Bible Study

Some friends and I have started up a Bible study here at orientation to help maintain our spiritual health during this trying (and awesome!) time. Since we only had four weeks left when we started, we decided that we should go through Philippians, both because it has four chapters and because it is rather encouraging, and we could use that right now. The style that my friends are used to is more like what I experienced in Winona at places like Pleasant Valley Ev. Free and sometimes at Summer camp; that is, they are intellectually rather dry, but spiritually quite affirming. It is a big difference from what I am used to at VALPO, and even at Timothy Lutheran Church, but it is helpful to help me keep some perspective on my spiritual "vocation" (shudders at that word...) in a highly secularized environment. And besides, I brought my Greek with me, so I'm able to add some intellectual depth as far as exegesis is concerned, and my friends seem to appreciate this. (I also brought my knowledge of obscure historical fact with me. I'm not sure this is as appreciated as the translation. They seemed to have a vision of Paul suffering in chains quite literally, perhaps even being whipped with cords. They found this encouraging, especially as their suffering seemed so comparatively small. I reminded them much later on in the study that he was a Roman citizen and probably under house arrest at this time, thus his ability to freely communicate. "Oh..." they said. I sighed.)