Bible Study

Our next Bible Study will be Tuesday, March 2 , 7:00 PM.  It’s all on Zoom.  All are welcome! We are fortunate to have a team of Bible Study leaders available for each month’s Bible Study.

Rev. Renfrew will lead the January session, a conversation about  Micah 6:1-8, “God has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

 

Micah 6:1-8

Hear what the Lord says:
Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.
Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord, and you enduring foundations of the earth;
for the Lord has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.

“O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me!

For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery;

and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised, what Balaam son of Beor answered him,

and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”

“With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you 

but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

 

Preliminary Questions

  1. How has God shown you things?  (How do you know that it is God doing the showing?)
  2. How does God show “the good”? (What does the “good” look like to you?)
  3. What is a “requirement” in God’s arena?  Are their optional matters? Is there anything that God does not require?
  4. Tell us how you aim to “act justly”.
  5. Tell us about ways you “love mercy”. What is “mercy” and how do you love it?
  6. Maybe the best question of all, “what are some ways that you have walked with God?  

 

Further Discussion

For us this is the start of an “onion exercise” or an “artichoke challenge”.  If you strip away the outer layers of the Biblical message, what  do you discover at the core?  There are many such examples to consider, such as the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, the Parable of the Great Judgment”, or Jesus’ instructions on the mountaintop after the resurrection.  Micah’s “core” teaching  is our doorway into this conversation and it leads us to share what each participant thinks is at the core of Biblical belief.

      Throughout our conversation we will consider how the reading from Hosea resonates with the 7 Marks of a Vital Church.

Mark 1: Deepening Faith

Mark 2: Sharing the Good News

Mark 3: Community Mission

Mark 4: Servant Leadership

Mark 5: Spirit Inspired Worship

Mark 6: Caring Relationships

Mark 7: Prayerful Discernment (of God’s calling)