Pastor's Corner August 2020: Bringing Bible Study Back to Life

When we revitalized a tradition of community Bible Study at Chestnut Hill earlier this spring, I didn't know what to expect. I am, personally, a big nerd for learning more about the Bible. I was not raised to read the Bible very often, though I was raised going to church. When I went to divinity school, I came with general knowledge of the Bible, but not a lot of what some might call “Biblical literacy.” I couldn’t quote scriptures off the top of my head, I couldn’t repeat the names of the books of the Bible in order, and I *definitely* couldn’t tell you much about the books of 1 Kings, 2 Kings, or first and second Chronicles. While I learned a lot more about the Bible in my theological education, I’ve also come to know that developing a relationship with the Bible, especially in a way that is about faith and not just academic speculation, is a lifelong process.

This is why I was so eager to start a Bible Study at Chestnut Hill United. The chance to read scriptures alongside our quirky, irreverent, questioning congregation? Yes, please! I thought that a Bible Study might not be the most popular thing, stodgy as it sounds. But it turns out it was #1 on list of community groups that church members were interested in when we started offering online community spaces after the pandemic shut us all in our homes. Clearly, many of you are also hungry for learning and reflection on the Bible, and for spaces where we can be honest about our whole journeys with this text, the good, the bad and the ugly.

We recently finished our first series, called “Sheroes and Queeroes of the Bible,” focused on female, queer, and gender-transgressing and expansive biblical figures we can learn from - and who often don’t get the shine that traditionally male characters do. We started at the beginning, with Eve. In what is actually the second creation story in Genesis (scholars tell us the Old Testament is comprised of 4 ancient texts woven together, not just one!), we saw Eve’s self-determination and choice to step into her agency and choice when she ate from the tree of life.  Priscilla led a session on Hagar, an enslaved woman who bore a child for Abraham, and whose story reminds us that we can resist the biblical narrator even as we treat the Bible as a sacred text. We learned about Joseph and his ketonet passim, also known as a robe of many colors which possibly may have been a female garment. Through this fascinating take on the text, we talked about what difference it makes if Joseph is a character who transgressed gender norms of his time.

This led us to watch Transgressions, an awesome one-man play by Peterson Toscano in which he brings to life the story of several other biblical characters in addition to Joseph whose gender expands outside what was normal for their time: like Deborah, the Eunuch in the story of Esther, and the Ethiopian eunuch who converts to the Jesus Way in Acts. The movie left us all with a feeling of “Wow,” and with so many good questions. We finished with discussing the loyalty and love in the relationship of Ruth and Naomi. While some interpreters have seen queer love in this story, our group discussed how whether or not you read the story as being about romantic love, their bond with each other shows non-traditional family structures and female relationships that decenter the patriarchy, and multiple kinds of love that matters.

In reading these texts collectively amidst the hills and valleys of our own lives, we have gotten to know each other better, shared from our spiritual journeys, and laughed - a lot. If you’d like to join for our next series, be sure to tune in to the September newsletter for the Zoom links!