BIBLE STUDY Sept. 2020, Lincoln Place Presbyterian Church
WELCOME to a new Bible study at Lincoln Place Presbyterian Church.
We will be gathering weekly in a safe and informal way to read and discuss the Psalms from the Hebrew Testament. Each meeting will last about an hour.
At the first meeting on Sept. 10 — starting outdoors in 6 pm daylight — we will discuss how to do this. Our goal is that everyone who wants to participate will be able to do so safely, without crossing boundaries they have set for themselves during the current pandemic.
At the first meeting we will discuss what we have each been doing to protect ourselves and those around us. We will also set times and dates.
Each meeting will begin and end with prayers. All are encouraged to name the concerns and people we need to keep in prayer. And while all are encouraged to pray out loud as the Spirit moves them, silence will always be respected.
There is no right way or wrong way to conduct a Bible study. Together we will devise ways to proceed. Generally, we will examine a group of psalms assigned the previous week. (The lengths of psalms differ greatly, so most weeks we will be focusing on at least five psalms and no more than ten.)
Each week after the opening prayer we will take turns reading that day’s psalms. If for any reason you don’t want to read that day, just say “I pass” when it’s your turn. After we finish reading, the leader will make a few short comments or ask a question or two to lead us into a discussion. No prior familiarity or knowledge of the psalms is required here. We’re all in this together.
The psalms are both hymns and prayers. Many were written for a particular use within worship services – to praise God, for example, or to ask God for help. Most psalms also address a particular human need. Within the 150 psalms there are words of comfort and encouragement for people facing every difficulty there is – grief, loneliness, insomnia, fear, disappointment, rejection and you-name-it. One of our tasks is to hear how prayers written as long as 3,000 years ago still speak to us.
There is no preferred Bible translation for this class. Bring any Bible you like, or try out different versions to discover the ones you like. When people are reading different translations, it adds rather than detracts from the discussion.
BRING YOUR MASK AND BRING YOUR BIBLE, and don’t worry if you left both on the table at home. We have extras here.
PASTOR JIM DAVIDSON: (412) 414-1168 and jim6200@gmail.com
Lincoln Place Presbyterian Church 