He is risen. Alelluia!

OK, it's really a Praying Mantis in defensive posture, but I got this photo in an email from a relative near Easter.

"He is risen!" is the first thought I had when seeing it.

Lament at the cross

Love has departed.
Joyful hearts are dark with sorrow.
Our hope has been extinguished.
Oh God, why have you taken the one we need most?
We pray for strength in our hour of need.
Bring us hope again.
Bring joyful light to a darkened world.
Let love return.

"Encounter with Jesus" Bible Study Technique

There are lots of different Bible Study methods and approaches. When it comes to the gospels, here's a way to focus on Jesus and spiritual development:

First, select a passage from one of the gospels (a red-letter edition of the Bible may be helpful). Read the passage through and answer the below questions. You may also want to have a Synoptic (parallel) Gospels Bible handy.

Where's Jesus?

• Where is Jesus in this passage?
• Where was Jesus prior to this event?
• With what type of people is Jesus dealing? (crowd, circle of friends, Gentiles or Jews, followers of Jesus, members of what sect)

What does Jesus say?

• Summarize or quote everything Jesus says.
• Note what Jesus does not say. Silence is often very telling. It can also unnerve people.
• Note Jesus' feeling, tone, and attitude.
• Is your first impression of Jesus' attitude really right or are you making Jesus "like us" -- too human? Look for alternate explanations for Jesus' behavior or how Jesus said something.

What are others' response to Jesus?

• What do others say about Jesus?
• What are people's impressions about Jesus; how do they feel about him?
• How do people respond to Jesus?

How does this passage and insight help me develop spiritually?

• What are my impressions of Jesus from this passage?
• What characteristics of Jesus would I like to see in my own life?
• Did the people's responses to Jesus in the passage convict me or inspire me ?
• What is Jesus saying in this passage that could or would change my life? How can I work with Him to make it happen?

Reference: If you’d like learn more, read or download the full Discipleship Journal article.

Character Bible Study

Here's one way to study a Bible character:

1. Use a concordance to locate every reference on that person.
2. Prayerfully read your character's story several times.
3. Put yourself in that person's shoes and humbly consider these questions:
• What did the character do right? Wrong?
• What motivated him or her?
• What were the character’s moral strengths and weaknesses?
• Was there a clear point at which their decline began or was it gradual?
• What opportunities did he/she have to repent? How did they respond?
• What could the character have done differently to avoid failing God?
• In what way(s) am I like this person?
• What do I need to do to avoid making the same mistakes?
4. Write a summary that includes a personal application plan.
5. Finish your study with a prayer of thanksgiving and praise.

Reference: "Best Bible Study Methods", Discipleship Journal

WordLive

Scripture Union, a UK organization, now has up and running "WordLive". It's a multimedia Bible experience that lets you interact with the Word in whatever form you like.

• Choose the Bible translation you prefer
• Listen to music
• Listen to podcasts (voice)
• Look at images
• Look at video
• Download and print a Bible study

WordLive is now offering a five-week Lent study for small groups or individuals. As of January 5, Parts 1 and 2 area available.

Check out this nifty resource. As Scripture Union says, "Grab a God moment".

Music of the Bible revealed

An interesting 1986 "discovery" ...

UMM have snazzy new web site

The old look and slow speed of the United Methodist Men's web site is a thing of the past. Praise the Lord! The new UMM site has a greatly improved look, sort of mimics the UMC redesign, and is faster.

Some remaining problems:

• A web editor should never let text exceed the "allowed space" (as in the "Nashville news anchor to produce video for 10th National Gathering" text). That's just plain sloppy.
• The web addresses (URLs) contain "gobbdegook" code as part of the address. That's common when a web is based on a database and the web administration team fails to make the system display words, not garbage code in the URLs. To me that shows a lack of focus on visitors and a lack of either expertise or lack of caring by the web administrators.

Overall, though, the UMM web site design changes are a significant improvement.

Herod's tomb

National Geographic Channel will be showing "Herod's Lost Tomb" Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 9pm. So here are some links related to Herod's tomb:

• New finds at King Herod's Tomb: Frescoes (includes an embedded video)
• Herod's Lost Tomb (includes photos, reconstruction views, a game for the young at heart, information about the burial site, and more.
• Herod's Tomb
• Herod's resting place (Discovery News)
• Lavish burial (Discovery News)
• Herod's sarcophagus (photo with caption)
• Herod family tombs (Reuters)
• King Herod revealed
• Herod: Visionary Builder (photo gallery)
• Herod the Great (Wikipedia)
• King Herod (BBC)

In the news

Below are a few links related to care for God's earth (one part of Christian Stewardship). What have you done for God's world this week?

• Government study: Climate change affects water, agriculture
• More seminaries linking religion, environmental concern
• Congo Basin - world's largest protected wetland
• Conservationists killed in Virunga Park, D.R. Congo (page 3 of the magazine PDF)

An incentive for Bible reading

Have you tried reading through the Bible but failed to read consistently? If so, Logos may have a helpful tool for you.

The Logos Global Bible Reader (GBR) software (now in beta) lets you pick a Bible reading schedule. When you open the program, you see Bible passages. You login to the reader, read the displayed passages, and then click on "Done Reading" when you finish.

The incentive part of the process is that you are part of a world-wide Bible reading community. Logging on via a free account at Logos, the Global Bible Reading program shows your general location on the globe with a red dot. When you select "Done Reading", your dot changes to green.

The program never identifies you by name, but just seeing red dots changing to green helps motivate you to "go green" by reading the Bible passages.

The program also fosters a sense of community by letting you post a comment about a passage and to read comments from other readers worldwide.

If this sounds interesting to you, surf on over to Logos, create a login account, and download the Global Bible Reader software.