St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
Palestine of Today
A Slide Show by The Rev. Mary Slenski
Sunday, September 27, 2009

Jerusalem:

Mary showed some beautiful and interesting slides of Jerusalem taken from various vantage points around the wall of the city.  This included views of the Dome of the Rock (which sets on top of the Temple Mount).  There were also views of the Wailing Wall which is the remaining structure from the Temple Mount that was built after the initial destruction by the Babylonians.  There were also piles of rubble nearby from the Temple Mount.  There were also photos of the Western Wall Plaza, which is a very holy place.  The Wailing Wall there is divided into the men's half (larger of course) and the women's half.  The cultures there ranged from a Free Kitchen for the Needy to some very expensive and elegant homes and buildings.  Surrounding this area are four different quarters:  Jewish, Armenian, Christian, and Moslem.  The Mount of Olives is also visible from Jerusalem.  The Dome of the Rock is the third most holy site in Islam.  Mary noted that she entered into Jerusalem through the Damascus Gate in the Northeast, which is in the Moslem area.  Unemployment is very high as well.

Bethlehem:

Bethlehem can be seen to the east from Jerusalem.  There is a wall built in recent times that now surrounds Bethlehem.  The city is largely populated by Palestinians.

Jericho:

Jericho is the oldest continuously occupied city in the world.  The city, like Bethlehem, is largely populated by Palestinians.  The United Nations must protect the drinking water there which is extracted from underground wells.

Everyone enjoyed the delightful and interesting slides by Mary and thanked her for the presentation.

St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
A General Overview of the Old Testament
A Discussion led by The Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, October 4, 2009

The Old Testament

The Bible covers a period of roughly 2000 years and 95% of that time period takes place in the Old Testament!  The Old Testament was Jesus' Bible.  Some scholars refer to it as Hebrew Scriptures, which was its original name.  Some steered away from calling it the "Old" Testament because in modern times the word "old" has some negative connotations.  In times long ago, however, "old" meant tried and true!

The five books are also known as the Torah or Pentateuch.  Torah means "instruction."  The Pharoses were more progressive and open to including other books.

German scholar Herman Gunkel derived a documentary hypothesis consisting of for distinct times:  JEPD:  J = Jawist;  E = Elohist;  P = Priestly;  and D = Deuteronomist.  When the Babylonians destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem a number of Jews ended up being exiled in Babylonia.  There the preaching about Maruk, the Babylonian god was common.  He created everything including human beings, who he put on this earth to be his slaves to do the necessary work.  A Jew in Babylon took the story and retold it to create the first Genesis story.  Here, God created man in his own image and not to be slaves.  Initially man lived in an ideal world with all creatures living in harmony.

Starting at chapter 1, verse 4B and continuing into chapter 2 is the older creation story.  The LORD (Yaweh) "gets his hand dirty and into the mud."  From this he forms the first human, Adama, which literally means "earth."  In other words, Adam was the first earthling!  God planted a garden and put man in it.  Work is good and sharing the work with God is good.  Man gets to name all of the animals, which shows his dominance.  God puts Adam in a deep sleep, takes one of his ribs and creates woman.

Even though the two stories do not agree with one another, there is still a wonderful richness in both of them from which we can learn.

St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
A General Overview of the Old Testament
A Discussion led by The Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, October 11, 2009

The Old Testament

The discussion today was on Chapter 3 of Genesis with a continuation of the "J" story, which occurred somewhere between 900 and 1,000 BC.  Adam and Eve were symbolic names, with Adam meaning "Earthling" an Eve meaning "the mother of all living."  No one knows why the symbol for evil took the form of a snake, but it may be because many people have an aversion to them.  The snake was a tempter, but not the Devil, who was the one opposite to God.  It worked its ways through psychological manipulation.

Another note of interest in that there was the ancient Sumerian story of Gilgamesh regarding a tree of life where the snake snatches away the forbidden fruit.  When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, their eyes were opened and they saw themselves naked for the first time.  God provided fig leaves for them as a caring God.  God is right down there with Adam and Eve as he is walking through the garden when they meet him.  Adam noted that Eve tricked him and Eve noted that the serpent tricked her!  God punished the serpent by making him slither around.  God's punishment to man and woman explain why life can be so difficult.  The multiple temptations are like a chiasm.  God still cared about his creation.

Note that the thinking of the day was that of polytheism or many gods.  However, our God is the greatest!  It wasn't until around the sixth century BC that the idea of a single God came into existence.  According to Walter Brueggeman, this was not a key story in the Bible but just one to explain why things were the way they were.  This story has become central to some modern day religions to explain Christ's death and resurrection.

Eve produced Cain and Abel.  Abel was seen as the chosen one, which kept in the tradition of choosing the younger sun like David and the story of Jacob and Esau.  Cain slew Able and the LORD asked him where he was.  Cain thought the "others" would kill him.  (Who were the "others?")  Cain settled in the Land of Nod, married, and had Enoch as a son.  (Where did Enoch's wife come from?)

The next verses highlight the genealogy of the descendents of Adam.  Enoch and his wife had Methuselah as an offspring who lived over 900 years!  Noah's father was 182-years-old when he was born!   Noah at 500-years-old became the father of three boys!

St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
A General Overview of the Old Testament
A Discussion led by The Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Old Testament

The discussion today was on Chapter 4-11 of Genesis and covered the genealogy of mankind.

St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
A General Overview of the Old Testament
A Discussion led by The Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Old Testament

Today's lesson continued with the book of Genesis from chapter 12 to chapter 17.  Everything starts with the word of God as he calls to Abram.  Leave everything behind and go where I tell you.  God promised Abram that a great nation would rise from him and that everyone would be blessed.  For the sake of the entire human race, Abram has a role to play for God.  Abram and his family travel to the land of Canaan, which is mostly the southern part of Israel.  Unlike in the past, God is now not confined to one land.  Abram formulates a scam in that he has his wife, Sarai, pretend to be his sister so that the Egyptians will not harm him.  The plagues on Egypt and the exodus from Egypt are recurring themes in the Bible.

Lot is the born loser in the Bible.  He chose the "choice" lands of Sodom and Gomorrah as his place of residence, while Abram got Canaan.  Lot manages to get captured and Abram forms an alliance to go an save him.  In verse 13, there is a single reference to "Hebrew."

God made a covenant with Abram, but as Abram continued to get older and older, he became less trusting that God was ever going to fulfill his solemn promise.  If his wife is too old to have children, then there may be an alternative solution.  Sarai offers her slave girl Hagar to Abram.  He begrudgingly accommodates her wishes and a son is born to Hagar who she names Ishmael.  Sarai is very upset after that and is abusive to Hagar.  An angel appears to Hagar and tells her that Ishmael will have many offspring and be the leader of a great nation.

Abram is now 99-years-old and still no children with Sarai.  God then changes his name to Abraham and Sarai becomes Sarah.  He makes the promise again and notes that the sign of the covenant will be circumcision.  Abraham, of course, is still very skeptical when the Lord tells him that Sarah will have a son who will be called Isaac.  At the end of Abraham's life, the promise is still unfulfilled.

St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
A General Overview of the Old Testament
A Discussion led by The Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, November 1, 2009

The Old Testament

Middle Eastern hospitality has always included the taking in of weary travelers and providing them with food and comfort (ref. second half of the 23rd Psalm).  Where is Sarah?  Who knows?!  She is eavesdropping behind the flap of the tent entrance.  She shall have a son was the message carried by the three visiting strangers who somehow seem to merge into a single being.  Sarah is still in disbelief as she has now accepted  being barren.

Next, the Lord tells Abraham that he is going to destroy Sodom.  Abraham pleads with the Lord to save the city if he can find "ten innocent people there."  As the story continues, Lot is still the born loser and a group of angels have to drag him and his two daughters out of the city.  This is also the story where his wife looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt.   Then Lot's daughters are worried that they will not find husbands since there would be no one left on earth, so they get their father drunk and conceive children with him, Moab and Ben-Ammi.  Each of them became fathers of great nations.

Going back to Abraham, there was still no son conceived by this time.  Finally, when he turns one hundred years old and Sarah is ninety, they have a son, Isaac, which means "laughter."  Per the Lord's instructions, Isaac is circumcised when he turned eight days old.  Finally, the promise was fulfilled!  Everyone should be happy and joyous, but that was not the case!  Sarah was jealous that Ishmael should inherit half of Abraham's fortunes, so she commands him to send Hagar and her son away.  The Lord tells Abraham to follow Sarah's orders and that he will provide for the two of them.  Ishmael grew into a man and took an Egyptian wife and also became the head of a great nation.  He was also the son of the promised for Muslims.

The story of the Lord asking Abraham to kill his son Isaac follows.  This is one that is somewhat difficult to understand as to why the Lord would ask anyone to do this.  Perhaps it was to convey that Israel did not endorse human sacrifice.  In the end, a ram is sacrificed instead.

Next, Sarah dies at age one hundred twenty-seven.  He must also find a wife for Isaac.  He also needs to find a burial site for Sarah so he bargains with Ephraim to pay him for the site and the surrounding field even though it was offered to him for nothing.  This is the only land that Abraham will have at his death.  It has become a shrine since Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, Jacob, and Leah are all buried there.   Abraham sends his servant out to get a wife for Isaac.  She must come from their own people.  Whichever young girl will offer the servant water and also offer to water and take care of his camels will be the chosen one.  This turns out to be Rebecca as her marriage to Isaac is negotiated by her Uncle Leben.  Finally, the two of them wed to fulfill the promise of the Lord.

St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
A General Overview of the Old Testament
A Discussion led by The Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, November 8, 2009

The Old Testament

At 175 years-old Abraham finally dies.  He retained his faith, however, right up to the end.  Isaac's life is not revealed in detail as the story picks up with the birth of Jacob, who shall become a central character.  At 40, Isaac married Rebecca and when Isaac was 60 Rebecca had twins, Esau (Edam) and Jacob.  Esau was skilled as a hunter whereas Jacob was a gentle man who lived in tents.  (There is a similarity here to Cain and Abel.)  Jacob, the second born, gets ahead because he is his mother's favorite.  The first born birthright means double the inheritance.

Esau is starving and Jacob would not give him any food unless he first sells him his birthright.  (What kind of brotherly love is this anyway!)

When Jacob and Esau are forty-years-old, Esau marries Judith.  Isaac is now old and blind.  Jacob goes off for twenty years before deciding to return.  Rebecca, who favors Jacob sets him up to trick his father into giving him his official "blessing."  He put on goat skins so that Isaac would think he was Esau.  He was successful in this attempt and it was something in those days that could not be taken back or changed.  When Esau finally returned and found out about the scam, he was outraged and wanted to kill Jacob.  He also also asked his father if he could receive another blessing, but was refused.

Isaac told Jacob to go to his mothers brother's place and marry one of our own people.  So he went to his Uncle Leben's and took the daughter of Ishmael as his wife.  He stars a 20-year journey.  It was during this time he had a dream about a ladder descending from heaven that was filled with angels and the Lord gives him his blessing.  Note that Jacob's attitude is far different from his father's in that he will only accept God if he lives up to his promises!

In the pursuit of his bride he wants Rachel and Uncle Leben bargains with him to work seven years to win her over.  After the seven years, Leben backs off on his word and instead weds him with older sister Leah.  He then bargains for Rachel a second time and ends ups staying another seven years.  Leah bears him four sons and Rachel appears to be barren so she offers up her slave girl who has two sons.  Leah has two more and a daughter and then finally Rachel produces Joseph and later on Benjamin.  At that point Jacob has a total of twelve sons.

Finally, in the battle of wits between Jacob and Leben, Uncle Leben tries to keep Jacob from getting any wages by removing the black and speckled sheep from his flock.  But Jacob fools him by arranging the necessary conditions for the next litter of sheep to be born black and speckled!

St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
A General Overview of the Old Testament
A Discussion led by The Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, November 15, 2009

The Old Testament

Jacob now realizes it may be a very good time to leave his uncle's place and head back home.  He secretly calls his two wives together and they headed back to his homeland.  Rachel stole her father's household gods as well.  Uncle Leben chased after Jason and finally caught up with him.  He asked why did they leave so secretly.  (The answer was obvious!)  Leben accused Jason of stealing his household gods, but of course, he knew nothing about them.  When he finally looked in Rachel's tent she was sitting on them and feigned the woman's "time of the month" issues and he did not venture to look where she was sitting and thus got away with the gods.  Jason pointed out to him that he worked for Leben for fourteen years for his two daughters and six additional years for his flocks.  His wages were also changed ten times during that time period.

Finally the two of them made a covenant and set up a heap of stones.  This was a dividing line between them.  They made an oath to each other and Uncle Leben kissed his daughters and grandchildren and returned home.  Now when Jacob finally made it back to his father's place, Isaac was still on his deathbed!

Jacob was wrestling with God and his brother in a dream.  Now it was time once again to meet his brother, who Jacob knew was still very mad at him for the tricks he had played.  When he found out that Esau was coming with four hundred additional men, he became very scared for his life and plotted an escape route.  Jacob then reminds God to be faithful to past promises made to keep him safe from harm.

Jacob sends his servants ahead with lavish gifts for Esau and constantly refers to him as "my lord" indicating his subservience.  Jacob sees the face of his brother in the face of God.  He wrestles with a man at the threshold of the stream.  Jacob wrestles to a draw in the end when he realizes the man is God.  The man then puts his hip joint out of socket and tells him that he shall now be call Israel.  Jacob now leaves a changed man indeed!

When they finally met, Esau was happy to see his brother again.  He wanted to return the gifts that Jacob (Israel) gave him but told Esau to "Keep them my brother.  Seeing you is like seeing the face of God!"  However, even after this warm greeting, Jacob elects to keep a safe distance behind Esau on the remaining journey home.  He then bought land in Shekam and pitched his tent there.  Finally, in the end, Isaac dies and his sons bury him.

St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
Palestine of Today
A Slide Show by The Rev. Mary Slenski
Sunday, November 22, 2009

Back by popular request, Mary was asked to repeat her excellent slide show presentation on "Palestine of Today."  Please scroll to the top of the page and review the summary from September 27.

St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
Palestine of Jesus
A Slide Show by The Rev. Mary Slenski
Sunday, November 29, 2009

The first scene was at the Sea of Galilee where Jesus used to wonder.  Just outside of Bethlehem the olive trees and sheep grazing in the field were very visible.  The cave at Shepherd's Field was typical of the dwellings during Jesus' time.

Next, was Nazareth.  Steep hills, baptism in the Jordan, and a photo of "The Wilderness" were shown.  The hills surrounding Galilee leading to Capernaum were then displayed.

Mary then showed a picture of the Springs of Hermon, which feed the Sea of Galilee.  This was followed by the road to the high mountain where Peter, James, and John took Jesus.

The walls of Capernaum border some very narrow streets.  Next, we saw the "Lion's Gate" at the southwest corner of the Dome of the Rock (or Temple Mount/Second Temple).  The staircase on display dates back to the first century.

Peter of the Cock Crow Church was the next photo we enjoyed.  The steps there are where Jesus was supposed to have walked.  Finally, we saw an inside view of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher  on top of Golgotha and the representation of a tomb where Jesus was buried.

All of the audience thanked Mary for sharing her visit with us!

St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
A General Overview of the Old Testament
A Discussion led by The Rev. Mike Kreutzer
Sunday, December 6, 2009

Chapter 36 is a listing of the descendents of Esau.  In chapter 37 Jacob is now back in his home of Canaan and the story now centers around Joseph, the second youngest son.  There are actually two stories, northern and southern.  The northern version centers around the oldest son, Ruben, who orders that no blood be shed.  The southern story is where Joseph gets sold to the Ishmaelites and eventually sold into slavery in Egypt.  After a long ordeal, Joseph rises to become a viceroy of the Pharaoh.  His wife, however, desires Joseph and when he refuses her, she makes false accusations about him and he winds up in prison.

However, Pharaoh begins to have dreams (note that God is rarely entwined in this story, but is behind the scenes) and he hears that Joseph has this capability.  When Joseph interprets them correctly, he is elevated over the entire kingdom.

In the meantime, famine spreads to Canaan and ten of the brothers come to Egypt looking for food.  (Since Joseph predicted the famine, Egypt stored up enough grain to weather the storm.)  Joseph recognizes his brothers and tests them.  He wants to see his youngest brother as well and after holding brother Simeon hostage, they finally go and bring Benjamin, the youngest brother.  Joseph then exposes himself to his brothers but he also wants to see his father, Jacob, before he dies.

Jacob finally agrees to move himself and his entire family to Egypt to be with his long lost son, Joseph.  In the end, Jacob is dying and makes his sons promise to take his body back to the plot in Hebron to be buried in the same tomb with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebecca, and Leah.

Joseph remained in Egypt and lived to be 110 years old.  He also eventually gets buried in his homeland.  God will bring the Israelites back to their homeland.

St. Mark’s Adult Education Meeting Summary
An Open Forum
A Discussion led by The Most Rev. Kenneth Price
Sunday, December 13, 2009

This morning St. Mark's was privileged to receive a visit by the Most Rev. Kenneth Price.  He made himself available for an open forum discussion.  The first question asked was about his upcoming move to Pittsburgh.  As most of use were already aware, the Diocese of Pittsburgh split up after the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.  Bishop Duncan of the Pittsburgh Diocese persuaded 44 of the 72 parishes to follow him to leave the Episcopal Church and follow him to the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.  This left only 28 parishes in that Diocese with significantly reduced funds and resources.  The Bishop explained that shortly after the split up, one of the six members of the Standing Committee walked out and immediately began to reappoint new members.

Thus, it was decided that Bishop Price, who has the experience and had previously served for many years in the Diocese of West Virginia was a perfect fit to become an interim Bishop there until someone permanent could be reappointed.  He is actually "on loan" from our Diocese and will be spending 22 days per month in Pittsburgh, but then will return to Columbus for the remainder of the time.  He was elected to the position of Bishop of Pittsburgh on October 17.

There are many problems in the Pittsburgh Diocese, one of which is the claims over the church properties.  With congregations voting to leave the Diocese there is the question of what to do with each of the church properties and how would they be maintained, etc.  Another question was raised about the recent proposal to elect a lesbian bishop, Rev. Mary Glasspool and if that could further split the Episcopal Church.  The Bishop agreed that the potential was there.  He clarified that it really got down to the authority of scripture and how its interpreted.  Bishop Price hoped that everyone in the Anglican Communion, which is 28 million strong, would concentrate on more important affairs such as forgiving debt of poor nations, seeking to prevent violence against women, etc.

Many thanks to Bishop Price for spending the time with our Adult Forum group.  His insights were most informative.

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