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Those of us who attend the Wednesday Bible Study have a great time together and find the
discussions meaningful.

2 Lent -- “Five Marks of Love”

Our Lenten study for 2017 was jointly prepared by the brothers at
St. John the Evangelist (SSJE) and Virginia Theological Seminary.
This is the same partnership that brought us “Growing the Rule of
Life” last Lent. We used this on Sundays as an intergenerational
study over 6 weeks, beginning March 5.

Inspired by the Anglican “Marks of Mission,” we looked for signs of
God’s presence and activity in our lives, in the world around us.
Each week we explored one of the “Marks” The series featured
daily videos and questions that were emailed. On Sunday we took
some of these to reflect on what God is doing in our lives and in our world.

The Marks
1. Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom (TELL).
2. Teach, baptize and nurture new believers (TEACH).
3. Respond to human need by loving service (TEND).
4. Transform unjust structures, challenge violence of every kind, and pursue peace and
reconciliation (TRANSFORM).
5. Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and 6. Renew the life of the earth
(TREASURE). “These “Marks” are the fruit of God’s life within us, a life which is nurtured by
prayer and worship”

3. Advent - “Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol and the Bible.”

We found that A Christmas Carol has many Biblical references,
reflecting Dickens life in the Church of England and with
Unitarianism, some cleverly hidden within the story. The
regeneration of Scrooge mirrors the regeneration of mankind in
the Bible. The colloquial word “Scrooge” means “to squeeze" and
is used by Dickens to underscore his main character’s primary sin:
greed—as in the description of Scrooge as “a squeezing,
wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner. In
contrast Tiny Tim , “thy childhood essence from God” according
to Mrs. Cratchit

Even with the title, “A Christmas Carol”, Dickens was using the meaning of “carol” familiar to
him: a song celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Dickens created each chapter of his book as a
stave, a stanza of a song. Dickens hoped the book would spur increasing benevolence, mercy
and compassion between the classes in England. For Dickens this was the model of Christ The
book contains many biographical references of both Dickens and his family. Dickens wrote

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