LENT BIBLE STUDY 2021
Join us for Lent Bible study for 6 weeks – starting on the 17th February 2021 over ZOOM every Wednesday at 12 noon. Video clips of the Bible study will be shared on the Church’s website and Facebook page every Thursday.
During the long existence of the church, there were several ways of remembering the traumatic events that took place in Jerusalem with the condemnation, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. In nearly every Catholic church in the world, you will “see a series of simple crosses or fourteen images depicting the passion of Jesus” (McBride 2016 :1)[1]. This is known as the “stations of the cross”. In the Protestant world a different approach was taken focussing on the grace of God’s forgiving love on the cross. The Reformers emphasized and looked at the traumatic events before, during and after the crucifixion through the lenses of the Resurrection. In the Resurrection event of Jesus God’s forgiving powerful love triumphs over violence, sin, trauma, and death. Amid violent trauma, and injustice Jesus does not stop loving humanity (see Borg & Crossan 2008: viii)[2]. He does not strike out with violence or curse his persecutors. “In a way it’s as though trauma, the violence, tries to imprison him and fails” (Jones 2019: xvii)[3].
Currently we live in turbulent and traumatic times. Covid-19 is disrupting and threatening our lives, livelihoods, and existence. How do we make sense of it? Tom Wright (2020:1-2)[1] says in his book God and the Pandemic “And suddenly there was no safe space on the planet. There is no neutral zone. No medical equivalent of wartime Switzerland, where you could escape for a while, relax, and ponder what ought to be done”. One mistake that we can make is to underestimate the traumatic nature and impact Covid-19 is making on our lives, livelihoods, and existence. In the light of all the above, I am sure that the passion narrative of Jesus can become a powerful message of faith, hope, grace, and love to all those who suffer from trauma, violence, and injustice.
[1] Wright, T 2020. God and the Pandemic. A Christian reflection on the Coronavirus and its aftermath. London: SPCK.