Bob's Blog

I was sure I would never fit in!  I’m easily one of the youngest people in the group, and I’m a guy.  What could I possibly learn from, or have in common, with this group of 20+ older women and the occasional 3-4 older men?

Little did I know!

I’ve been participating and leading Bible Studies for almost 40 years; but never before have I been in a Bible Study like the VIC (Ventures in Community) Bible Study in the Mount Vernon section of Alexandria, VA.

Led by retired Episcopal Priest Jonathan Bryan, and held at Good Shepherd Roman Catholic Church, this Thursday morning Bible Study is easily the most stimulating two hours of my week.  And no two hours of my week gives me more hope for the Church of Jesus Christ.  Episcopalians and Catholics, Methodists and Lutherans, Quakers and Presbyterians, all come together to read Scripture and consider new and fresh ways of thinking about God, faith, the Gospel, and Christ’s risen body in the world today.  Nothing is out of bounds.  No thought is ever put down or rejected.  And no one allows any sort of rigid, doctrinal orthodoxy, to keep us from considering the ‘new thing’ that the Spirit is doing in the Church today.

More often than not, people say what we’ve all been thinking for years, but never had the courage to say out loud . . . and certainly not in the presence of other ‘church’ people! “Perhaps the Church really has taken its understanding of original sin too far!”  “Perhaps the ‘nature’ of Jesus isn’t all that different from our nature!” “Perhaps salvation is for all people and not just a chosen few!”  “Does anything really change at baptism?”  “Is the Bible GOD’S word, or humanity’s word that has been attributed to God?”

I think I’ve come to realize that while for centuries men were busy administering the Church, women were growing the Church.  They were meeting in small groups long before there was anything known as a ‘small group movement’: studying the Bible, talking theology, and caring for one another in ways that even the most progressive men’s ministries have never been able to match.  And before this generation of women is gone, we need to listen to all they have to say.  Their wisdom is stunning, their spiritual maturity puts most of us to shame, and they are the ones who hold in their aging hands the future of the Church.

For seven years now this Bible Study has quietly, subtly, and unknowingly helped me to see that I was not alone on this journey called faith.  They have taught me that not everyone is afraid of the advances in science and theology, Biblical studies and sociology, history and ecclesiology!  In fact, women have been dealing with these issues for years, exploring their impact on the faith and considering their influence on the Church.  While we men have been trying to hold on to our authority and our pulpits, women have been asking big questions about the nature of God and faith, and they have literally BEEN, the “new thing” that God is doing among us.

The question now is when will we see it?  When will we in the larger community of faith become more aware of it?  When will we stop being afraid of it, and learn to embrace it, so that it might take us deeper in our walks with the Holy!

The Spirit is continually at work in us and among us, but too often we’re blind to her activity.  Fortunately, for me, right now, my eyes are being opened to this work because of the lives of the women who are part of my VIC Bible Study.  I am certainly grateful to Jonathan and the other men who are there, but I’m particularly grateful to the women who continue to teach me what it means to be on this constant journey called Christianity. Your voices have been silenced or ignored by the Church for a long time.  But no more!  It’s time for the rest of us to begin listening.  And when we do, watch out.  The world will ever be the same!  And that, after all, is what the Gospel is all about.