Bible Study

My husband and I recently began attending a new Bible study group.

I've written before about how I'm not a big fan of Bible studies. My experience has been that most groups use a canned study, and if everyone doesn't arrive at the same answers (which I rarely do), then the persons who deviate (this means me), are subtly (and sometimes overtly) shamed to conform with the group standard.

Suffice it to say, I've never been invited to the same Bible study twice, and would you believe that one group even changed their meeting time (without my knowledge) so I wouldn't be in attendance?

It saddens me to say this, but it doesn't seem to matter whether I am in church or in a Bible study, I experience the same pressure to think like everyone else, to behave like everyone else and if I fail to conform to everyone's expectations I risk being shamed and/or shunned.

In early October however, I tried again. A friend of mine had decided to organize a small group to study the word of God. She knew of my previous experiences and invited my husband and me to attend her group.

That was October 1st and we've been going ever since.

Our group calls itself, "The Red Letter Bible Study" because we are currently reading through the four gospels, paying especially close attention to the red letter words of Jesus. Back in October, we began with the book of Matthew and are just now moving into Chapter 6.

It's really incredible to meet with a small group of people who are so sweetly serious about their relationship with God. It's incredibly freeing to discuss scripture, to wrestle with its meaning, and to ponder its beauty minus the traditional formats and expectations most Bible study groups enforce.

I'm really grateful to God for bringing this group of people into my life. They are helping to heal me of the woundedness I have suffered at the hands of other religious people. They are like my very own balm of Gilead.

When I began typing this post, I had intended on sharing something my seven year old daughter had said to me this morning.

This came out instead.

Stay tuned, I'll share my youngest daughter story tomorrow!