Adult
• 4 Sessions of Learner’s Materials
• 4 Sessions of Teaching Materials
• 3 Handouts
1. Matthew 5:21-24; 21:12-16
2. Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
3. Matthew 19:16-22
4. Romans 8:24-25; 31-39
Anger. Happiness. Fear. Hope. These are not the gamut of human emotions, but they certainly represent a wide range.
This unit tackles these human emotions from a biblical perspective. What does Jesus say about anger? He says enough in the Sermon on the Mount to make us squirm, but then in cleansing the temple, he shows a flash of anger himself. What does the Lord say about fear? We find an answer in an unlikely place--Matthew’s story of the rich young man who so feared for his economic security that he gave up eternal life. For happiness and hope, we look to such varied writers as Ecclesiastes’ unhappy Qoheleth and the immensely hopeful Apostle Paul.
You will also meet contemporary folks confronting these same emotions. In the session on anger, you will read how Christians and Jews in Greenville, South Carolina, reacted to their Muslim neighbors in the wake of September 11, 2001. In the session on fear, you’ll meet a comedian and filmmaker who seems fearless. Then, in the session on hope, you will read about a Baptist minister’s daughter whose hope was restored by a man she never met, German Resistance pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Biblical writers understood well the travails of being human, as did Jesus. The ancient Jewish sage reminds us that there is a time for every matter under heaven. Mourning and dancing, weeping and laughing-- there is a time for them all until the kingdom of heaven is fully realized. This unit offers guidance on how we might face these times.
by Deb Richardson-Moore
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