Sabbath School From Home

A rough time for Ezekial has us wondering about meekness in suffering. The story of Ezekial being instructed by God not to mourn after his wife suddenly dies is not so well known, and takes us in a few directions. The Sabbath School lesson refers to this passage as it muses about meekness, which is an attitude not always associated with life's crucibles.

Not every army has an array of singers praising the Lord! It is not always easy to see how God's actions all fit together, and sometimes praise doesn't feel quite honest. This story in 2 Chronicles has a very prominent military positioning of the "designated praisers", and the outcome is a good one. But sometimes the outcome is not so good - what do we do in these situations? 

Elisha's servant got to see chariots of fire, but where does that leave faith? The Sabbath School lesson talks about "Seeing the Invisible", especially when times are bad. This sounds a bit like a call to persevere in faith, but it seems that actually seeing the invisible realm might provide additional evidence that diminishes the role of faith. What does it mean to have a strong faith even when t...

Baruch's scrolls give us an opportunity to explore the idea of hope.

How does self-control come into our consideration of life's crucibles? This part of the Sermon on the Mount is well known, and is often puzzling. Cutting off hands and gouging out eyes sounds extremely draconian at first - but is this passage even talking about hands and eyes? We explore the idea of self-control, and some things that are not self-control.

Job is challenging and perhaps comforting for those in the crucible. The lesson places a bit of attention on Job chapter 1, but we feel it is necessary to explore the whole book to arrive at anything like a balanced perspective on challenges and crucibles.

The wonderful theme of "image" turns up Immediately following last week's verse in Romans 8. What does it mean for us to be "conformed to the image of His Son", and how does this relate to crucibles and life experiences of refinement? We meander a bit through some hurdles in this part of Romans, but find a resonance with the way Peterson expresses this concept as the "intended shape of our lives"...

What do we say and do for people who have difficulties in life that challenge faith? This episode comes to you from a shack on the north west coast of Tasmania, where Cameron and Lachlan ponder the variety of biblical advice for people experiencing crucibles in life. Christians reach a wide range of conclusions about these situations, and there seems to be an equally varied set of perspectives pre...

If crucibles can be like a roaring lion, what exactly is a lion like? We push the metaphor here in 1 Peter slightly too far to explore what it might mean for us to have an adversary prowling around like a lion. The conclusion surprises us, but comes directly from the text itself!

The theme of "crucibles" takes us back to ponder the valley of the shadow of death. For the first time ever, we turn back to a chapter that we've already discussed. That was way back in Season 1, and our world has changed enough in 2 years that we have new questions to ask of the text.

Tamar is yet another somewhat troubling parenthetical side story. Awareness of some of the cultural expectations around marriage, descendants, and inheritance does help make sense of the story of Tamar, but it remains quite unusual to our culture-shifted ears. Tamar regains substantial agency in a fraught and powerless situation, and it seems she gives Judah a live-changing lesson. It is remarkabl...

Joseph's story begins a few chapters before his famous childhood dreams. Jacobs wives, Rachel and Leah, compete in some "competitive childbearing" that echoes all the conflict between Jacob and his brother Esau. This beginning of Joseph's story has many strange details and may help us understand this character that will dominate the remainder of Genesis.

We revisit Sarah to ponder the paucity of particularity in God's plan. This episode is a step back into the story of Abraham in response to a bit of a theme that seems to be emerging in Genesis. God clearly has a plan, but often it seems rather opaque. Abraham and Sarah take a long time to grasp what God has in mind, but when we dig a bit more at the story it seems that God didn't go out of his wa...

It seems nobody is particularly good in this troubling story. Genesis 34 tells the difficult story of Dinah, which certainly contains adult themes and unpleasant behaviour. In fact, it is hard to see anyone who acts in the right. After some comparatively strong women of agency (Hagar and Rebecca), Dinah has her voice almost entirely suppressed by the narrator - and we are left very curious about h...

The story of Rebecca is refreshingly pleasant after the foibles of Abraham. A number of remarkable things happen when Abraham's servant travels to find a wife for Isaac, who is only a minor character in the story. Rebecca gets most of the agency, and has much of the dialogue. We are drawn to this story because it has wholesome characters and a cheerful ending - although there are some hints that L...

Abraham lies about his wife, and fails to recognise that others respect God. A remarkable detail in the story of Abraham is that he lies about Sarah being his wife  twice ! The text clearly implies this is out of self-preservation, and we discuss what this shows about Abraham as a person. There are some sharp critiques of his attitudes towards and treatment of the women in his life, but it is valu...

We come back to Lot and ponder some alternative histories. In the previous episode our exploration of Abram and Lot drifted off course, and so this week we come back to discuss how it is that Lot ends up off course. It is particularly fascinating that God reiterates his promise to Abram "after Lot had gone" down to settle near Sodom and Gomorrah. Are there other ways his story could have gone?

A curious phrase leads us to discuss worship. We set out to discuss Abraham's nephew Lot, but the phrase "Called on the name of the Lord" leads to an exploration of worship. There are a number of fresh perspectives on some of the activities that dominate "worship" and a few more novel activities which might fit the category.

The Tower of Babel has many echos of the story of Cain. We notice a number of interesting details linking this story to that of Cain (Gen 4) and of "the Fall" (Gen 3). It is remarkable how specifically the Babel story seems to be undone in the New Testament, and we ponder how the story might best be valued today.

Our favourite repentance recipes are remarkably absent from Genesis. This conversation follows on from last week's episode about Cain, because many of the themes from that story overlap with the story of Noah and the flood. It is fascinating to explore what is  missing from these stories, especially given that we've heard them told and retold so many times.

Cain causes quite a few interesting things go wrong with the story. There are many ways to read the story of Cain and Abel: a test of true worship, an allegory of agricultural society displacing nomadic herdsmen, the progression of sin, or an example of family disfunction. Its inescapably a "dead end" story no matter how you read it, and there are many useful challenges to ponder.

The "fall" reminds us that falls are all too common. Perhaps the story in Genesis 3 is most important not because "it happened", but because "it is always happening". We take a look at some other falls recorded in the Old Testament.

We explore the importance of stories as we start a quarter on Genesis. Stories are essential to the way we communicate, and most human societies have found stories to be one of the best ways to transmit meaning and significance. We think of some examples and uncover helpful insights about the ways that Genesis can have impact on our lives.

Powerful ideas continue right up to this last chapter. We notice a few passages here that seem almost to be ideas the author forgot to include when outlining arguments in previous chapters, and dwell particularly on the theme of "doing good and sharing with those in need".

A comparison with parental discipline is troubling at first, and we find what might be the pinnacle of Hebrews. The idea of "the Lord disciplining those he loves" is a delicate one, and there are some ideas here perhaps to unlearn. We explore this concept from a few angles. The author seems again to be trying to encourage and uplift the audience, calling for perseverance in the face of persecution...