"Forty Martyrs of Sebaste"
What’s the Big Picture? (1)
I. Required readings
Psalm 105
Psalm 106
Acts 7
Christian Biography for the Day:
Forty Martyrs of
Sebaste
Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen, “The Story-Line of the Bible”
II. Quotation for the
day
“The way we understand human life depends on what conception we have of the human story. What is the real story of which my life story is a part?”
--Lesslie Newbigin
III. Journal prompts
1. Do you agree with Newbigin’s assertion
above that “the way we understand human life depends on what conception we have
of the human story”? Why or why not?
2. Do you understand your own life story as a
part of some larger story or stories that give it meaning? If so, what are these stories and in what
specific ways do they shape and influence your own story?
3. The psalms for today, the passage from
Acts, and the Apostles’ Creed all recall some of the important parts of the “big
picture” of scripture. If you were asked
to give your own overview of the “big picture” of scripture, what would your
account look like? How would it be
similar to or different from these biblical and historical accounts?
4. The
article “Telling the Stories of Scripture” gives a number of reasons for why
telling the stories of scripture is critically important for Christian
discipleship. Which of these reasons do
you find most compellingly? Why?
5. Bartholomew and Goheen attempt to retell
the story-line of the Bible as a six-act drama.
Did you find their attempt to sketch the “big picture” helpful? Do you think they left out anything important
that you would include? Did they include
anything that you would leave out?
IV. Links of possible
interest
Tim Gray, “Seeing the Big Picture in Scripture.” Yet another voice, this one from the Roman Catholic tradition, reminding us that scripture is best read in light of the big picture.