Our annual summer series addressing questions from the KirkWood family.
| Video Message | Resources |
| Week 1: Will I still be married in heaven? | Monday Memo notes Explore More this Week – The text we explored during the sermon is one of several questions asked by the religious leaders of Jesus during Tuesday of Holy Week in the courts of the Jerusalem Temple, all of which are meant to trip Him up. You can read the whole sequence here – Matthew 22.15-46 NRSVUE – If you want to learn more about how the PCUSA understands or describes the biblical witness about heaven and resurrection, start by reading the closing section of The Declaration of Faith (1977) – Declaration of Faith – Hope in God – Here’s a piece on how the PCUSA over its history has described “heaven” and “resurrection” in a humble, open-ended way: Presbyterian Mission Agency Life After Death – Here’s a presentation by imminent biblical scholar N. T. Wright on resurrection, Christ’s and our own: The Resurrection of Resurrection |
| Week 2: How did we get the biblical canon? | Monday Memo notes Explore More this Week – Revisit how mainline Christians, and in our case the PCUSA, understands that phrase “the word of God,” namely that Christ is the living Word and the written scriptures are a witness to that living Word…This is notably distinct from what has been labeled “bibliolatry” that is sometimes encountered in other Christian traditions: A Declaration of Faith and Question b – Scripture: The WORD of God – And here’s some more explanation from the PCUSA of the process by which we got the biblical “canon” (the authoritative collection of books in our Bible): Question b – Scripture: Biblical Canon – The first question in this video featuring renowned biblical scholar N. T. Wright addresses the process by which the biblical canon was formed: Are Catholics saved? Is the Bible missing books? Ask NT Wright Anything – What we didn’t talk about in the sermon yesterday is a set of books called “The Apocrypha,” that are included in Roman Catholic and some Anglican Bibles. These are Jewish writings from between what we now call the Old and New Testament. If you want to learn more, try these resources: How the Bible Was Formed E1: What Is the Deuterocanon or Apocrypha? and What is the Apocrypha? The 14 Books Left Out of the Bible |
| Week 3: If we’re committed to Christian love, do we have to be pushovers? | Monday Memo notes Explore More this Week – The most fruitful follow-up to yesterday’s sermon might be to spend some reflecting on the two questions in the last section: 1) Is it “love” or is it something else?, and 2) How am I doing with the “property lines” (boundaries) in my life? – 7.5 min. video from The Bible Project on those ever-so-challenging words of Jesus at the end of Matthew 5 about loving our enemies: Wisdom in Old Testament Laws | Oaths, Revenge, and Enemies – Here’s a short reflection on how Martin Luther King Jr. understood nonviolent love to the centerpiece of Christian “agape” love: An Experiment in Love: Martin Luther King, Jr. on the Six Pillars of Nonviolent Resistance and the Ancient Greek Notion of ‘Agape’ – The Marginalian – Thoughts on how to exercise Christlike love in any setting or context: ‘Love in Context’ equipping session offers biblical and historical reflections on the meaning of love – Here are two summaries of one of the great books on personal boundaries of the last 30 years (by Christian counselors Henry Cloud and John Townsend): Book notes: Boundaries by John Townsend & Henry Cloud and Boundaries by Henry Cloud: 21 Minute Summary – On the connection between having good boundaries/”property lines” and our ability to love well: Love with Boundaries: How to Have Compassion and Health |
| Week 4: Is God male? What should I make of all the male language about God in the Bible? | Monday Memo notes Explore More Here are a few more resources on gendered language about God in scripture and beyond: – What are God’s pronouns? How the church today is (or isn’t) gendering God – The Exclusive Use of Male Language for God: An Invisible Barrier to Women Pursuing Ministry Leadership – The ongoing Reformation of language for God – Does God Have Gender? Amy Peeler (You can find a host of interviews with this scholar about this topic on YouTube, some short, some more long form) – Gender of God with Mallory Wyckoff & Amy Peeler |
| Week 5: How should Christians view other religions? (Part one) | Monday Memo notes |
| Week 6: How should Christians view other religions? (Part two) | Monday Memo notes |
| Week 7: Who or what is “The Antichrist” in scripture? | Monday Memo notes |