Kerygma Says, "Bible Study Matters"
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.
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...
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.
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 closure...
Discovering the Scriptures: Asking Questions, Probing Deeper, Always Amazed
An interview with Kerygma author Boyd Lien, pastor, educator and artist.

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