1. resources
1. the bible
2. this here website -- potk.us
3. books (optional, not required, submitted for your edification)
1. Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus by Robert Farrar Capon
2. The Prodigal God by Tim Keller
3. On Wealth and Poverty by Saint John Chrysostom
2. group guidelines
1. general information
1. group begins at 7p, is scheduled to end at 9p
2. no set lesson schedule, study sessions interspersed with other types of meetings
1. potluck dinners and/or (holiday)? parties
2. worship and ministry nights
3. other fun activities bounded only by our imagination
2. from solitude to circles of trust
1. everything we offer during group is an invitation, not an assignment, to which people may respond however they wish
2. we prohibit any attempts to fix, advise, save, or correct others, which frees people to speak and listen openly to one another
3. instead of advising each other, we ask honest, open questions to help "hear people into deeper speech" and find their own inner answers
4. we trust the silence, allowing it to underlie and infuse our dialogues
5. we maintain absolute confidentiality about things said during group
3. group leader contact info
1. azrnct@cox.net (623.825.7038)
2. naum@cox.net
3. will assemble an updated group contact info sheet and distribute
3. a word about parables
1. obstacles
1. familiarity — a fresh adventurous look at the parabolic words and acts of Jesus in a larger light of their entire gospel and biblical context
2. can anything "fresh or adventurous" be said about Scripture?
1. we believe the holy scriptures to be the Word of God and to contain all things necessary to salvation…
2. often, when people say what the Bible is about, they let their own mindset ride roughshod over what actually lies on the pages
3. openness is the major requirement for approaching the Scriptures
2. Jesus, on why he used parables
1. "seeing they might not see and hearing they might not understand" [Mark 4:12]
2. the mystery of the Kingdom is a radical mystery — even when you tell people about it in so many words, it remains permanently intractable to make sense of it
3. parables call attention to unsatisfactoriness of previous explanations and understandings
1. for example, [Luke 18], the parable of the pharisee and the publican — "insulting", God, Jesus informs, is not the least bit interested in wonderful lists of religious and moral accomplishments — instead, Jesus informs:
1. Kingdom of God will be given to babies sooner than to respectable religionists
2. a camel will go through needle's eye sooner than a solid citizen will get into the kingdom
3. "Son of Man" is about to fulfill "messiahship" by dying as a common criminal (addressed to disciples only)
4. G.K Chesterton: if you give people an analogy they do not understand, graciously offer another. If they say they don't understand that one either, offer them a third. But from there on, if they insist they still do not understand, the only thing left is to praise them for the one truth they do have a grip on: "Yes, that is quite correct, you do not understand."
5. After 2,000 years exposure to Scripture, are we less likely to need parabolic tutelage?
1. We still misunderstand
1. the prodigal son is not about a boy's vices; it is about a father's forgiveness
2. the laborers in the vineyard are not the central characters in the story; they are merely stick-figures Jesus uses to rub his hearers' noses in the outrageous grace of a vineyard owner who gives equal pay for unequal work
3. the Christ figure in the good samaritan is not the Samaritan, but the battered, half-dead man on the ground
6. the greek word for parable is parabole
1. only occurs in books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke
2. John, infrequently, uses another word, paroimia ("adage" or "dark saying") — no parables in the usual sense appear in the 4th gospel
3. etymologically, a parabole is simply a comparison
4. some "parables" are little more than one-liners
7. if we want to hear the actual ticking of Jesus' mind, we can hardly do better than to study his parabolic words and acts over and over — with our minds open not only to learning but to joy