HORIZONS BIBLE STUDY 2015-2016 COME TO THE WATERS  Lesson 6 — Amos 5:21-24 Amos’ words blast off the page with intensity. God through Amos sends a scathing critique of Israel’s life and worship. God says this to Israel: I hate, I despise your worship services and your holiday festivals. Your beautiful sanctuaries are meaningless to me. Your choirs and soloists sound like so much racket. Don’t turn in your pledge cards without dedicating your lives to the needs of the poor, the oppressed, the resident alien and the kids nobody wants. Work for a society in which all people have what they need to live and work. Let your lives be oceans of loving your neighbor and rivers of justice. Let’s think about what justice means. In our culture, justice is concerned with the standards by which we protect the society as a whole and protect the rights of individuals. We have all kinds of laws to protect the common good. Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not speed through red traffic lights. If we … [Read more...]

HORIZONS BIBLE STUDY 2015-2016 COME TO THE WATERS Lesson 5 — Matthew 14:22-26 In my younger years, several adults and I took our church youth to a ropes course at a Presbyterian camp. A ropes course’s purpose is to build up a team so they will depend on each other. There are a variety of challenges that the group must face together. At one station, for instance, a person had to make it up a 10-foot pole with the help of the whole team. At another station, we steadied each other to make it across large rocks in a stream. If you fell into the water, you were eaten by alligators, so your team-mates had to save you. (The alligators were imaginary.) My least favorite activity was the “trust fall.” The participants formed two lines and stood shoulder to shoulder with the people in their row. Then they linked arms with the person opposite them, each grabbing the elbow of the other. If you pictured us from above, we looked like a human ladder held four feet off the ground. One … [Read more...]

Horizons Bible Study 2015-2016 Come to the Waters Lesson 2 – Matthew 3:13-17 Fran and Shawn have brought the delicate baptismal gown that was worn by the babies in Fran's family for three generations. They are a bit nervous before worship. Would Emma cry or scream? The baptism goes smoothly. Baby Emma, alert and happy, delights the congregation. No one really thinks about the incredibly radical action that God, the parents and the congregation have taken. Baptism in the Presbyterian Church is first about God's tenacious love. Baptism proclaims that God reaches out to us with love and mercy before we can do anything to merit God's favor. Like a helpless infant, we are totally dependent on God. Like the love of caring parents who, in amazement, watch, talk, coo, sing and sacrifice for this new life, God's grace is a joyous, free gift. I was once asked in a Sunday school class, "What is grace? I hear that word, but I don't get it." So much of our lives we are measured by … [Read more...]

HORIZONS BIBLE STUDY 2015-2016 COME TO THE WATERS  Lesson 1 – Genesis 1:1 - 2:4 My family went to the Outer Banks when I was a teenager. There is nothing quite as much fun as body surfing, catching the ridge of a high wave. When the tide was going out, we had to swim out farther to get a wave before it crested. One day I had gone out beyond the breaking waves; I realized with panic that, even though I was swimming as hard as I could, I was being pulled farther by a strong undertow. Somehow I was able to get out of its powerful hands and made it back to shore. There are times in our lives when we are pulled by powers out of our control. The bottom drops out of the economy. Our home is “under water,” because we paid more for it than it is currently worth. An epidemic, like the Ebola virus, sweeps through a country. A loved one faces a life-threatening illness. A spouse walks out, never to return. Our child is diagnosed with a mental illness that dashes any hope of a normal … [Read more...]