FOLLOWING JESUS
&
WALKING WITH GOD
A Year's Journey Through the Gospels
PAT DeWITT THOMAS
Friday, July 4, 2014
Thursday, July 3, 2014
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.
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
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.
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
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
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
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