“Thy word is lantern unto my feet and a light unto my paths.” Psalm cxiv.105
This study, currently focusing on the book of Ecclesiastes, is led by Father Mark Brown, meets via Zoom at 1pm on Fridays, lasts one hour, and is open to anyone who is interested.
Contact Father Brown for the Zoom link, and bring your questions, your curiosity and yourself to this rich spiritual dialogue.
More on the Study of Scriptures
Our Lord comes to us in so many ways: in the Sacraments; in the community that is formed and fed by Sacramental grace; in simple acts of love that flow from that grace; and in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments which are the inspired word of God, the Bible.
In the Bible (a name that comes from the Greek word meaning The Book), we still hear God speaking to us, guiding us, teaching us, reproving us, inspiring us, forgiving us, and lovingly leading us into deeper relationship with him. As the prayer says (BCP 184), we are called to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest Scripture.
It’s important to read Scripture on our own as part of our practice of the faith, prayerfully discerning how God is still speaking to us in our time and place. And it’s important to read Scripture in community. II Peter i.20 states that “no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” That means, in part, that interpreting Scripture is something done in community. This helps to keep us from receiving and interpreting Scripture solipsistically, and it encourages us to see and interpret scripture in and with Christ’s own Body, the Church, in the resurrection light of Jesus Christ, according to Jesus’ own testimony in John vi.39, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
Interpreting Scripture in community also makes sense given that the Bible itself is a community of voices inspired by the one Spirit. Together, we’re called to join that conversation of voices, to be in fellowship with that Biblical community, to ask questions, to be challenged, to offer our perspectives, to carry the conversation forward, and ultimately to be shaped by the same Spirit that shaped and inspired Scripture itself.
Saint Thomas offers numerous opportunities to engage with and study Scripture. Sign up for the Church e-News to learn about what’s on offer now.
