Rev. Jean's Bible Study

Luke 3:21-22, 4:1-13 Jesus was one of the crowd that was following John the Baptist. His experience of baptism and prayer gave him the confidence to see himself as “the Son, the beloved, with whom God is pleased.”   Luke 3:21-22 This striking statement of self-confidence was not without its ensuing struggle.   Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, went into the desert for 40 days of fasting and meditation.   Luke 4:1-13.   His time in the desert help him to realize what being the “Son of God” was not.   It was not the ability to overturn the laws of nature and make stones into bread.   It was not acquiescing to evil political and economic powers.   It was not believing in an arbitrary God who intervened to save some but not others.   Jesus demonstrated all these learnings about himself again at the end of the story .   His human nature succumbed to the torture of crucifixion, just like everyone else.   He refused to compromise his gosp...

Introduction: My nephew gave me a book for Christmas, Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown.   She is a social worker who has studied emotions and popularized her research to help people develop healthy connections with others.   In her introduction she shared research that indicated that many people could only identify three emotions, happy, sad and angry.   Her book is a series of definitions, explanations or explorations (to use her geographic metaphor) of 87 emotions and experiences.   Her intent is to help people have the language to express their feelings and thus understand them.   I was taken aback at how so many people can lack basic self-awareness such that a book like this one is not only necessary but popular.   When the Bible speaks of becoming perfect or mature, I think it is speaking of having developed self-awareness and the ability to connect with others.   In biblical terms we have learned how to ‘love one another’.   Now we have ...