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Where the Arts and Ministry Meet

Where the Arts and Ministry Meet—

In a print-making course at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Boyd Lien focused on wood blocks and the physical aspects of space and dimension. The Kerygma study DISCOVERING THE BIBLE—A New Generation benefited from Boyd’s interest in print-making.  You can see his 30 designs, 15 for chapters covering the Old Testament and 15 for the New Testament, in the DISCOVERING THE BIBLE Resource Book. Simple line illustrations range from the burning flame where God spoke to Moses, set against the pyramids to symbolize the exodus in the Old Testament, to the grain of wheat planted by the sower to represent Jesus’s teaching about the Kingdom of God in the New Testament.   

Boyd began attending a church in Minneapolis at age 11, becoming an ordained deacon in the church at 16, an ordained elder several years later, and continued his involvement as a college student.

Pastoral Ministry—It’s Not Just About Preaching

He described his pastor, Rev. Jerry Mettetal, as a mentor in ministry helping him to appreciate that there is much more to ministry than what you see in a Sunday morning worship service. Boyd remembers his pastor telling him, “You will be able to use art in your ministry more than you know.” That statement stayed with the young Boyd as his understanding of pastoral ministry as confined to preaching and counseling began to expand.

In the summers, he and his college friends participated in mission projects. While involved in a summer project after his junior year, he sensed a call to the ministry. Boyd phoned his parents, who were thrilled with the news. Upon returning to school for his senior year, Boyd changed his major from art education to art history. By Thanksgiving, he was considering admission to McCormick Seminary in Chicago. On a visit to the seminary, Boyd met Pamela Ertsgaard who was moving to Chicago to accept a job as church organist and administrator. Boyd proposed on their second date, and they have been married now for fifty-three years.

Boyd learned that his mentor in ministry was correct—you can combine the arts and ministry! In his first pastoral call, he created designs publicizing Christian Education events and youth programs. Using a Xerox machine, he published a curriculum based on the first vacation Bible school that he created.

Essential to his work at the time were meetings with Christian educators serving in other nearby New Jersey churches. He was also an active participant in APCE (Association of Presbyterian Church Educators) where he became friends with Dr. Donald Griggs (Discovering the Psalms—Passion, Promise, and Praise and Meeting God in the Bible—Sixty Devotionals for Groups).

Boyd recalled that “those national meetings became opportunities to share resources and network, to find out what’s going on. Educators are always wondering, ‘What’s out there; what do you have; what curriculum are you using; what works?’”



Don Griggs published a program Boyd had designed, Journey to Jerusalem, as part of an Abingdon Press series. An intergenerational program, Journey to Jerusalem could be used for summer vacation Bible schools or during Sunday morning programs. While for much of his ministry Boyd served in larger churches that had associate pastors, the programs he developed also worked well in small churches.

Learning centers and intergenerational activities were new at that time and Boyd made good use of both formats. His learning centers focused on “right brain activities to engage people with Bible passages and biblical stories. And that’s where the arts came in,” he added. Participants created designs on greeting cards or constructed mobiles that expressed the text in images. 

Boyd greatly respects his mentor Rev. Mettetal as both a preacher and a teacher. He recalled his years growing up in the church as a time of “absorbing my pastor’s process of how to teach as I was being taught myself. How do you ask a question? How do you affirm the people who are in your group?”

Design—From Curriculum to Covers

The Kerygma Program first approached Boyd to assist Kenneth Clark who was writing a new study, Discovering the Bible. Later, he was later asked to create the second edition, Discovering the Bible—A New Generation, and spent two years on the revision, adding slides and other visuals.

“I decided that I would develop the curriculum as I would teach it,” he recalled. “That first year, I field-tested it with the group who met on Tuesday nights at a church where I had served. They knew they were helping Kerygma to develop the course. Then I did the artwork for the cover and created the symbols for each session. A part of each visual led into the next. I had a lot of fun doing that.”

Later, Boyd Lien wrote the Leader’s Guide for Kerygma’s study Second Corinthians—Living Letters in Christ (Resource Book by Dr. Calvin Roetzel) and designed the cover. Using a motif that is widely used today, he created “an image made to look like a mosaic—all of these pieces coming together to form a community in Christ. I like how it ended up.”

Visualizing Isaiah

Boyd had long wanted to develop a study of Isaiah that both focused on the text and emphasized the visual nature of the language. The study also highlights the inspiration that many passages from Isaiah have provided to artists working in a variety of media—from sculpture to frescoes, from music to public speaking.

As with earlier Kerygma publications, Boyd had ideas for the cover. At the time he had been working on another design using folk art created with intricate paper cutting—known as the German scherenschnitte and the Polish wycinanki. Using this medium for the cover would be very interesting he thought, as he envisioned opening the Isaiah scroll to reveal images referenced inside. “As you know from the curriculum, Isaiah is filled with visions and images and metaphors. So, I just looked through all of those and thought how I would put some of them in a design.”

“The first cover was easy,” Boyd admitted, “because in ISAIAH, Part One---Holy, Holy, Holy (the study of the first 39 chapters of the book of Isaiah) the mountain of the Lord is critical, as is the temple. The vineyard is another major image. So those motifs came together.”

The covers for Isaiah Parts Two and Three were more challenging as the images were profuse. So many to choose from! Because the Servant Songs are found in Isaiah Chapters 40-55, Boyd chose the servant as the central image for the cover of ISAIAH, Part Two—Do Not Be Afraid!

“My absolute favorite passage, perhaps in the entire Old Testament as well as in Isaiah,” Boyd acknowledged, “is in Isaiah 43. So, I had to include ‘when you pass through the waters and when you walk through the fire, do not be afraid, for I am with you,’ images prominent in the bottom of the illustration.”

Atop the head of the servant is what appears to be a halo, or what Boyd described as “God’s holiness resting upon the servant as an indication of the unity between heaven and earth, God embracing the work of that servant.”

Isaiah 40 begins with “prepare the way of the Lord” and includes the leveling of the mountains. So Boyd drew lines at the bottom of the design to suggest a straight path. Another key image in the second part of Isaiah is the shepherd, and so sheep are in the design.

At the top of the design, the frond-like or feather-like images represent Isaiah 55:12, the trees in the field clapping their hands at the magnificent vision of creation. Also depicted are mountains referenced in Isaiah 52:7, “how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation.” Sheep are included because Isaiah 40:11 indicates that “he will gather the lambs in his arms,” completing the major images in the scroll for Isaiah, Part Two.

To depict images from Isaiah, Part Three (chapters 56-66), Boyd focused on references to the “gathering God, this God who is going to gather the exiles and who is going to gather all. There is going to be this wonderful welcome into God’s house, so to speak.”

The central image at the bottom of the open scroll for ISAIAH Part Three—Your Light Has Come depicts hands extending forward. On the wrists are broken shackles, indicating people who have been released from captivity, who now reach toward the gates—gates opened to welcome them into the city and into the temple, suggesting an image for Isaiah 60:11.

There are a lot of images in the open scroll for Isaiah Part Three, because, well—there is a lot going on visually in Isaiah Chapters 56-66. The flowers on either side of the scroll depict garland referred to in Isaiah 61:3 and Isaiah 61:11, “For the earth brings forth its shoots and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.”  “That’s my vision of what is springing up—the garland,” Boyd said. “And with these flowers that make up this garland righteousness and praise are springing up.”

Behind the temple is a blue shape, depicting a three-curved crown with tiny jewels on the top. The crown is a reference to Isaiah 62:3, “You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

Here, as in the covers for Isaiah Parts One and Two, a mountain appears in the distance. “The mountain is a constant theme in all three designs,” Boyd explained. “It’s prominent in the cover design for Isaiah, Part One. It’s barely seen in the cover for Isaiah Part Two, but it’s there behind the servant. And then the mountain comes back in the cover design for the Isaiah Part Three. The mountain motif is critical—as Mount Zion, the dwelling of God—and is a theme throughout Isaiah.” 

Why a Pink Sky?

Last, but hardly least, you will notice a pink sky at the top of the open scroll for Isaiah Part Three. Why pink? Boyd referred to Isaiah 66:22, that tells of a new heaven and new earth.

I asked if the pink might be the glow of morning, the dawn of a new day. “It could be the dawn,” Boyd reflected. “I thought if there were to be a new heavens and a new earth, things should be in different colors. It’s the new heavens and a new earth, so let’s not expect things to be the old just heated up again.”

There is another important part to the design. In Isaiah 60:19, we find “The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you by night, but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.”

As you look at the images inside the scroll, you will see that the sun is not in the sky, but instead, is visible through the open doorway that leads into the temple. Boyd explained, “In the door opening, that’s the light; the Lord will be your everlasting light.” In the doorway, he included very faint lines that form a cross. “If I had colored in the parts a little differently,” he said, “you would see a cross there. It’s there, but it is very faint, very subtle. But, it’s there.”

Speaking further about the sun in the doorway, Boyd added, “you could ask what the sun is doing inside the building. It’s the light; the light is in the building. Isaiah 60 is repeated in Revelation 21:23—there is no need for a lamp, for the Lord will be your light in the kingdom.” 

“Of course, the challenge was how to depict a temple with just a few lines. I don’t know what the temple looked like; nobody knows what the temple really looked like. So, what would evoke that?  What I wanted more than anything was for the doors to be the key part of the image, because that is what the entire book of Isaiah was about. The hands are lifted in praise and exclamation or excitement. Their shackles have come off their wrists; they have been released. And now, they are heading in.”

Amen. Thus, may it be so. 

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Bible Study Groups—Staying Connected

 

Whether for worship or prayer, for Bible study or simply to share a meal, gathering together is a major part of Christian life, but with the practice of physical distancing to slow the spread of COVID-19, schools, from elementary to university, transitioned to online learning platforms.

The week of March 16th, as business and office closures began across US towns, cities, and states, churches had to decide what to do about worship. Congregations, large and small, began making the shift to worshiping together—virtually. Bible study groups would soon follow.

While the country paused in the midst of the closures, Kerygma received orders for one Resource Book here, a Resource Book there, as individuals and couples planned to do personal Bible study in the midst of stay-at-home guidelines. That people use personal time to study the Scriptures is encouraging at any time.

But then, an email arrived with an order for, not one, but multiple Resource Books for a Kerygma study! A Bible study group in Michigan was planning to meet together—online. 

Connie, a member of the study group, told me, “By the fourth week after Easter, we decided that something needed to happen.”

“Most of the members of our group use some form of technology—cell phones, ipads, etc. While a couple of participants in the group said that a remote Bible study was not for them, others decided to make it work. Some were ready and eager to make the transition to an online platform for virtual Bible study sessions together; those who were new to technology needed encouragement.”

Participants ready for transition to an online meeting, spent time on the phone, coaching those who were less comfortable but eager to learn. “Basically we took each other by the hand and walked down this new road together,” Connie recalled. 

Now that the group meets online every week, participation has grown. Members of households are joining in. “After all,” Connie explained, “they don’t have to drive anywhere to get to the meeting; they just push a button and they are ‘in the meeting.’” 

Whether via Zoom, Google Hangout, Facebook Live, Microsoft Teams, or Skype, group members are connecting—to see and hear each other, to study scripture, and to pray together.

A look back shows the technological paths we have traveled in just the last 100 years. In 1922, the first commercial radio station on record, KDKA, broadcast over the airwaves from Pittsburgh, PA. A local Pittsburgh congregation, Shadyside Presbyterian, began broadcasting its pastor’s sermons over KDKA, also in 1922. The first commercially licensed TV station began broadcasting from suburban Washington DC in 1928. Television broadcasts of church worship services first appeared in the 1950s, along with televised public gatherings where preaching was central, such as the Billy Graham crusades. In 1993, the World Wide Web established its status in the public domain. By the mid-1990s email Internet Service Providers, or ISPs such as AOL, were serving growing public interest in digital connection. As one example of social media platforms that followed, Facebook launched in 2004. We have been online ever since.

While television broadcast of worship services in the past may have been limited to larger churches, congregations of any size eventually were able to broadcast or record their services on their websites or other social media platforms.

Still, recent physical distancing guidelines required churches to pivot very quickly, “learning as we went along,” Peter, a church communications staff member told me, “and making many decisions, because there are so many options.” Do you use closed circuit or Internet? Do virtual backgrounds look better? How do you include all parts of a service that congregations know and appreciate as part of corporate worship?

A Bible study group in New York seemed to view their shift to an online platform as a normal part of what a church does in the face of change--whether that change was anticipated or unexpected. Like a sail boat, it shifts the sails and tacks against the wind to reach its desired course. One member of the group, Tom said that the group’s shift to meeting online was "...like starting a Model-T that hasn't run for a while." 

Cathy, their pastor said, "We realized that either we do something, or we wouldn't do anything. The initial practice run was crucial to our success. After that, it has flowed. It is a tribute to the group’s willingness to be flexible—the circumstances do that to us—and to their desire to not stop meeting together. There was lots to learn. Still, it’s so worth it to be able to see one another.”  

When describing Kerygma studies her group has used, Connie explained, “Kerygma materials help to give us a reason and a purpose to gather. We enjoy getting together, exploring the scriptures together, discussing passages as a group. We are focusing on something and having meaningful conversation.”

Those who have had to shift to working remotely as well as those who have long had to telecommute may be growing weary of online screen time. But the church isn’t. Not yet.

We’re just discovering its potential both to enable us to gather and to make disciples.

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Discovering the Scriptures: Asking Questions, Probing Deeper, Always Amazed


An interview with Kerygma author Boyd Lien, pastor, educator and artist.

Kerygma Author Rev Boyd E Lien

As a child Rev. Lien remembers hearing the Bible read in worship, and understood the Bible “to be the most important source of our understanding about God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Of course, it took a while to know what each of those names meant and how they went together. Since the Bible was the basis of the sermon I also came to see that the Bible gave directions on how we are to live our lives.”

He received his first Bible at age 11 in his home church in Minneapolis, and remembers the first passage he read to be the story of the exodus, which to an 11-year-old was a great action-adventure story! He recalls being part of a Bible study in high school, which met in the kitchen because of limited classroom space in his small church, “I fondly remember our teacher, Mrs. Tupper, and her weekly gifts of donuts, Tang, and Bible study. In a profound way, through her caring, her guidance through the Scriptures, and the friendship within the group, I learned that Jesus loves me. I learned that I was a valued part of a family of faith and part of a much bigger story.” 

As a University of Minnesota undergraduate, Rev. Lien recalls, “The pastor of my home church would frequently gather a bunch of us together on Friday nights for Bible Study. Can you imagine—Friday nights? We were there because Jerry was deeply committed to sharing the good news of Christ and was also an excellent teacher. At such a formative time in my life, the sharing within that community was a key part of my faith development. In fact, I can still remember the theme and scripture text from our first session!”  

Decades later another group, a Tuesday night Bible study at Reid Memorial Presbyterian where he served as Pastor, would help shape the revision of the study that he wrote for Kerygma: “During those seven years, a faithful group of learners gathered at the church almost every Tuesday night and studied the Bible—a setting for learning as well as a safe place for un-learning. Through our study, our prayers, our laughter, and our tears the Spirit formed us into a closely-knit community. The experience of teaching this group, test-driving contemporary learning activities, and adding a slide presentation to enhance the sessions, resulted in creating "Discovering the Bible—A New Generation" for the Kerygma Program.

In writing this study, I expanded on the format of asking questions of the text and making discoveries—the “?” and “!” approach. It is impossible for me to read scripture without asking questions to probe deeper as well as anticipating being surprised by something I had not seen before. It is amazing how even the most familiar passage will take on a fresh meaning—but our lives are changing we are also being changed. Thanks be to God!”

Reflecting on leading Bibles studies as pastor, he wrote, "I realize that, in many ways, I teach the way I was taught.”

His list of good facilitation practices includes:

  • listening carefully
  • asking good questions
  • affirming each person’s contribution
  • preparing sessions that encourage discovery
  • designing activities for the different ways people learn
  • paying attention to building community within the group 


For clergy who lead Bible studies, he observed, “Being a pastor, a role that may be perceived as ‘the expert,’ has intensified the need to guide participants in discovering the Bible and leaving room for the Holy Spirit to enlighten and transform.”  Rev. Lien noted important lessons that he has learned from good leaders of Bible studies:

  • First, pay attention to those times when it is helpful to provide answers and those times when it is beneficial to lead the group in discovering the answers.
  • Second, through experience I have learned the critical importance of maintaining a non-anxious presence when difficult topics are addressed, conflicting points of view are expressed, and emotions are intensified.
  • Third, it is always appropriate to say, “I don’t know.”


When asked what was the greatest benefit to you as a Christian from studying the Bible with others, Rev Lien replies:

“My problem, as J. B. Philips suggests in his book, has never been that God is ‘too small.’ It is that God can never be too large. That is an understanding that has come through Bible study and hearing the faith stories and insights of others. In my experiences of studying and teaching the Bible, and most recently being immersed in the breathtaking visions of the prophet Isaiah, I am aware that God just keeps getting ‘more’—more creative, more magnificent, more forgiving, more gracious, more expansive, more loving, more holy, more surprising, more wondrous. Always more.” 

_____

About the author:

Boyd Lien, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), serves as pastor of Bath Presbyterian Church in Blythe, Georgia. He was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minn., just down the street from Lake Wobegon. After studying graphic art and art history at the University of Minnesota, he said "yes!" to God's call to ministry and entered McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois, which included a life-changing year of study at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. During forty-eight years of ministry, Boyd has served as pastor and educator with churches in Verona, New Jersey; New Castle, Pennsylvania; Eugene, Oregon; Houston, Texas; Richmond, Virginia; and Augusta, Georgia.

As a church educator, he has created and published a variety of educational resources for all ages. Some resources have been published independently; others have been published by Abingdon Press, The Logos Program, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and The Kerygma Program. In collaborating on the creation of Discovering the Bible, Boyd served as co-author and editor of that first edition of the Resource Book and the Leader’s Guide and is now the author of the Resource Book, author of the Leader's Guide and designer of Graphics for the new edition, Discovering the Bible: A New Generation. He has authored the Leader's Guide, designed the cover, and created the slide presentation for Second Corinthians: Living Letters in Christ.

Boyd spent the past several years writing a three-part study on Isaiah including Resource Books and Leader's Guides, and also creating the Slide Presentations. He also designed the graphics for the covers.  Isaiah: Holy, Holy, Holy was released in the fall of 2017, and Isaiah parts two and three are due out Late fall 2018.

Boyd and his wife Pam have two grown children. Sarah Finnerty, her husband Craig, and son Alex (the Great!) live in Raleigh, NC. Justin Lien lives in Augusta. Cats Boo, Oliver, and Natalie complete the family.

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Hallelujah: The Bible and Handel's Messiah, by Carol Bechtel

 Dr. Carol Bechtel, shares with us how she is never tired of teaching the Bible and Handel's Messiah and her experience in writing the Biblical texts of Handel’s Messiah



Dr. Bechtel first encountered Handel’s Messiah as a member of her high school choir. In rehearsals, she admits that she would sometimes stare off into space thinking about the words when she was supposed to be singing.   

“I first started teaching a class on the Bible and Handel’s Messiah for an adult Sunday school class at First Presbyterian Church in New Haven when I was a graduate student at Yale. I worked especially hard on it because you never knew who would show up in the adult Sunday school class in that place! Richard Hays, then teaching at Yale and now a New Testament professor at Duke, would often be there.”  

“I realized then that I needed to find ways to talk about how the Old Testament texts in Messiah were about the Messiah. As an Old Testament student, I had been taught the importance of exploring the original context of the texts. I was—and still am—committed to that. But it was also clear to me that the Church hears these passages as being somehow ‘about’ Jesus Christ. Since I was working with Old Testament scholar Brevard Childs at the time, I began to listen for what he liked to call, ‘canonical echoes’ between the testaments.”

She would get the chance to wrestle with these issues when she was invited by Kerygma to write a study of the Biblical texts in Handel’s work.

“As I wrote the study, I came to realize that the question was not whether passages like Isaiah 7, 9, and 53 were about Jesus, but how are they about Jesus. While the original context was crucial, there was also a sense in which these passages had been ‘recontextualized’ as the early church attempted to understand their experience of Jesus Christ. So, in terms of context, I believe it’s not so much a question of either/or, but both/and.”

“I’m still not tired of teaching The Bible and Handel’s Messiah. That may have more to do with the quality of the music and the scripture passages than with anything else.”

 

 

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Remembering The Christmas Story

Writing the Biblical texts of Handel’s Messiah


Dr. Bechtel first encountered Handel’s Messiah as a member of her high school choir. In rehearsals, she admits that she would sometimes stare off into space thinking about the words when she was supposed to be singing.   

Dr. Carol Bechtel is the author of Kerygma's Hallelujah: The Bible and Handel's Messiah, and Sowing Tears, Reaping Joy: the Bible & Brahms' Requiem.

Carol grew up on a farm near Fulton, Illinois, a small town on the Mississippi River, and some of her earliest memories of the Bible were hearing the Christmas story read on Christmas Eve. “And of course” she added, “that’s wrapped up with all of the excitement that a child feels in anticipating Christmas morning.

For the young Carol, her own story provided a unique connection and a greater appreciation for this child who was named Jesus. “The fact that I grew up on a farm meant that all of my senses were engaged when I heard that story, because I loved to hang out in the barn. Other people might think, “Oh no. Jesus was born in a barn?” But since the barn was one of my favorite places, my response was, “How cool! Jesus was born in a barn!” 

As a Professor of Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary and as an ordained pastor in the Reformed Church in America, Dr. Bechtel engages students and congregations with the many stories contained in the Scriptures.  As the author of Bible studies she encourages adults to continue their study of the Bible “in depth, over time, and in community.” “The Bible is more than just a collection of ancient stories about strange people in faraway lands. It is, in a very real sense, our story."

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ISAIAH! Beginning Words from the Author Boyd Lien

Beginning Words

 

Grace to you and peace! Thanks to the gracious invitation I received to write this study, I have spent three years studying the prophet Isaiah, an inspiring and constant companion. Just ask the congregation I serve as pastor the number of times Isaiah has appeared in my sermons, and not only during Advent! Ask my wife, Pam, how frequently I drew her attention to Isaiah’s presence in a book we were reading, a hymn we were singing, or a work of art we were viewing. Most mornings over those three years I headed to the coffee shop with my laptop and the parting words “I’m having coffee with Isaiah.” This time with Isaiah provided stimulating and life-giving “conversations.” On one extended getaway, needing a break after an intensive period of writing, I thought I had left Isaiah back at the hostel where we were staying. But then at the concert, as we listened to Charles Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass, the tenor and chorus began to sing, “Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus” (Holy, Holy, Holy). Once again I was swept up into the wonders of Isaiah.

This study actually began five decades ago in Minneapolis as my pastor and friend Jerry Mettetal was making a left turn from 33rd Street onto Minnehaha Avenue. We had just left Vanderburgh Presbyterian Church and, even though I don’t remember where we were headed, what he said to me is etched on my memory. He was encouraging me to think about going to seminary! And I was countering that what I really wanted to do was to pursue my love for art and perhaps teach. I can still remember him saying, “You will be able to use your art in ministry more than you know.” Those encouraging words were a turning point in my life, because they began to enlarge my understanding of ordained ministry; I was helped to see that my gifts would be nurtured and shared. Now, looking back, I realize that in one sense of the word, he was being prophetic. For that is exactly what has happened. And the invitation to create this study has provided another opportunity to use my love of art in ministry.



Discovering the Prophet in . . .

My passion for artistic creation profoundly influences the ways I hear, read, study, understand, and teach the Bible. In reading Isaiah’s words and engaging my imagination, I have sought to open my eyes to catch a glimpse of what he saw through his. It has been an exhilarating time of reading, listening, praying, reflecting, imagining, and creating. I have been guided by the profound insights of biblical scholars and have been astonished by the various creations of those who have been inspired by Isaiah. At the close of each Resource Book chapter a section entitled “Discovering the Prophet in . . .” links the words of the prophet with an artistic expression inspired by those words. My goal is to expand our imaginations as we engage with the printed texts of scripture by looking through the eyes of visual artists, composers, hymn writers, authors, freedom fighters, and pastors. The oldest of these artistic expressions inspired by passages from the book of Isaiah is a fresco painted in the fourteenth century CE; the most recent is a passage from a novel published in the twenty-first century. May the visions of the prophet continue to inspire us! If my life story were written, it would include a section entitled “Discovering the Prophet in Augusta.” May your life story include the section “Discovering the Prophet in ___________” (insert your town here).

In researching and writing this study, I have become closer to the message and mission of Isaiah. That which I knew, and which has served as bedrock for my faith, has intensified in importance. That which was unfamiliar has become less so. That which I had not discovered previously has come as a wonderful surprise. Such discoveries and surprises are my hopes for you and all those who gather to study the book of Isaiah. May you see and hear the word of God through the faithful witness of the prophet. May you draw closer to the heart of the one who reveals God with such reverence, imagination, and compassion. May you be held within the loving embrace of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as you listen to life-giving words. As the prophet proclaims concerning the word of God:

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

and do not return there until they have watered the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isa. 55:10–11)

 

In Christ,

Boyd Lien

Augusta, Georgia

 

 

 

 

 

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Dr. Carol Bechtel—Never Tired of Teaching The Bible and Handel’s Messiah

 

Have you ever wondered how a young girl could grow up to become a professor of Old Testament? Here is how it happened for Kerygma author and Professor Carol Bechtel. 

Carol Bechtel



As a child, Dr. Bechtel was an avid reader, and always wanted to bring books with her to church. Her mother wouldn’t let her bring her Nancy Drew mysteries or other books, but would allow her daughter to read the Bible during church.

Dr. Bechtel recalls, “As soon as the sermon started I would get the pew Bible out and see if I could read all the way through the book of Ruth by the end of the sermon. Once I’d conquered Ruth, then I tried Jonah. Eventually, I could make it all the way through Esther.” And yes, she sees the connection between that experience and her eventual calling, because she discovered that there were some really good stories in the Old Testament.

She recalls playing Bible games with the other kids in Sunday school. “One of the teachers would call out, “Isaiah 53:6,” for example, and the first person who found the verse in their Bible would stand up and read it aloud.” “Those were fun, but they also motivated me to learn the books of the Bible and taught me how to find things in scripture. That’s important for all Christians, obviously, but it’s especially important for pastors. I’ve been teaching Introduction to Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary for twenty-five years. Each year, I make students learn the books of the Bible, in order and spelled correctly. They cannot earn a grade in my class until they have accomplished that 100%.” 

Other strong influences for Dr. Bechtel were the “people I could talk to about my questions. My grandmother, Bernadine Bielema Green—to whom I dedicated my Brahms’ Requiem study—lived right down the road from me. She had been teaching Sunday school since she was in high school, and was really a fine biblical interpreter. She had books in her library that I would later read in seminary. To have Grandma there to talk to about these things was really an unusual blessing. She probably rolled her eyes at some of my questions, but she never let on.”

“I think she was the first person in her family—not just the first woman, but the first person in her immediate family—to go to high school. She was determined to learn. She was also a writer, and wrote a column for the local newspaper. So, I was influenced by that as well.”

As an undergraduate at Hope College, Dr. Bechtel did not intend to major in religion, until she took a Bible survey class. The professor, Dr. Dennis Voskuil, encouraged her to consider seminary, and even a PhD. 

Taking that course was a pivotal moment, “because I realized that the serious study of the Bible was enriching my faith. It addressed questions that I was nervous about asking. For example, I wondered why there are repetitions in the Bible, and why there are discrepancies. If I had not taken that class when I did, I think my faith would have faltered. But in that class, I discovered that there are explanations for this. I learned that the process by which we received the Bible was more complicated than I had realized—and more miraculous.” 

“That was a very freeing experience for me, and it’s still a huge part of my sense of call. It is very important for me to be a trustworthy teacher who can guide people through those times when they have questions that they are afraid to ask. God blessed me with a particularly good teacher in Dennis Voskuil, and I strive to be that for my students.”



On Handel’s Messiah and writing Hallelujah



Dr. Bechtel first encountered Handel’s Messiah as a member of her high school choir. In rehearsals, she admits that she would sometimes stare off into space thinking about the words when she was supposed to be singing.   

“I first started teaching a class on the Bible and Handel’s Messiah for an adult Sunday school class at First Presbyterian Church in New Haven when I was a graduate student at Yale. I worked especially hard on it because you never knew who would show up in the adult Sunday school class in that place! Richard Hays, then teaching at Yale and now a New Testament professor at Duke, would often be there.”  

“I realized then that I needed to find ways to talk about how the Old Testament texts in Messiah were about the Messiah. As an Old Testament student, I had been taught the importance of exploring the original context of the texts. I was—and still am—committed to that. But it was also clear to me that the Church hears these passages as being somehow ‘about’ Jesus Christ. Since I was working with Old Testament scholar Brevard Childs at the time, I began to listen for what he liked to call, ‘canonical echoes’ between the testaments.”

She would get the chance to wrestle with these issues when she was invited by Kerygma to write a study of the Biblical texts in Handel’s work.

“As I wrote the study, I came to realize that the question was not whether passages like Isaiah 7, 9, and 53 were about Jesus, but how are they about Jesus. While the original context was crucial, there was also a sense in which these passages had been ‘recontextualized’ as the early church attempted to understand their experience of Jesus Christ. So, in terms of context, I believe it’s not so much a question of either/or, but both/and.”

“I’m still not tired of teaching The Bible and Handel’s Messiah. That may have more to do with the quality of the music and the scripture passages than with anything else.”

 

 

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There is No Substitute for Scripture.


Interview with Kerygma author Dr. Carol J. Miller.

Kerygma studies are written by pastors, seminary or college professors, or Bible scholars. Sometimes an author is all three. Common to all Kerygma authors is preparation (e.g. seminary or graduate study), experience within their respective ministries, on-going study of the Scriptures, and continued reading of biblical scholarship.

So, why don’t they just write books that will be read by other scholars?  Why not just preach sermons?  Why write Bible studies? That is what I asked Kerygma’s authors, in addition to other questions, in order to hear more of their personal stories and experiences with Bible study.

Here are highlights from the first interview with one of Kerygma’s authors, Dr. Carol J. Miller.

Of the 40 studies in Kerygma’s library of resources, the Rev. Dr. Carol J. Miller, an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church, now retired, has written 10 of them. I asked Dr. Miller what motivated her to write Bible studies for Kerygma. She replied:

“Sitting at my desk one morning telling myself that nothing happens until you break out of your comfort zone, I called Kerygma. I had written smaller pieces for Cokesbury which were well received. I told Kerygma that I was interested in writing a study of St. John. They said they would like me to do St Luke first!

I had been teaching Kerygma for a few years and I knew what it was. Jim Walther [author of Kerygma’s first study Bible in Depth] was my editor. He always wanted to discuss points in Greek! Most of my Greek had wandered off years earlier. He was very kind!”

Dr. Miller's time as a Bible study participant was limited; she started leading studies as a high school student of seventeen. Putting a lot of miles on her mother’s car, she would round up members of the church youth group and bring them to her house. There, they would discuss a devotional guide for teens published by the Methodist Church.

At the time, she didn’t think of her leadership of Bible studies as a spiritual gift. Dr. Miller said, “As a child, I didn’t think I had any ‘gifts,’ because I couldn’t play the piano. I still can’t play the piano.”

However, as an undergraduate religion major, she discovered that she could write and “could write clearly, simply—but not simplistically. I could keep my eye on the topic at hand.” When she took an introductory class in New Testament, “it was love at first sight. Although I complained every time I turned in a paper, thinking that it was not good enough, I made A’s. I think my professor, Richard Stegner, was trying to tell me something! I wanted to write more and more. I was content to be a learner at this point. I fell in love with the Bible.” 

As a United Methodist pastor, Dr. Miller describes her call to ministry as “helping folks to find the Gospel through the hearing and practicing of the Word.” When serving as the sole pastor at a church, she was teaching four classes every week, along with counseling and administration that are part of ministry in a congregation. In addition to leading Kerygma classes each week, Dr. Miller also led new member and confirmation classes.

“There were several years of teaching Kerygma morning and evening with a group of other clergy who took turns leading. The first time we organized a class, we used the ‘the big Kerygma,’ (The Bible in Depth). We had 60+ people for 32 weeks. It is a rigorous study. Our students were mostly factory workers who came to the class without supper. I really admired them. When the 32 weeks were up, the members of the class came to the clergy to ask to do the study again--32 more weeks! I respect people like them, people who make the arrangements necessary to put real priorities first.”

Dr. Miller describes herself as a “teacher by nature. I’ll teach anybody. Just tie ‘em to a pole and I’ll teach ‘em! So, I would be unhappy sitting in a class on the Bible. I need to teach. If you try to make a student out of me, I talk too much. By ‘teach’ I do not mean lecture. I tried very hard to make sure others’ ideas were heard. The greatest benefits in any class are the ideas that come from others.” She would eventually earn a Doctor of Ministry in Adult Christian Education.

Question:  Why should the local church encourage & support group Bible study?

Answer:  “The Scriptures in very large measure create the Church. If you desire a strong congregation that not only has a good understanding of Scripture, but a good understanding of the Church and of their role in the Church, there is absolutely no substitute for Scripture. The church that I served for 11 years had almost 150 different people who had taken at least one Kerygma class. In addition, there were adults studying Scripture in Sunday school and in summer studies.”

Question: What about the increasing demands on people's time and the difficulty they have in finding time to come to worship, let alone Bible Study?

Answer:  “The Scriptures are the foundation for deciding what we do and how we think. This is true for individual Christians as well as every congregation, and for the Church as a whole. Put simply, the Bible is the Church’s book, written by the Church, for the Church.

Protestants must be able to see the content of their faith in and through the Scriptures. For us, there is no promise of love and forgiveness without the Bible. There is no command to love the neighbor and the enemy. Christianity is a living faith with a guide that can make itself heard over the noise of hate.

Without the community studying the Scriptures together, the congregation will not know its mission from God, its’ life together centered in love and mercy. It will remain unaware of its mission as a tool to speak the truth of Almighty God for the life-giving peace of the world. There is no substitute for Scripture.”

In addition to writing a study of Luke’s gospel for Kerygma, Dr. Miller has also written studies of:

  • the gospels of Mark and John
  • the New Testament books Acts, Galatians, and James
  • the Old Testament books Jonah and Ruth
  • and studies for Advent and Lent: Light Will Shine, and Hosanna

More about Dr. Carol J. Miller

Studies:

 

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SUMMER-TIME for BIBLE STUDY


Every Bible study group has a story, a history. We don’t usually think of a small group as having a “history.” After all, small groups are not permanent; members come and go, times change. One group ends; another group forms. Small groups, and especially Bible study and prayer groups, are important to the life of the local church and to the Church overall.

Kerygma resources are developed to support these groups, with materials designed to encourage Christian growth and formation, to build community through interaction and discussion of Biblical texts and themes.

Here is the story of one group that formed almost 20 years ago for summer-time Bible study.

People have long been spending their summers at Little Point Sable, a beautiful spot on Lake Michigan. Outdoor worship services were first held there around 1900, initially in a tent, and then in a tabernacle--an open-air auditorium with a roof. A residents association formed in 1927 and built a small stone church that has been used for worship since 1928. And yes, there is still a hymn sing on Sunday evenings.

Nineteen years ago, a group of 8 women formed a Bible study group for summer residents at Little Point Sable.  Lynne, the founder, participated in a study group during the year and wanted to continue during the summer months. Joyce, another original member, joined because she appreciated “the discipline of regular Bible study and wanted an opportunity to know some members of my summer community on a deeper level.”

Fast forward to summer, 2018. The “Friends in Faith” Bible study group has grown to approximately 28 women and meets at the nearby little stone church, having outgrown the living rooms at each other’s houses.

I first learned of the Friends in Faith group when one of their members called to order Kerygma study materials for this year’s study, That You May Believe: The Gospel of John. While other materials are used, Kerygma studies are a valued tool for this group.

About 20 women attend the weekly meetings from July through Labor Day. Most of the members of Friends in Faith are Protestant and some are Catholic. The collective group represents a range of theological perspectives from progressive/liberal to very conservative. Some, but not all, participate regularly in Bible study during the year, in their home communities. For about the first five years the Bible study group at Little Point Sable read “religious books.”  Shirley, a member of the group and an ordained pastor, recommended Kerygma Bible studies because they work well within an interdenominational group.

Participants meet on a weekday morning for about an hour and 45 minutes—it is summer after all. The first fifteen minutes is a time to say hello and get settled. As another participant, Julie, wrote, “We use the Kerygma series currently. We are expected to prepare from our study guides for the next lesson, but we all know that life gets messy sometimes and that may not happen. We come anyway and the nature of our discussion and the small group work we do allows us to participate even when we can't always fully prepare. We often read the same passages from different Bible translations and that can be very interesting.”

Shirley, the ordained pastor in the group, kicks off the summer study by leading the first session, and then, invites others to lead. Throughout the summer there is a different leader each week, allowing everyone to experience learning from a number of angles. As Shirley observed, “Who learns more—the student or the leader?”

An important part of the meeting is the prayer time, the 10 or so minutes at the end. Members share requests with the knowledge and mutual trust that “what is shared in the group, stays in the group.” The group secretary sends out emails to those who weren’t able to attend in a given week and, with permission, shares the joys and/or concerns for prayer and giving of thanks. Their support for one another extends into the “off-season” as emails are exchanged year round with updates about previous prayer requests as well as new requests.

According to Julie, “Being part of a group is important and healthy. We all come for our own personal needs and reasons. But essentially the bonding of women in a common pursuit and, in this case, studying the word of God is a basic foundation for who we are.” At their last session of the summer, Shirley officiates as, together, the group partakes in the Lord’s Supper.

A men's Bible study group started about 8 or 9 years ago, as they saw how the women benefited from their study, and how Friends in Faith had introduced people to Bible study who had previously not participated in one. Today, about 6 to 10 men meet weekly in each other’s homes.

A founding member of the group, Fred, wrote that the group has used a number of Bible study materials. They studied each of the gospels, but “were having a hard time keeping on the same page. Then we tried the Kerygma series and we had a winner! It gave us structure and a leader’s guide that we pass on to the next session’s leader.”

Doug, another member of the group, wrote, “For me, and perhaps others, summer brings more freedom from other responsibilities and offers more time to do serious Bible study.

_______________

Tell us about it. We’d love to hear about your group. Contact Peggy Heely at Kerygma at mheely@kerygma.com 

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Reflection: Speaking of Isaiah

As we release Kerygma’s 40th study, Isaiah: Holy, Holy, Holy, we greatly appreciate the help of one Ethiopian court official in bringing attention to both the importance of the book of Isaiah and our participating together to understand how the words of the prophet Isaiah speak to our world today!
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ISAIAH! Meet the author Boyd Lien

About the Author of ISAIAH: Boyd Lien 

Boyd Lien, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), serves as pastor of Bath Presbyterian Church in Blythe, Georgia. He was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, just down the street from Lake Wobegon. After studying graphic art and art history at the University of Minnesota, he said yes! to God’s call to ministry and entered McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago, Illinois, which included a life-changing year of study at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. During his forty-seven years of ministry Boyd has served as pastor and educator with churches in Verona, New Jersey; New Castle, Pennsylvania; Eugene, Oregon; Houston, Texas; Richmond, Virginia; and Augusta, Georgia.

As a church educator, he has created and published a variety of educational resources for all ages. Some resources have been published independently; others have been published by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Abingdon Press, Logos Program Associates, and The Kerygma Program. As an artist he has designed logos, illustrations, and brochures for individuals, congregations, and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

For The Kergyma Program, Boyd is the author of Discovering the Bible: A New Generation, both the Resource Book and the Leader’s Guide, and also the creator of the supplementary slide presentation and designer of the graphics. He is also the author of the Leader’s Guide and creator of the slide presentation for Second Corinthians: Living Letters in Christ.

Boyd and his wife, Pam, have two grown children. Sarah Finnerty, her husband, Craig, and their son, Alex (the Great!), live in Raleigh, North Carolina. Justin Lien lives in Augusta, Georgia. Cats Boo, Oliver, and Natalie complete the family.

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