This Covenant experience will guide participants in a comprehensive, in-depth study of the Bible over twenty-four weeks. Unlike the learning participants may have experienced in other groups, this in-depth study of the whole Bible emphasizes the biblical concept of
covenant as a unifying pattern through all the books in the Old and New Testaments. It underscores the unique relationship that God chooses to have with us as God’s people. This relationship is grounded in the faithfulness of God’s love and on our ongoing commitment to stay in love with God while we share signs of that love with others.
The cohosts for the twenty-four video episodes are Reverend Shane Stanford, senior pastor at Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, and Reverend Christine Chakoian, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Lake Forest, Illinois. They will meet with a different biblical scholar in each video episode.
Each video in the coming weeks features a conversation between the hosts and a biblical scholar around the Covenant table. Their conversation is a model for the kind of learning dynamic that is central to this study.
This is Episode 17 Additional Video: Incarnation and Abundant Love
In a nutshell, comparing John to the other Gospels, Mark is the story of the suffering servant, Matthew is the teaching gospel, Luke is the prophet emphasizing social justice, but in John the emphasis is on a kind of intimacy and a focus on abundant life in the here and now. Some of the most memorable stories (raising of Lazarus) are in John. The stories of Nicodemus, the Samaritan woman, Mary Magdalene, etc. only appear in the Gospel of John and are so intimate. It begins so boldly (In the beginning...). John goes back to the very beginning indicating that everything that is and ever was is included in God's heart. It is ultimate incarnation as creation itself manifests the glory of God. John wants us to slow down and pay attention, see creation as reflecting God and God's care. John is almost obsessed with creating authentic community. At every turn there is an over the top, excessive abundance because that is the nature of God's love. The one who created the world is still creating, still pouring abundant life into our lives. It is a theology of abundance, not scarcity.
Running time: 6:16
Individual video episodes are
available to purchase for streaming to computers and mobile devices from http://www.covenantbiblestudy.com/Shop.
In
addition to the twenty-four episodes of streaming video (more than seven
hours of video) are twenty additional streaming videos and ten streaming
storytelling videos from http://www.covenantbiblestudy.com/Shop.
To
stream a purchased video, login with your cokesbury.com user account, click on
My Cokesbury.com, and select Downloads/Subscriptions.
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Questions? Visit http://www.covenantbiblestudy.com/Shop
for more information.
