets – See the handout sheet on the minor prophets.
10. Integrative activity:
Re show the video of Miss Cleo. Use the handout of the newspaper article on the New England storm. Ask what Miss Chloe might have to contribute to this situation. What are the Hebrew prophets trying to lead the church to do in this situation?
11. Pray & Sing V. 5 of “Amazing Grace.” (Words on handout for this day.)
12. Lectio, as per their handout, as a regular practice.
