Bible Study Group

I went to my first bible study group a couple of weeks ago. It was held in a local Church member's house, on a Tuesday evening. We were focusing on Jesus feeding the 5,000, just like at that previous Sunday's Church service, and there were some really thought-provoking questions.

After a quick introduction to all the other group members (all of whom were quite a lot older than me, but very very nice), we started in on the list of study questions.

The first, an ice-breaker, was to describe in a couple of sentences your most memorable meal or ideal packed lunch. I didn't speak up on this one, but if I had, I was going to talk about my most memorable meal, which is probably our Wedding Breakfast. It was 17th March 2001, at a local hotel, and we and our guests had soup, then roast dinner, and ... I can't remember what was for dessert. Profiteroles, maybe? And my Dad made us a BEAUTIFUL wedding cake.

The second question was: "Can you think of any time when you were short of something (not necessarily food) and God provided for you in a surprising way?"

There were some very varied answers, both food-related and not, and my answer was not food-related. I shared the story of how God brought me back to the Church, totally out of the blue, providing Seren and I with a new Church family. Everyone seemed to enjoy hearing our story, and said that God definitely moves in mysterious ways!

The third question had us comparing the two accounts of the feeding of the 5,000, in Mark 6, and in John 6, which was really interesting. We also had to think about what 'feeding' really meant in that context, and what Jesus gave the crowd other than food. We also had to think about what 'food' we bring, what gifts has God given us, that we can give back to Him. We also had to think about how the feeding of the 5,000 can teach us about responding to famine in the world today.

I found it absolutely fascinating to focus so closely on the Bible story, and to be able to discuss it and interpret it together as part of a group!

After the study session had finished, we had a long prayer session, before having a cup of coffee and a chat. Two of the group members gave me a lift home, as it was 10.30 pm by this point, which was lovely of them!

I was very much looking forward to going back to the study group this week, but now I've joined my friend's folk band, we have to sing every Tuesday night, which clashes with this particular bible group, so I had to miss it. However, there are other study groups held on other days around the town though, so hopefully I can join one of those instead, so that I'm not letting down the folk band, but can still get the bible study group in as well.