Bible Story Jam: John in the Wilderness

Posted by DJL on Jan 4, 2013 in Bible | 1 comment

A couple of weeks ago I shared our first experiment at inviting everyday Christians to talk about the Bible, trusting that as we all interact with Scripture by noticing details, asking questions, sharing insights and the rest, we’ll learn a lot – not just about the Bible, but also about ourselves, each other, and what God has in mind for us today. We called this little exercise the Bible Story Jam because, well, it seemed like a cool title. 🙂 Even more, though, we want to spread the idea that talking about the Bible with each other, exploring how these stories might shape our daily lives, can be, quite honestly, a lot of fun. So there you go.

This next installment is a great example: another group of folks – who had not met ahead of time, actually had very little prep, and didn’t totally know they were getting into or that they were going to be video-taped (my bad!) — are talking about John the Baptist and his preaching in the wilderness as told in Luke 3:1-22.

Their insights, once again, helped me read the passage with so much more depth and interest. Look who all are coming, one observes. Why, another asks. Because they’ve got questions; they want to know what to do, another shares. Same with us, they conclude.

So what do you think? What brought people to John? What were they looking for? And why did John point them to Jesus? And what about us? What are we seeking, hoping for, looking for when we come…to Church…to Scripture…to Jesus?

Bible Story Jam – Luke 3:1-22 from Ben Cieslik on Vimeo.

Note: 1) If you are receiving this post by email, you may need to click here to watch the video.
2) Thanks to all the folks from several Twin Cities congregations who were game to join in this experiment!
3) Bible Story Jam is the result of a partnership between Bethlehem Lutheran Church and Luther Seminary and is made possible in part through a generous grant from The Lilly Endowment.
4) If you want to know more about the mechanics of doing a Bible Story Jam of your own, refer to the earlier post.