WINTER MID-WEEK DISCUSSION GROUP

Wednesday Evenings at 6:30

Memorial Baptist Church

MATERIALITY: Five Ways

for Real People to Be Moral

in the Real World.

(Based on a 2020 book with a similar title

by theologian and author Walter Brueggemann)

    Nobody ever accused Jesus of being a “materialist,” Dr. Brueggemann writes. But that doesn’t mean he neglected the real material problems of real material people in the real material world. Just read Jesus’ summary of his own work, the proof as he saw it that he was acting on behalf of God. When John the Baptist sent word from prison, “Are you the One who is to come, or should we look for another?”, Jesus answered, “Go and tell John what you see and hear: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news preached to them” (Luke 7:19, 22). That’s real, here-and-now stuff.

    When we Christians think about “morality,” we often envision activities that are personal, private, inward, and above all, other-worldly in their results. We are preparing ourselves, especially our souls, to go to heaven when we die.

    Jesus preached “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,” but not just “in the sweet by-and-by.” How did he say it? . . . “On earth as it is in heaven.” Morality, as Jesus taught and lived it, was as much about navigating this world as it was about charting our way to the next.

    So how do we do that? Join us on Wednesday nights this winter as we discuss it together. Here’s a list of dates and topics:

                    January 11: Money

                    January 18: Food

                    January 25: Bi-monthly business conference

                    February 1: Bodies

                    February 8: Time 

                    February 15: Place 

                    February 22: Ash Wednesday; Lent begins

        And this is the lineup for Wednesday night activities:

                    Children’s Choir, 5:30

                    Simple Supper served, 5:45-6:30

                    Children’s Missions, Youth, Adult Discussion, 6:30

                    Chancel Choir, 7:30

See you then!