Bible study with Pastor Rebecca

Plan to meet together with Pastor Rebecca at 9 a.m. on Sunday at ASM, as we look more closely at the day’s assigned Gospel passage.  She will draw from the aid and writings of a teacher within our church who has written this introductory comment on the upcoming Sunday’s reading.  He is The Rev. Francisco García,  a Ph.D. Candidate in Theological Studies, Ethics and Action at Vanderbilt University in the Graduate Department of Religion, and a Graduate Research Fellow at the Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt Divinity School.

Join us on Sunday, Oct. 2 at 9 a.m.

Luke 17: 5-10, Jesus is talking about quality, not quantity. “Increase our faith!” plead the disciples. Only in retreating to the first five verses of chapter 17 can we better understand the context that leads them to make this petition. In these first few verses (1-4), Jesus issues some heavy requirements for discipleship: he warns against causing the “little ones” (in other words, the most marginalized members of society, new disciples, children) to stumble, and emphasizes the need to both rebuke fellow followers that falter while also offering radical forgiveness to each other.