Cloistered Soul Ministries Presents...

FOLLOWING JESUS

&

WALKING WITH GOD

A Year's Journey Through the Gospels

PAT DeWITT THOMAS

GREETINGS

GREETINGS

Are you looking for material for an Adult First Day/Sunday School Class?

Are you looking for material for a Bible Study Group?

Are you looking for material for Spiritual Formation Groups?

Are you looking for material for Day Workshops or Weekend Retreats?

Are you looking for material for Advent, Lenten, or Easter Programs?

Are you looking for material to study the Life of Jesus?

My name is Pat DeWitt Thomas.  In January of this year I was awarded the Tom Mullen Writing Fellowship at Earlham School of Religion.  During this time I have developed a method of Bible Study that I have found to be fun and fruitful and I would like to introduce it to you, for individual use or for group use in your Meeting, Church, or Small Group Fellowships.

The title of the book is Following Jesus & Walking With God: A Year’s Journey Through The Gospels.  The book takes you through the Gospels by introducing you to characters in the Bible that have an encounter with Jesus.  You read about one of these characters per week and their encounter with Jesus. Then you interact and respond to that character and the impact the encounter had on his or her life by completing three writing prompts; a journal entry the character would have written, imagining that character’s life forty years later, and a post card that shares that experience and response with others, in the form of a devotion or meditative essay.

The process and exercises in this book can be done alone for your personal devotional time, but the fruit of your labor will be enhanced if it is shared with others, also on the journey.  So, I highly recommend this handbook be used with the “one another’s” in your life.  Journeys are fun and can be much more fun when traveling with others, be they family, friends, First Day/Sunday School class, Bible Study groups, Spiritual Formation Groups, Day Workshops, Weekend Retreats, or just where two or three are gathered. It follows the Birth-Life-Death-Resurrection of Jesus, so it would work well as an Advent Program, Lenten Program, Easter Program, or a simple study in the life of Jesus if used in a church setting that follows the Liturgical year.

I used this process and material at the Lake Erie Yearly Meeting Bible Study for three years. The folks who attended enjoyed these exercises during their Bible Study for three reasons:

 1. The process of getting into the Bible through the encounters between Jesus and a particular character’s journal entry was fresh and fun.

2.  As they read their assignments to one another they discovered a response that was different and unique to each individual who shared their interpretation of the event; no right or wrong, but equally rich insights into the scriptures.  Everyone got equal time to share.

3. They got to know one another on a deeper, more personal level; a level that had not necessarily been reached in the many years they had spent with one another in these meetings. Something special happened during those early morning Bible Studies and people felt it.

I worked for many years in Church leadership and Youth Ministry and have led Small Group Meetings.  This is a method and process that leads to high interaction between participants and provides a fun and enjoyable way to interact with the Bible.  Whether it is used for individual devotions or for Group study I believe you will find it fun and fruitful. I would like to offer this material to you. 

The Year’s Journey Through the Gospels is being published by Cloistered Soul Ministries and is available in a PDF file at no cost.

I hope you will get excited about this material and will want to offer it to your group. To order the material contact me at pilgrimageoftheheart@gmail.com.  Please feel free to contact me at the same email address if you have any questions or I can help you in anyway.  I'd also like to hear how you are using and enjoying the study.Thank you for assisting me in putting this material into to hands of people who want to grow in their relationship with God and the Bible.

                            

PREFACE

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away I began my Spiritual Journey.  In 1973 I had a close encounter of the transformational kind, a face to face encounter with Jesus Christ that changed my life in an extraordinary way. Since that moment in time I have been on a quest to know God and to be in His Presence.

The best way I found to do that was to simply spend time with Him.  I like doing that in the early mornings because that is the time I am freshly coming ‘out of the silence’.  My mind is clear and uncluttered and at its best to listen and hear what God has to say to me. For me that communion with God comes as I simply sit in silence; as I read and meditate on the Scriptures; as I look at the face to face encounters others had with Jesus and observe how that encounter changed their lives. Hence the project of Following Jesus and Walking With God: A Year’s Journey Through The Gospels.

This not a book you sit down and read.  It is a book you sit down and do. This is not a book filled with what I got out of my time with God.  It is a book to encourage you to have your time with God and Jesus and write about that encounter. This is not a guided tour.  This is tour you take on your own.  What the book offers are some guides to assist you along the way; a road map, an itinerary, some rules for the road, some tools, and a method.

Can you imagine what it would be like to have been born blind and then one day be able to see?  Can you imagine what it would be like to have been dead for four days and then suddenly come back to life?  Can you imagine being a woman, standing all alone before men who where ready to stone you to death for a crime you were guilty of and then have those who were to throw the stones suddenly drop them one by one and leave?  Can you imagine the story you would want to tell others about your experience and about the one who made these things happen?  Can you imagine being face to face with Jesus and never being the same again?  Well, if you embark on this journey through the Gospels, following Jesus and walking with God, you will do just that.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

FOLLOWING JESUS & WALKING WITH GOD

A  Year's Journey Through The Gospels

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. A WORD FROM A FELLOW TRAVELER

II. YOUR JOURNEY BEGINS HERE

A. What to Pack

B. Route

C. Rules of the Road

D. Weekly Itineraries

III. BACK STORY TO FOLLOWING JESUS & WALKING WITH GOD

          A. Spiritual Practice: Cultivating Communion and the Presence of God

          B. Daily Morning Watch: “Out of the Silence”

          C. Using Imagination to Enhance Your Spiritual Life

          D. Knowing the Characters in the Story of God

          E. Midrash Journaling

          F. A New Way of Reading & Writing: Traditions & MidrashJournaling

IV. APPENDIX

          A. Example of Writing Invitation: “People I Met Along the Way”

          B. Example of Writing Invitation: Where Are They 40 Years Later?”

          C. Example of Writing Invitation: Post Card Home

V. WHERE YOU GO FROM HERE

A. Epilogue

B. More Adventures & Journeys

A WORD FROM A FELLOW TRAVELER

A WORD FROM A FELLOW TRAVELER

The seed from which this process grew was an invitation to facilitate a morning Bible Study for the folks at Lake Erie Yearly Meeting.  The seed fell on good soil because I have a driving concern of the lack of looking to God and the Bible as a source for all that is needed in the souls of people in these post modern times; a source that is needed in the soul of our nation in these post modern times; a source that is needed in the soul of our world in these post modern times. 

The Bible has been gathering dust on bookshelves for too long.  I believe that is because it is seen as a  dead, boring, irrelevant, hard to understand testimony to a God that in these days is seen as dead, boring, irrelevant, hard to understand, and not necessary in this world anymore.  God is Alive, God is creative, God is relevant, and God is easy to understand and love if people take the time to know Him.  That is His desire as much as it needs to be ours.

If you picked this book up and bought it home it says to me that you must be interested in looking at the Bible as a tool for your Spiritual growth into a deeper, more personal relationship with Jesus, with God, and with the Bible itself.  It is my hope that you will be excited and energized about the journey you are looking to go on for a year and that you will find the growth that you desire manifested at the conclusion of your journey.

The work you will do in completing the exercises in this handbook will feed your individual soul.  But it is my hope it will do more.  Being called to be on a journey is a theme that runs through the Bible.  But if you look at that call from God to a journey, it always includes others.  Abraham was told to take Sarah and his nephew Lot; Moses was told to take the whole nation of Israel; Jesus gathered disciples to follow him; Paul always took others with him on his journeys.

The process and exercises in this book can be done alone but the fruit of your labor will be enhanced if it is shared with others, also on the journey.  So, I highly recommend this handbook be used with the “one another’s” in your life.  Journeys are fun and can be much more fun when traveling with others, be they family, friends, church groups, Bible Study groups, or just where two or three are gathered.

The folks at Lake Erie Yearly Meeting enjoyed these exercises during their Bible Study for three reasons.  One, the process of getting into the Bible through the encounters between Jesus and a particular character’s journal entry was fun.  Two, as we read our assignments to one another we discovered a response that was different and unique to each individual who shared their interpretation of the event; no right or wrong, but equally rich insights into the scriptures.  Third, they got to know one another on a deeper, more personal level; a level that had not necessarily been reached in the many years they had spent with one another in these meetings. Something special happened during those early morning Bible Studies and people felt it.

There is nothing new in this process; just some ancient and seasoned ways of strengthening communion with God and enjoying being in His Presence as seen through my eyes, as a pilgrim in this world on a Journey to follow Jesus and walk with God, every day of my life.

This is the journey I invite you to travel.  It is a journey that follows Jesus and the people he encounters face to face throughout the four Gospels in the Bible.  It begins with his birth, wanders through his life, goes to his death, and ends with his resurrection.  Just as God had a promise at the end of the journeys he put people on, I have a promise for you.  As you look back over your journey you will come to know the Story of God written in the Bible in a personal way, through the face to face encounters the various characters had with Jesus.  I hope you enjoy this journey through the gospels as you follow Jesus and walk with God.

If you have enjoyed this introduction and want to receive the entire Study,  please contact me by email at: pilgrimageoftheheart@gmail.com.  I will send you a PDF file for free.

MIZPAH
Pat