1st Sunday in May (Week 19) Israel’s Covenant (Genesis 1:1-31; I Corinthians 15:20-25 and 35-49; Genesis 1-3 and 7-8 

Overview 

“When I had journeyed half of our life’s way,

I found myself within a shadowed forest,

For I had lost the path that does not stray …

 I cannot clearly say how I had entered

The wood; I was so full of sleep just at

The point where I abandoned the true path.”

The Divine Comedy by Dante is often considered the first “Christian Existentialist” book … even though it was written in the early 14^th century. This is allegory. He is describing the human condition. This is our journey … our feet that have gone astray … losing us in a darkening cultural forest of ambiguity. 

Team Meditation  

This year the Disciple Cycle will continue to apply ancient wisdom to contemporary times. Like the earliest church leaders of the 4^th-6^th centuries, we penetrate the heart of scripture through many layers of meaning … and the discernment of truth depends less on our knowledge of scientific and historical method, and more on our own spiritual discipline. “Blessed are the pure in heart,” Jesus said, “for they shall see God.” Therefore, we do not read scripture so that we can become perfect, but we become perfect in order that we might read scripture. “The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.” I urge leaders this year to read the The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The Disciple Cycle will use his journey from “Inferno”, through “Purgatorio”, to “Paradiso” as another means to explore what it means to use scripture to face the reality of our sin, respond to Christ’s call to perfection, and follow Christ (the “New Adam”) who restores creation to the original perfection of Eden. (I recommend and use the translation from the “Everyman Library” by Allen Mandelbaum.) 

Worship Theme  

What strikes the reader most forcibly about the story of creation is that it was so clear. Surely the air was pure, the land fertile, the water crystal, the wind gentle, and the fire warm. I remember being amazed by my first trip to Australia and the southern hemisphere. I grew up in Chicago and the Great Lakes region, filled with smog and fog and damp. Never had I seen the sky so blue and the grass so green. It is as if I never new what “color” meant. That is Eden … and that is what we have lost in the Fall of Humanity. Sin has taken away our true, spiritual senses. Once all was clear, but now we live in a world of shadows. Once creation smelled fresh, but now creation smells foul. Once creation was fertile, but now creation is increasingly sterile. And when we speak of creation, it is but a reflection of the impurity of our very souls. 

Small Group Discussion  

The root cause of all that is, and the disaster from which humanity has yet to recover, is found in the story of Genesis. This is not a scientific explanation of how creation came to be. It is a spiritual exploration of how the human predicament came to be. In your small group, discuss the “before” and “after” images contrasting the life of Adam and Eve before and after the “fall”. What is “original sin” really? It’s about eternal weakness, and our inevitable enslavement to temptation and pride. Now read Romans 5:14 – 7:6, and discuss what Paul means by describing Jesus as the New Adam.  

In Canto IV of Dante’s “Inferno”, the first circle of hell contains those who were worthy but lived before Christianity or without baptism. According to ancient Christian tradition, when Christ rose from the dead and broke the gates of hell, he carried away to heaven Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and Rachel, along with other great Old Testament prophets and kings.  

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2^nd Sunday in May (Week 20) Israel’s Covenant (Genesis 17:1-21; John 8:39-58; Genesis 15; 17:1-18; 21:1-7; 22:1-19) 

Overview 

The covenant begins with Abraham. It is essentially a roadmap to recovery, and a plan for redemption. All the rest of salvation history (Old and New Testament) is about the struggle to fulfill this covenant, the quest for redemption, which ultimately cannot be accomplished but can only be given. 

Team Meditation  

Consider the spiritual discipline that is required of a church leader … a worship leader … a mentor to seekers: 

“And just as he who unwills what he wills

And shifts what he intends to seek new ends

So that he’s drawn from what he had begun,

So was I in the midst of that dark land,

Because, with all my thinking I annulled

The task I had so quickly undertaken.” (Canto IV, 37-42) 

Dante describes eloquently our own reservations about serious spiritual discipline that leads to salvation. We say we are ready for the journey … but as soon as the path becomes dangerous or difficult, we begin to rationalize our lack of commitment. And what of your commitment as a worship leader? Do you really and truly mean it, when you say you wish to lead a spiritually disciplined life, and follow Christ to salvation, no matter how hard it is? 

Worship Theme  

Read the passages from Genesis and John in worship. The plan of redemption is that human beings (symbolized by ordinary, aged, Abraham) should overcome Adam’s radical disobedience with absolute obedience. Disobedience kicked humanity out of Eden, and only obedience can get humanity back again. Yet we can’t do it. Jesus is the essence of God’s intentionality to redeem humanity. That is why Jesus says that he was not only with Abraham, but before Abraham. He is God’s will, God’s Word, for redemption, spoken the moment Adam rebelled. 

Small Group Discussion  

The test of absolute obedience was God’s command to Abraham to sacrifice his own son Isaac. Such a thing not only seemed to contradict the goodness of a father’s love for his child … but it seemed to contradict God’s own promise that through this son God would redeem humanity. It didn’t make sense. Caught between “making sense” and “being obedient”, Abraham demonstrated his willingness to obey at whatever cost. The trouble is that few of Abraham’s descendants have had such clarity and fortitude. Do you? 

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3^rd Sunday in May (Week 21) Israel’s Covenant (Genesis 28:10-22, 32:22-32, 33:1-11; Hebrews 11:1, 8-39 and 12:1-14; Genesis 25:19-34; 27;28:10-22; 32:3-33:16) 

Overview 

The quarrel between Jacob and Esau defines the inner struggle of humanity … of every human being with himself or herself. These two “personalities” war within our own hearts. On the one hand, we glory in being God’s chosen child; on the other hand, we rebel against God to make our own way. There is Esau’s easy arrogance on the one hand; and Jacob’s jealous selfishness on the other hand. We humans are essentially, profoundly, schizophrenic, and either way we go sin lies at the heart. Sometimes this quarrel is external, in the competition between nations, races, families, and children. More often this quarrel is internal, in the competition between duty and desire. Who shall rescue us? 

Team Meditation  

The spiritual life is begins with an act of courage. It does not begin with understanding. It begins with a reckless choice for God. Consider what is written on the gates of hell as Dante begins his spiritual journey: 

“Through me the way into the suffering city,

Through me the way to the eternal pain,

Through me the way that runs among the lost.

    Justice urged on my high artificer;

My maker was divine authority,

The highest wisdom and the primal love.

   Before me nothing but eternal things

Were made, and I endure eternally.

Abandon every hope, who enter here.” 

When Dante fails to understand their meaning, his guide replies: 

“Here one must leave behind all hesitation;

Here every cowardice must meet its death.”  (Canto III, 1-15) 

In order to share in Christ’s resurrection, one must share in his crucifixion. The spiritual life forces us to confront our own sins. 

Worship Design  

Jacob’s transformation into Israel has many insights for our own spiritual transformation. Jacob must face his disobedience … and so do we. Jacob only sees God’s vision at the moment when he believe he is lost, and yearns and thirsts for God as never before. Jacob finds redemption in faraway places, among strange peoples, in unpredictable ways. He learns his destiny only at great physical cost. And in the end, his salvation is confirmed because the way between Jacob and Esau … the war between himself and himself … is reconciled. 

Small Group Discussion  

Re-tell the story of Jacob as if it were your own story. Isolate the key turning points in his story, and imagine how these might be key turning points in your own journey from death to life. Draw out a timeline of Jacob’s “adventures” … and compare it to the timeline of your own life. Where are you now? Given Jacob’s story, what do you anticipate might happen next? 

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4^th Sunday in May (Week 22) Israel’s Covenant (Genesis 45:1-28; Mark 3:7-19, 31-35; and Genesis 37 and 39-50) 

Review for Latecomers to the Cycle 

This year the Disciple Cycle will continue to apply ancient wisdom to contemporary times. Like the earliest church leaders of the 4^th-6^th centuries, we penetrate the heart of scripture through many layers of meaning … and the discernment of truth depends less on our knowledge of scientific and historical method, and more on our own spiritual discipline. “Blessed are the pure in heart,” Jesus said, “for they shall see God.” Therefore, we do not read scripture so that we can become perfect, but we become perfect in order that we might read scripture. 

The Divine Comedy by Dante is often considered the first “Christian Existentialist” book … even though it was written in the early 14^th century. This is allegory. He is describing the human condition. This is our journey … our feet that have gone astray … losing us in a darkening cultural forest of ambiguity. 

“When I had journeyed half of our life’s way,

I found myself within a shadowed forest,

For I had lost the path that does not stray … 

I cannot clearly say how I had entered

The wood; I was so full of sleep just at

The point where I abandoned the true path.” 

“The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.” I urge leaders this year to read the The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The Disciple Cycle will use his journey from “Inferno”, through “Purgatorio”, to “Paradiso” as another means to explore what it means to use scripture to face the reality of our sin, respond to Christ’s call to perfection, and follow Christ (the “New Adam”) who restores creation to the original perfection of Eden. (I recommend and use the translation from the “Everyman Library” by Allen Mandelbaum.) 

Overview 

The eternal struggle between obedience and disobedience plays out yet again in the story of Joseph. The story of his rise “from rags to riches”, and the strange tales about interpreting dreams, make this a great story to be told. However, the real meaning of the story is the reconciliation of Joseph with the very violent brothers that tried to kill him out of envy, and the restoration of love between Joseph, Benjamin, and their father Jacob. The same message of hope will be reiterated by Paul in Col. 1:19-20 and Eph. 13-16 when he says “For he is our peace, who has made us both one, and has broken down the dividing wall of hostility,  ¹⁵ by abolishing in his flesh the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two …”. 

Team Meditation  

Western Christians in particular tend to become so complacent in their confidence of God’s forgiveness that they fail to take seriously what our grandparents would have called “Judgment Day”. It is not that they were sour people, but that they had a deeper and more painful awareness of the injustices of life. Christians have been given a great blessing … are entrusted with a great mission … and therefore will be held accountable to a higher standard of expectation. Dante pictures one of the great evil-doers of history sorting out punishments. King Minos may be known only to us from Aesop’s fables, but in 1300 people regarded him much as we would regard Hitler today. Who wants to be punished by him? 

“There dreadful Minos stands,  gnashing his teeth:

Examining the sins of those who enter,

He judges and assigns as his tail twines.

I mean that when the spirit bornto evil

Appears before him, oit confesses all;

And he, the connoisseur of sin, can tell

   The depth in hell appropriate to it …”  (Canto V 4-10) 

Worship Theme  

In order to understand the enormity of Joseph’s forgiveness toward his brothers, we must remember the shameful violence of the children of Jacob (now Israel). There are not many stories in the Bible of such villainy. The rape of Dinah provoked the children of Israel to not only kill her suitor, but all the males in his the community. Their jealousy toward Joseph … beating him and selling him into slavery … and their deception of their own father … are beyond belief. Despite the faithfulness of Abraham, and remarkable compassion brotherly love of Jacob, the 12 children appear treacherous and brutal. Yet God does not give up on them. Joseph’s story is not really one of “success against the odds”, but rather a story of how God uses the worse in people to bring out the best in people. 

Small Group Discussion  

Once you have reviewed the entire story of Jacob’s children, note especially that the reconciliation of the sons sparks a renewal of the covenant. Genesis 46:3-4   ³ Then he said, "I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation.  ⁴ I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again …” Throughout the book of Genesis we have the sense that God has a plan … and God is in control of a seemingly chaotic and negative situation. Joseph’s dream of the years of plenty and the years of want now seem symbolic of Israel’s fate in Egypt. They are originally received well and prosper … then are perceived as a threat and enslaved. Do you believe that God is similarly in control of the chaos of your life … even in the negative times … and that God will lead you eventually to a promised land?