It worked!

Yesterday morning, just as I was posting the last entry my wife got a call from the Bible Study leader at our church asking her to lead "tomorrow's" lesson. My wife wasn't available, so I readily agreed to lead the time. I saw it as a chance to try out my "epiphany."
It worked! I got some really funny looks when explaining to the gathered university professors, vets and teachers my thoughts about the way we have been doing Bible Study. However, they were willing to try (I think they were just glad to have someone lead the group - it let them off of the hook!). We began with the Old Testament lesson that would soon be read in corporate worship. I asked my wife to read the long passage through and then for someone else with another translation to read the same passage as soon as the first was finished. There was an odd pause at the conclusion of the readings. I didn't want to have to ask for comments or to give any further instructions, but this being the first time we had tried this approach I thought it best to ask, "does this passage resonnate with anyone's experiences, life, plans or....." I was hoping for a short period of silence - something we Baptist are not used to or fond of in worship or our discussions. However, one of the members quickly jumped in with a very practical experience from the day before. We had some lively discussion as folks were connecting with the rather odd passage about bringing our first fruits to the priest to be given to God. After 10 or so minutes of discussion we jumped to the New Testament reading. We read it in a similar manner. The disscussion picked up on the similar themes in both readings. Soon we were sharing about our lives and how, especially at Thanksgiving we should be reflective of how our lives are lived out gifts brought to God daily, giving God the best of all we are and do, not just from our checkbooks. I said some things to wrap up and offered a prayer of thanksgiving and we headed into worship.
I hope that the others in the class made the same connections to the scriptures as they were read during the corporate worship time. The hour had new meaning as we sang, prayed and read those same passages. When we came the sharing of communion I was able to see my life as a gift brought to God not alone, but as a dad, a member of the body of Christ and as one who is a result of whole Bible story, from my ancient grandparents Abraham and Sarah through to my brothers and sisters in Christ who play out the Gospel narrative.