GPRC Bible Study
As I mentioned a couple entries ago, I’m still not the official chaplain at Grande Prairie Regional College, but I do go there twice a week now. When I have office space, I may need to stay in my office during my “office hours.” For now, however, I’ve been sitting among the students near Bernie’s, the coffeeshop near the college theatre, drinking Tazo Chai tea and reading — Steven Garber’s The Fabric of Faithfulness last week and Jean Danielou’s wonderful From Shadows To Reality: Studies in the Biblical Typology of the Fathers this week. (I’ll try to remember to say more about both books later.)
In many ways — I could probably say: in every way — I prefer being among the students to (the idea of) being hidden away in an office, waiting for a student to make an appointment. I wonder if I can keep office hours in my office when I do have appointments, and sit near the coffeeshop whenever I don’t have appointments. Surely the receptionist could direct walk-ins to find me there….
Today, I also started my Bible study on the college campus. Three people showed up: one from Canada, one from Taiwan, and one from Korea. More may join later (I hope).
We’re going to be doing a survey of the Old Testament, with the help of Peter Leithart‘s A House for My Name. (Rich Bledsoe‘s advice: “Tell them stories.”) We spent the hour today talking a bit about reading the Bible and, in particular, about the challenges of reading the Old Testament. We touched on literary features of the Bible (e.g., chiasms) and on symbolism and typology. I was a bit worried that I might be going over their heads a bit, but they said they really enjoyed it. One said that the study seemed more interesting now than he had expected it to be!
And now, I must put all that stuff about reading Scripture into practice and write a sermon on Judges 11 (Jephthah preaching peace to Ammon).