Yesterday I had the privilege of leading an Adult Ed class at Bethlehem Lutheran Church (ELCA).  I was invited to present by the Parish Nurse, bless her soul.  About 20 people attended. When we were reviewing the manifestations of unresolved stress we talked about persecution and bullying; it was a short but interesting discussion that caused me to think a little more about this topic.   Luke 4:24 tells us that prophets aren’t accepted in their hometowns.  Perhaps that is because people in our hometowns know us and our families.  Jesus told his disciples they would be persecuted –  Jesus certainly was bullied wasn’t he?  Remember one of the remarks made about him – ‘Isn’t he the son of a carpenter?’ – See, a carpenters son was supposed to become a carpenter, not a prophet, not a teacher, so many people did not accept Jesus for who he was, their Savior and the Savior of the World.   Jesus didn’t teach his followers to build things out of wood like a carpenters son should, he taught them to build spiritual houses instead.

We also talked about the stress involved with New Birth and the conversion of Saul, How the experience changed his life and how he was somewhat frightened and how other people were frightened about the thought of having to help him understand this conversion experience he had.  And it all turned out good – a man who had been tearing down the church on earth began building it up and he is known as The Apostle Paul –

We talked about a lot of things very briefly in the book and we read from the Bible and I think we all grew a little more deeper in love with Christ.  I was told the church is going to be using the book for their Lenten Discipline in the coming year.

I’ll be leading discussions from the book in my congregation as an Advent Preparation this year – I’m really looking forward to this class, to developing relationships and to help people find a deeper, more meaningful relationship with the Lord who led me to inwardly digest His Word so I could write and share it with others.

How have you used this book in a small group or parish setting yet?  Are people experiencing change in their lives? in their hearts? in their minds? in their actions?