Chapel Library
Co-taught by Drs. Avram and Hilton
Where you and I grow up matters for who we become. And what we do now depends a bit on where we do it. These things are true, even in our virtual and small world; they were especially true in first-century Palestine. In this short series, Project Bible turns to the roads Jesus walked, the sea and land that he traveled, the culture of his towns, and the city in which he met his redemptive death. Join Drs. Allen Hilton and Wesley Avram as they lead us, using images and vivid descriptions, through three Advent weeks with Jesus in the land that he called home.
Session One – Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem
November 29/30
We’re not sure how many times Jesus went to Jerusalem. The Gospel of Mark paints his last week as his only time there, while Luke takes him there as an infant and again at age twelve, and John makes Jerusalem his familiar feast-day destination. What we know is that the time Jesus spent in Jerusalem was significant. In this session, we will trace out the specific places where Jesus walked in the Holy City, and show how knowing those places helps us to know him.
Session Two – The Galilee and the Ministry of Jesus
December 6/7
In the three synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke), Jesus’ whole ministry career happens in the Galilee. In villages called Capernaum and Nazareth and the countryside and seaside and hills and valleys of this region, he loved people well and taught them powerfully. In this session, we will follow Jesus steps over land and sea, and so learn how those places and the people who inhabited them impacted his words and deeds.
Session Three – The Bethlehem of His Birth
December 13/14
As we walk our Advent journey to Bethlehem, we will end with Jesus’ beginning. The birth story raises all sorts of questions in us: What did Mary and Joseph’s road in, shepherds’ fields, and innkeepers’ barnyards look like? What made Caesar Augustus send all his people to their ancestral homes to be counted? And how would “wise men from the East” have gotten here from Jerusalem? In this session, we’ll unpack the Christmas story by asking, What does the place of Jesus’ birth tell us about its significance?