Sundays, 9-10 am, November 17–December 15
In Founders Hall
As our Adult Forum series on Language, Liturgy, and Culture concludes, you may be wondering, what’s next? After a break in the forum for Jazz at St. James’ on November 10, we will launch into getting to know the Gospel of Matthew again in anticipation of starting a whole new church year with Matthew on Advent 1, December 1.
Matthew’s gospel has priority of place in the canon of New Testament scripture because it is “the Church’s gospel.” Widely cherished and cited by the earliest interpreters of scripture, Matthew’s text offers a compelling vision of the person of Jesus and the mystery of his death and resurrection. Unlike Mark’s Jesus, who always seems to be rushing from healing to healing, making his way with haste to Jerusalem with his confused and bumbling disciples trailing behind him, Matthew’s Jesus lets us catch our breath as he sits down to teach from time to time. Matthew’s Jesus is clearly a new sort of Moses, a teacher of what it means to be in covenant relationship with God and with others.
Over the centuries, texts such as Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, keep calling us to the costly challenge of being a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. The Sermon on the Mount finds a place at the heart of the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr., Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and even some non-Christians who have hoped against hope for justice, like Gandhi.
Matthew’s Jesus is not simply a wandering sage with some good ideas, though. Matthew is very clear that he has a particular place in God’s great plan of salvation, that he is an unexpected sort of messiah, the suffering servant of the Lord. And, for Matthew, the wisdom of the teachings of Jesus has authority because of the way it is enfleshed in a life offered for the sake of the world.
We hope that you will join us as we meet Matthew again.
