A renewed Reconciling Ministries Bible Study will be offered at Epworth United Methodist Church, in Rehoboth Beach DE. An historical perspective for the course will be offered on Thursdays May 5th, 12th & 19th from 6:00-7:30pm on Zoom. This three-week introduction will focus on the birth and early history of the LGBTQ+ community in the United States and will provide context for the remainder of the course, a nine-week examination of the biblical arguments for and against including LGBTQ+ people within the Church and the Synagogue, to be held in-person on Thursdays, June 23 – August 18, from 6:00-7:45pm.
The historical perspective session is patterned after the Hebrew Scriptures (aka The Old Testament). These Scriptures focus on three events that were critically important to the creation of “a new people” (the Hebrew Nation) where there once was “no people”: (1) slavery in Egypt, (2) the exodus from Egypt and the forty years searching for the promised land, and (3) the nation’s existential crisis, when the people of Judah were carried away to captivity in Babylon and were in danger of ceasing to exist as a people. This course’s introductory session points out that LGBTQ+ people in America went through a very similar sequence of events that shaped their development as a people. Lesson 1 focuses on the post-WWII period when LGBTQ+ people suffered intense prejudice and discrimination. Lesson 2 focuses on the liberation movement beginning in the early Fifties, exploding to violence in the Stonewall Riots of 1969, and continuing throughout the Seventies. Lesson 3 focuses on the AIDS epidemic, when the LGBTQ+ community faced and overcame the greatest threat to its own existence.
The three introductory sessions will be open to anyone, giving those who are interested an opportunity to “try it out” before committing to the remaining nine weeks. The remaining 9 weeks of the course, held at Epworth United Methodist Church from June 23 to August 18, will examine differing principles governing biblical interpretation, biblical arguments against LGBTQ+ inclusion and responses to those arguments, and five fundamental biblical principles that support a policy of LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Course materials consist of a study manual that will be transmitted in two installments, materials for the three-week introductory sessions and materials for the remaining nine weeks. The materials will be transmitted electronically and may be printed by the individual class member. Materials for the historical introductory sessions average 60 pages per session. For the remainder of the course, they average 30 pages per session. Participants are strongly encouraged to read the materials before each session.
Sign up now if you are interested in participating in this historical perspective Study on May 5, 12, and 19.
Questions? email Judy Moore (coordinator) jgkmoore@gmail.com
or Scott H. Strickler at scotthstrickler@gmail.com
