Different Strokes for Different Folks

Last week our Bible Seminar sessions were extraordinarily interesting, exciting and fun for everyone. We looked at the Secret Gospel of Mark, its seamless fit back into the canonical Gospel according to Mark, its style and virtually unchallengeable authorship the same as the evangelist, and its illuminating possibilities for better understanding both Mark and the Gospel according to John. It took our full 70 minute sessions plus five or ten minutes overrun both Tuesday morning and Wednesday afternoon. Those were the two most exciting sessions of all that we have had in the three seasons that we have been having mid-week Bible study together.

It was so much fun for everyone in both classes that I thought to share it with our Adult Sunday School class yesterday morning. It didn’t work. Not at all. It was too much material for too little time. In my excitement about sharing it, I should have realized that. And the material is good for single session only, not for carryover. Further, the Sunday morning class folks are different each time, not homogenous, and we are intentionally casual and welcoming about the time, with folks arriving whenever they can. Also, the mid-week groups are like seminary classes eagerly into Bible criticism that is not always familiar to the Sunday morning folks.

So, this is my morning-after self-reflection, my hindsight, my Monday morning quarterbacking. Anyone who watched the Alabama-LSU game as a Tiger fan may understand: that certainly did not go as planned, practiced, hoped and intended.

This week the Tuesday and Wednesday Bible Seminar groups asked to look quickly at The Twelve, the minor prophets, then choose one to study. Next Sunday morning, though, a totally different game plan.