On the Road to the Adventure of Studying Together

 

Our driveway is cleared of snow, the freezing drizzle will soon abate, and in an hour I'll head to Trenton to lead the fourth and final session based on scholar Susan Hylen's  book, Finding Pheobe: What New Testament Women Were Really Like.  The group participants have been all women, with the exception of one man, other than myself. The majority are seniors, women who grew up with certain gender expectations that favoured men. 

The Phoebe of the apostle Paul's letter to the church in Rome, along with other women in different cultures of the first century lived in a patriarchal and hierarchical society yet they also often had opportunities to develop careers, and were entrepeneurial. They found roles of leadership in their faith communities and took on recognized civic responsibilities While they observed social conventions regarding silence they weren't "seen and not heard", at times eloquent and persuasive. 

My sense is that we have all benefitted greatly from this different perspective. I've enjoyed listening to the "takes" of our group, and at times we have laughed together. There are times when someone offers an insight which I just hadn't considered. What they offer to me and one another is why I've led 14 study groups at Trenton UC in the six years since became part of this Christian community.

And I'm not done yet. Today we'll decide whether we'll delve into another book by Amy-Jill Levine, a Jewish New Testament scholar (you read that right). This one is about the parables of Jesus, Short Stories by Jesus: The Enigmatic Parables of a Controversial Rabbi. 

I'm grateful that folk have been willing to explore subjects that may be a little less than conventional, with enough variation that it stimulates me as a leader and, I hope, them as well. I'm glad that we have participants who join us via Zoom as well as in person, several from other congregations. 

I would like to think that we embark on a bit of an adventure each time and I'll try to remember this as I navigate the highway this morning. You are welcome to join us during Lent!