We're trying a new style of Bible Class, a little more informal to get people interacting more and to make it a bit more relaxed.
On Wednesday, we sat down in a circle, Bibles open on tables and looked at James. Apparently James has more allusions to Jesus than in the whole of the New Testament. It is written by Jesus' brother, who had a very close relationship with him and some fantastic insights to share. He addresses us as his brethren and shares his thoughts with the early ecclesias (churches) who began to loose their first joy with new issues and personality disagreements creeping in. It was a fabulous night looking at the value of 'counting it all joy when you meet trials' and discussing how we can do this, along with 'praying without doubting' in order to be 'steadfast under trial, for when we have stood the test, we will receive the crown of life'. Easy to say, hard to do.
Chapter 1 ends with one of the most famous verses, 'Religion that is pure and undefiled is to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world'. Let's go out and try and do more good this week.