{"id":5032,"date":"2016-11-15T20:23:58","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T01:23:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/?p=5032"},"modified":"2016-11-15T20:23:58","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T01:23:58","slug":"the-blessing-way-study-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/2016\/11\/the-blessing-way-study-group\/","title":{"rendered":"The Blessing Way : Study group"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE BLESSING WAY<\/span><\/p>\n

Adult Bible Study and Discussion<\/span><\/p>\n

Chilmark Community Church<\/span><\/p>\n

Autumn 2016<\/span><\/p>\n

BEGINNING ON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27 FOR 3-4 WEEKS<\/span><\/p>\n

In spiritual communities here and there around the country the idea of \u201cblessing\u201d is coming into the foreground. More and more books are appearing on the theme. Some writers simply lift up the possibility that we could live lives of blessing; others devise exercises to be used in small groups or between two people to practice blessing each other; still others create poetry and daily meditations to help seekers develop a sensibility for \u201cblessing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The notion of \u201cblessing\u201d is a central theme in our scriptures. In the book of Genesis alone, the word is used more than 50 times as the earliest narratives of our beginnings unfolds. So, it seems we could be in a \u201cblessed movement\u201d as we explore the idea of blessing.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to propose 3-4 sessions, beginning on November 27 (Sunday after Thanksgiving). <\/span><\/p>\n

Genesis seems to be a good place to start since the notion of blessing is so prevalent there. Across the narrative, blessing happens in many ways. God blesses creation. God blesses humans. Humans bless God. Humans bless each other. Sometimes blessings move the narrative along in a happy and generous way, but sometimes blessings backfire.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the 1st session:<\/span><\/p>\n

Read several selections from the following:<\/span><\/p>\n

CREATION<\/span><\/p>\n

Genesis 1:22 and 28<\/span><\/p>\n

Genesis 2:3<\/span><\/p>\n

Genesis 5:2<\/span><\/p>\n

NOAH<\/span><\/p>\n

Genesis 9: 1-10<\/span><\/p>\n

ABRAHAM<\/span><\/p>\n

Genesis 12:1-3<\/span><\/p>\n

Genesis 14:19<\/span><\/p>\n

Genesis 17: 15-16<\/span><\/p>\n

These are the verse where a few blessings are named. You will need to read a bit on either side of these verses to get a feel for the context.<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep in mind several questions: <\/b><\/span>Who is blessing whom? How is the blessing received? What is the possible outcome of the blessing? Notice what effect the blessings have on you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Would you want to be on the receiving end?<\/span><\/p>\n

This will help us get started. Hope the topic and the timing will work for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

As always, with abundant blessings, Vicky<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE BLESSING WAY Adult Bible Study and Discussion Chilmark Community Church Autumn 2016 BEGINNING ON SUNDAY NOVEMBER 27 FOR 3-4 WEEKS In spiritual communities here and there around the country the idea of \u201cblessing\u201d is coming into the foreground. More and more books are appearing on the theme. Some writers simply lift up the possibility […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5032"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5032\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5033,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5032\/revisions\/5033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}