Join us for our Bible Study the second Thursday at 9:30 a.m. in the Conference Room. With the September issue, Lutheran Woman Today becomes Gather. The magazine is produced through Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and offers award-winning Bible studies and articles and columns that inform, challenge, comfort and encourage. Gather brings together women of all ages and ways of life to explore God's word. There are extra Gather magazines in the office if you do not have one.
NOTE: If you are not now receiving Gather and would like to order it, a year's subscription to Gather is $12; two years, $22; three years, $33. Gather is published 10 times a year with combined issues in January/February and July/August. There are three convenient ways to subscribe:
Subscribe online through Augsburg Fortress.
Call 1-800-328-4648.
Send your name and address and a check, made out to Gather, to:
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New subscriptions begin approximately 6-8 weeks after the order is received.
Following is the author's remarks on the 2011-2012 Bible Study...
To Follow and To Serve: The Gospel of Mark
People who know the Bible know there are lots of choices when it comes time to choose something new to study. For instance, 2 John is 13 verses long. The Book of Psalms includes 150 distinct entries. Length is only one of the criteria to consider.
I chose the Gospel of Mark for the 2011-2012 study in part because it has been useful to me in my pastoral work with those who desire to learn more about living as Christians today. The choice of the Gospel of Mark for his year's study is also important to me in a personal way. This Bible study was written during an in-between season in my own life. Mark became an intimate conversation partner as I took stock of my own life and began to discern fresh purpose to my own vocation as a baptized child of God.
"Take heart; get up, Jesus is calling you. -Mark 10:49b"
"What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?" was far more than a theoretical question during the months I spent studying and then writing to produce these study sessions. It was the central question that gave shape and form to my daily life.
Whether or not you have experienced a sharp transition in your own life in recent months, you know that our church, our culture, and our world are undergoing profound changes. Powerful leaders are being toppled from power. New nations and grassroots movements are being born. How we think of work, the economy, and having enough are changing for many households. Even what it means to be a community of faith is undergoing transformation in so many congregations and synods.
Studying the Gospel of Mark together during the coming months offers encouragement to stand in the midst of change knowing that our lives are supported by a Word that is more lasting and more powerful than the impermanence of our economy or the upheavals we may experience in our family life or congregation. As the evangelist announces in Mark 1:1 this text brings us God's good news for every time and place.