ADULT EDUCATION

The stories of Jesus’ birth are capsules summaries of the Old Testament, serving as a bridge between God’s saving work in Israel and the fullness of the good news in Jesus Christ. On January 4, we will hold the second of two sessions studying the nativity stories, based on essays by the biblical scholar Father Raymond E. Brown, which in turn were based on his magisterial commentary, The Birth of the Messiah.

On January 11, we begin a new series on the Book of Revelation. Revelation was written to make known the gracious power of God, who stands over the forces of sin and evil that seek to dominate our world. Our study will be based on a seven part video series by Dr. Craig Koester, Professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary. Dr. Koester’s book Revelation and the End of All Things will be a supplementary reference.

The tentative schedule for January is:

• Jan 4, 10 am: The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:22-40)

• Jan 4, 10:30 am: The Finding of the Boy Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:41-52)

• Jan 11: The End Times: A History of the Apocalyptic View

• Jan 18: Annual Church Meeting

• Jan 25: Christ and the Churches: Rev. 1 -- 3

• Feb 1: The Scroll Unsealed: Rev. 4 -- 7

Our meetings are held in the Parlor from 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. Everyone is welcome!

The St. John in the Wilderness Adult Education and Formation web site www.StJohnAdultEd.Org has information on past, present and upcoming series and the latest schedule. If you ever want to review the overhead transparencies or PowerPoint slides of a presentation, you can simply download them from the web site.

Anyone with any comments, questions or suggestions, or who is interested in joining the Adult Education and Formation Committee, please feel free to talk with me or drop me a note, David Monyak. The committee meets the third Sunday of each month after the late service.