Church Bible Study Guide 8/6/07 10:29 AM Page 1 World Vision Gift Catalogue Adult Bible Study Guide
Church Bible Study Guide 8/6/07 10:29 AM Page 2 SESSION 1: Mary s Story Next to baby Jesus, his mother Mary is probably the most intriguing character in all the Bible readings linked to Christmas. She is a highly sought after role in nativity pageants, with little girls vying for the honour to portray her. With history on our side, we know when we read Mary s story that both great joy and searing pain still lay ahead for this woman who calls herself a servant of the Lord. Mary s story is one of daring risk, sacrifice, deep faith and the saving power of love and family. It is a story for today. Read Luke 1:26-38 There is a good reason there are so many passages in both the Old and New Testaments about caring for widows and the orphans. Women without husbands and children without fathers were the poorest of the poor in ancient Israel, vulnerable to extreme poverty, abuse and homelessness. Mary s yes to God changed the world forever. But it also changed her life right then and there. Mary stepped into the unknown of potential rejection at all levels even stoning at the hands of the world of her day. Thankfully, that didn t happen. God placed people in Mary s life family to walk with her on this journey. Joseph rose to the occasion. Mary s cousin Elizabeth became confidante and co-conspirator with Mary in God s miraculous breaking into history. Family encircled Mary. The world did indeed change forever. Rose s Story Rose is free now. But in her 19 years, she has lived through more than most people could hope to survive. Enslaved when she was five, Rose watched her mother brutally murdered by the Lord s Resistance Army rebel group in Uganda. Rose grew up under the tyranny of repeated sexual abuse by her captors. Rose became a mother three times during her years in captivity. Her first son became separated from her during an attack on the rebel camp where they were held prisoner. That was one of the worst days of my life. I never stopped crying, remembers Rose. But she also never stopped hoping and praying for her freedom and a reunion with her lost son. Both came true. God saved us, says Rose. After almost a decade of enslavement, Rose broke free and made her way to World Vision s Children of War Rehabilitation Centre in Gulu. Created especially for people like Rose, the Centre helps former child slaves overcome their horrible memories and move on with their lives. Rose found more than her freedom there. She found her firstborn son. I thank God every day for leading him to World Vision. 1. Mary took on the world when she said yes to God. It is interesting to note that God gave her a choice. What do you think Mary s top concerns would have been as she considered her choices? 2. Rose s story is almost impossible to imagine. Yet it is true for thousands of young women. What did you feel as you read Rose s story? 3. God gave Mary support in Elizabeth and Joseph, who walked alongside her. Rose took the first steps to healing at the World Vision Rehabilitation Centre. What role did community and family play in the story of each of these brave women? 4. As you look around your own community, which group of people do you believe are the most vulnerable to poverty? In the global community? 5. Spend some time brainstorming ways your church can offer love and family to the most vulnerable among you. 6. Mary s story and Jesus birth hinge on the fact that Mary offered herself to God s service. In what ways might God be calling you and your church to greater service to the poor and vulnerable, to a deeper yes? 1 800 844-7993 WorldVision.ca 2
Church Bible Study Guide 8/6/07 10:29 AM Page 3 SESSION 2: Born in a Barn For those of us who know Luke s account of Christmas well, there are probably no more familiar words than In those days Caesar Augustus We know the rhythms of the story. It is the beginning of a turning point. We are getting closer to the birth of Jesus. And that short passage in Luke 2, from verses 1 to 7, covers a journey that plucked a very pregnant Mary and steady Joseph from the comfort and security of home and family, then sent them down a rocky trail, and into a Bethlehem barn. Yet somehow, hope and home came along with them. Read Luke 2:1-7 Romans ruled the land into which Jesus was born. The Jewish selfgovernment reported to the authority of the local Roman government, represented by King Herod. Herod in turn obeyed Rome, and the infamous Emperor Augustus. It was Roman law, made for the convenience of Rome, which required the family to travel when Mary was preparing to give birth. A barn in Bethlehem would not be anyone s choice for a birthing room. But Mary must have packed along the swaddling bands and linen strips that she knew she would need. She was prepared. Her son would be born homeless, and that s how he would spend a good deal of his life. Yet hope, home and a community of sorts would exist that night in Bethlehem in the most unlikely of holy places. And hope, home and a ragtag community would follow Jesus wherever He would go. Kalliayan s story Kalliayan is 14 and a survivor of Cambodia s flourishing illegal child sex industry. Kalliayan was lured from the home of her poor family with the promise of a well-paying job in the capital city. Instead, she found herself servicing up to 20 clients a day in a brothel that specialized in offering very young children to its visitors. A police raid led to her freedom but not before she contracted HIV. The police brought Kalliayan to World Vision s Neavear Thmey trauma recovery centre. There she was gently given the opportunity to share her ordeal with counsellors. First, she sat in silence or cried during the sharing sessions. Eventually Kalliayan felt safe enough to open up. Afterwards, I felt fresh and clear, she says. Counsellors began to work with Kalliayan to help her overcome her experience. And understand her HIV-positive status. With anti-retroviral drugs scarce, children like Kalliayan need to learn strict rules of diet, nutrition and health care to survive until adulthood. She is also learning a trade, so she can support herself when she leaves the centre. Kalliayan is becoming a masterful weaver of traditional designs in Cambodian silk. She plans to return to her family, knowing full well that when she leaves she will be saying goodbye to a special community whose strength she will carry with her. 1. Share your earliest memory of hearing the familiar words of the Christmas story. What ramifications did Caesar Augustus decree have for Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus? 2. Where is the most unlikely place you have personally experienced a sense of home, family or community? 3. Kalliayan was tricked into leaving her home for a nightmare. Now she will carry those scars with her the rest of her life. But she did find community again at the World Vision Neavear Thmey trauma recovery centre. Why do you think Kalliayan eventually felt safe enough to open up and share her story with the counsellors? 4. How does Kalliayan s story enlarge your understanding of hope and home? 5. How did you feel when you read that Kalliayan contracted the HIV virus during her time of sexual enslavement? When you discovered that it is unlikely that she will have access to the drugs that are so readily available in North America? 6. How is your church involved in the building of hope and home in unlikely places? 1 800 844-7993 WorldVision.ca 4
Church Bible Study Guide 8/6/07 10:29 AM Page 4 SESSION 3: Unlikely Heroes The God who chose to partner with an unwed mother and be born in a barn continues the theme of love, courage, family and a community that rises to the occasion as we read further in Luke. Probably only in a Godstory would angels and shepherds mix and mingle in a field outside of Bethlehem. Angels visiting shepherds says something important about angels and shepherds and you and me. Read Luke 2:8-20 These shepherds of the Nativity certainly aren t the only, or the first, shepherds mentioned in the Bible. David was one, after all. So were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God is even compared to a shepherd in Psalm 23. But the guys who were on duty that night in Bethlehem, were most likely the other sort of shepherds the ones with the bad reputations. Hired shepherds were known for being thieves. Often alone for long stretches of time, if sheep or produce went missing, it was the shepherds who were blamed. The pious were even warned not to buy anything from shepherds, because it was probably stolen goods. One ancient Jewish philosopher wrote that the livelihood of looking after sheep and goats was mean and inglorious. But that night, glory was not in short supply. It shone all around. The angels appeared and told the shepherds that the Saviour had been born. But their message went deeper than that. By announcing the dawning of the Kingdom to the lowly, God said something about the value of those the world dismisses. God is saying that still. Fikile s story In Swaziland, livestock like cattle and goats show how wealthy you are or how poor you are. If a family in Swazi culture does not have livestock, it is not considered respectable. That was the case for Fikile s family. She is an 11-year-old girl who lives with her mother, brother and her extended family in a compound that used to be empty. Now there are goats and chickens. Fikile is a World Vision sponsored child. In 2003, Fikile received a goat from World Vision. Today, she has five. The chicken that was given to her later also reproduced, and today there are five of those as well. The family was even able to build pens for their animals, further raising their status and dignity in the community. Fikile has plans. She hopes to eventually sell some of her goats to buy a cow. She and her mother have already sold one of the chickens to pay a medical bill. Fikile also dreams of buying a pair of shoes. This family still struggles. They have one meal a day, and rely on World Vision food rations because of a recent drought. What they do have is the respect of their community and a very real and living hope, embodied in the enthusiasm of their daughter Fikile and her small but growing flock. 1. Given the unsavoury reputation of shepherds, what do you think Mary and Joseph might have felt when the group first appeared at the door of the stable? 2. If we are totally honest, we all could probably confess to feeling bias towards some group at some point in our lives. Why do you think that is? How does this part of the biblical story challenge us to grow beyond prejudice? 3. In Fikile s circumstance it was the absence of livestock that damaged her family s reputation. Is there an equivalent status symbol in our society? How does it impact you and your family? 4. Name some groups of people that you think are considered outcasts or of bad reputation in today s society. Can you picture God sending angels to give them an important and exclusive announcement? Why or why not? 5. How is your church involved in reaching out to the outcasts of society? 6. Could you be more involved? 1 800 844-7993 WorldVision.ca 6
Church Bible Study Guide 8/6/07 10:29 AM Page 5 SESSION 4: God as Refugee It has been named the Slaughter of the Innocents. And it is the dark stain on the Christmas story. Herod, threatened by the birth of the child people are calling a king, orders the murder of all male children in and around Bethlehem aged two and under. We can hardly comprehend it. As is the case in so many atrocities today, the powerful are threatened and the innocent die. Yet God prevailed in this story. Another angel. Another message. Another journey. God s Son becomes, for a time, a member of a refugee family making their way to Egypt. Read Matthew 2:13-18 King Herod the Great ranks in the world s history books as a despicable despot. His reign is chronicled as one atrocity after another. It is believed that Herod died around 4 BC. The Slaughter would have been one of his last acts as a ruler, and perhaps one of his most cowardly. God s messenger assures Mary and Joseph that their child will be safe. They are given specific directions and a promise of further communication when it is time to leave Egypt. We see that Herod s grasp of worldly power cannot come close to God s saving power. In this story, throughout the whole Bible, and in today s world, when conflict rages and even when innocents die, God is still doing the work of redeeming, restoring and protecting. It is people who commit atrocities like Herod s. And it is people that God uses to bring peace. Abdullah s story In many ways, Abdullah is just like any other 11-year-old guy. He wears a yellow shirt like his favourite soccer player. And he is known as the best soccer player in the group of kids he hangs out with. That group of kids is at a World Vision Child Friendly Space in a refugee camp in South Darfur. Abdullah and his family are refugees of a brutal civil war that killed their father. Their village was attacked and destroyed in 2005. They lost everything. Their home, their livestock, their friends and of course, their father. The Child Friendly Space (CFS) where he and his new friends learn and play is one bright spot in a camp made up of plastic dwellings in a sea of hurting people. World Vision runs two Child Friendly Spaces there, as well as a feeding centre and a women s empowerment centre. At the CFS, Abdullah can keep up with his school work and talk freely about the trauma he has witnessed during his country s conflict. He divides his time between the CFS and working as a porter at a nearby market with a borrowed wheelbarrow all in an attempt to try and help his mother cope. Abdullah s teachers say he is a stellar student. And he s definitely a great soccer player. At 11, he s seen so much. And at 11 he has shown so much: courage, resilience and a love for life that persists against all the odds. 1. We tend to disregard the account of the Slaughter of the Innocents. How does acknowledging this event add or detract from your feelings about Christmas? 2. In Abdullah s story, we see a current event that includes an atrocity. A young boy and his family witnessing horror, with a crowded refugee camp their best hope. Yet Abdullah s character shines through. What inspires you about this boy s story? 3. It is a very human question to ask How could God let this happen? in relation to Herod s act as well as Abdullah s story. Yet we see time and time again that God s nature is one of restoring and rebuilding after humans mess up. What would happen if we asked this question instead: What can we do about this thing that has happened? 4. List the top three areas of conflict you know about in the world today. Share any stories of hope and healing you have heard from those areas. If you don t know any, try and find some! 5. How does your church help educate its people about working for peace? Is your denomination involved in peace work? Share what you know. 6. Think of areas in your own life and relationships that cry out for peace and justice. If you are comfortable, share one way you will live differently this Christmas season, to bring about peace on earth, even if just in your little corner of the earth. 1 800 844-7993 WorldVision.ca 8
Church Bible Study Guide 8/6/07 10:29 AM Page 6 SESSION NOTES: 1 800 844-7993 WorldVision.ca 10