At Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC, we’ve recently added two new books to The Red Door Book Store from our current Christian-Education class for adults, titled Christ and Culture. As our class winds down, check out two of the books that were often quoted and discussed. Redeemer benefits when you shop on Amazon for these titles and others.
‘I threw our class a curveball’
Last Sunday, April 26 Kurt Brewer, our director of Christian Education at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC, surprised the class with his opening to the discussion on the Art of Sowing during the Christ and Culture class.
It probably came as a bit of a shock to the Christian-Education audience on Sunday. We had just read from Matthew 9:38 where Jesus told the disciples to pray that the Lord would send more laborers into the harvest—because the harvest is plentiful and the workers few. That’s when I threw our class a curveball: “I cannot, with any degree of sincerity, pray for any more harvest-mentality Christian laborers at the College of Charleston,” I said.
We’re working our way through a series called Christ and Culture, a title which I’m certain Richard Niebuhr stole from me in order to write his eerily similar-sounding book Christ and Culture back in the 1950s. We’ve enjoyed 12 weeks of lively discussion, particularly about big issues in the cultural landscape—topics like science, faith and politics, and how to relate to the LGBTQ community. Now, after all our discussions, it’s time to turn our attention to how we can actually invest in the culture we care so much about. We can do that as we learn the art of sowing…
Christ in the Public Sphere: Politics
Our Christ and Culture class at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC picked back up this past Sunday, April 12 with our discussion titled Christ in the Public Sphere: Politics. Review or catch up on our discussion points from last Sunday with this handout and read summary below from Butler Stoudenmire, one of our Christian-Education teachers.
The cultural beliefs of our country and the laws of our country intersect through the political process. In an American system, where the people have direct input into their system of government, the cultural trends of the age find their way into law. As we have been discussing during this series, Christians have an important responsibility to engage the culture around us in a manner that is truthful and Gospel-centered–yet also respectful and in common, relatable terms. But what is the Christian’s role to be in a political system that declares a separation between church and state?
First, we examined the reason we need a government: We are in a fallen condition and need authority in our lives. God has ordained leaders and government as authority within our lives so as to maintain order and ensure justice. Second, we examined different schools of thought around how Christians should engage the political system. Last, we considered the idea of focusing our political involvement on local issues, as opposed to the much more talked about national issues. As a community of believers in Charleston, there are many causes and issues here upon which we can have a profound impact.
Please join us next Sunday, April 19 at 9:15 am for our Christian-Education hour, as we continue our Christ and Culture series in a discussion titled Christ and the Public Sphere: The Marketplace.
Christ & Culture Class, Week 9
This past Sunday, March 22 during the Christian-Education hour at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC, we continued our science discussion as part of our Christ and Culture class. Use the handout from class to do your own exploring over the next few weeks.
For the next two Sundays during the Christian-Education hour, we’ll take a break from our Christ and Culture class as we celebrate Easter. Join us this Sunday, March 29 for a special Palm Sunday lesson with the whole church family starting at 9:15 am. Then we’ll enjoy breakfast together on Easter Sunday, April 5. See details about all our Easter Week events here.
Christ & Culture Class, Week 8
Our adult Christian-Education class at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC, continued this past Sunday, March 15 our discussion of topical culture issues. We looked this past Sunday at the intersection of science and religion, including how we as a church should interact with one another and our culture in relation to science. Read the handout used for discussion, and read here about our past topics and discussions. Join us this Sunday, March 22 at 9:15 am for coffee and fellowship before we dive into the second part of the science discussion.
Christ & Culture Class, Week 6
Our adult Christian-Education class at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC, began this past Sunday, February 22 our discussion of the church’s engagement with the LGBTQ community. Read the questions and handout used in Sunday’s discussion.
To help suss out our thoughts and current views on engagement, Kurt created the following “news” story:
Jericho-Area Doctor Refuses to Care for Beaten Man
February 19, 32AD http://jerusalemlocal.com/levite-refuses-beaten-manJERICHO–Can a doctor refuse to help a wounded man because he was in the care of a Samaritan? That situation played out near the Jerusalem highway this week.
Moisch Tevia, of suburban Samaria, brought to the doctor’s office a traveling man who had been beaten by robbers and left for dead. But after waiting with the wounded man to receive treatment, Dr. Simon refused to see them. Another doctor told Moisch that Dr. Simon decided he couldn’t treat the beaten man because Moisch is from Samaria.
“Under current Jewish law, a doctor has an absolute right to refuse medical treatment on the basis of political and historical differences,” said Levite Legal Analyst Aaron Aaronheim.
The situation happened last October, but Jesus of Nazareth highlighted the story in public this week at a levitical lawyer’s symposium on the topic of “Moral Quandaries and National Honor.”
“I think people should know that this is happening to real people who are in need. This is really happening,” 30-year-old Moisch Tevia told the Jerusalem Local.
The 49-year-old doctor has since written Moisch and the wounded man a letter of apology, saying that after “much prayer” following the initial triage, he didn’t believe that he could develop a personal patient doctor relationship with the two of them.
“I never meant to hurt either of you,” he wrote. “Please know that I believe that God requires me to stand up for my morals in my practice and I’m not one to judge, but you are a Samaritan after all. Again, I am very sorry for the hurt and angry feelings that were created by this. I hope your wounded friend is okay.”
Still, Moisch says nothing will change the humiliation he felt that day. He had spent all day taking care of the robbed and beaten man only to be turned away by Dr. Simon because of who he is–and it’s completely legal.
“It was embarrassing. It was humiliating … It’s just wrong,” said Moisch. After he left Dr. Simon’s office, Moisch decided to treat the man himself. He bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’
After reading Kurt’s reinterpretation of the Good Samaritan story, we read an actual news story that happened in the Detriot area last week. With many of the same quotations, both of these stories pushed us to look at how we’re engaging with our culture, particularly the LGBTQ community, and how we perhaps should be engaging.
Join us for part two of our discussion this Sunday, March 1 during the Christian-Education hour.
Christ & Culture Class, Week 4
The adults at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC, continued the popular class Christ and Culture during the Christian-Ed. hour. Here’s what Mary Beth Anderson, a regular attendee of the class, said:
Each class inspires me to be totally centered on Christ as I interact with our culture. After each class, I feel better equipped to face our culture looking through the lens of Christ’s redeeming love. Each class reminds me of how Christ has divine sovereignty over everything, regardless of how hopeless our culture may seem. With all of the conflicts, confusion, and problems of our culture, this class is equipping us to approach each situation that we encounter with the unshaking confidence that Christ conquers all. This class is awesome preparation to be a true light for Christ in this culture, no matter how dark the circumstance.
Here’s the handout we started and will continue Sunday, February 15.
This coming Sunday, February 8 we have the privilege of praying for our Redeemer-supported missionaries who are communicating Christ to cultures around the world. We’ll enjoy a potluck breakfast together at 9:15 am, so bring some breakfast dishes to share and spend this Sunday with us praying for our brothers and sisters in other cultures.
Sunday Notes from Jan. 25
Our Christ and Culture class continued this week for adults during the Christian-Ed. hour at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC. Here are the questions and discussion points from Sunday, January 25. Join us this Sunday at 9:15 am for coffee and fellowship, as we continue our discussion.
During our 10:30 am worship service, we heard one of our community groups share how they helped raise funds for a ministry dedicated to fighting human trafficking in India. Read the information from Sunday’s bulletin insert. For more information about Rahab’s Rope, visit their website.
Our senior pastor continued in our Deuteronomy series. We examined Deuteronomy 12:1-7 this week, moving into God’s law that Moses presents in chapters 12-26. God’s law awed God’s people because it’s awesome and a blessing. As we’ve seen in previous weeks, a choice confronts each of us: to obey or disobey. If we don’t establish the importance of obeying all of God’s laws, then we’ll embrace laws we like and disengage with laws we don’t like.
The foundation of God’s law is important, so we spent some time laying the foundation for the next 15 chapters of God’s law. The Westminster Confession of Faith describes God’s people at this point in their history as “the church under age.” God will use this law to show this church under age their need for Jesus, through giving judicial law, ceremonial law, and moral law. God’s law ordered life–it did not give life. The blessing of life comes through faith–not through the law.
With a strong foundation of the purpose of God’s law, we looked at the extreme part of God’s law–and hardest part of the law to do–that Moses tells God’s people first.
Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains,on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places. Deuteronomy 12:2-3
God is powerfully direct: Destroy idols. God tells us, “Life is here in me and with me; death is everywhere else.” Listen to the whole sermon here.
Christ & Culture Class, Week 2
At Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC, our adult Christian-Education class continued its new study this past Sunday, January 18, titled Christ and Culture. We continued looking at the preeminence of Christ in all things, and our teacher encouraged us to meditate this week on Colossians 1:15-20 because of the awesome claims it makes about Christ:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.
If you missed last week or just want to refresh yourself on what we discussed, here are the questions we examined during the class this past Sunday. And here’s the information from Week 1.
Join us this upcoming Sunday, January 25 at 9:15 am as we continue our look at Christ and Culture! And you can help shape our cultural discussions by completing this form to offer feedback.
Christ & Culture Class Started Sun., Jan. 11
At Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC, our adult Christian-Education class started a new study this past Sunday, January 11, titled Christ and Culture. We began our study looking at the preeminence of Christ in all things, detailed in Colossians 1:9-20. Here are the questions we examined and the breakdown of verses 13-20.
Join us this Sunday, January 18 at 9:15 am as we continue our look at Christ and Culture! And you can help shape our cultural discussions by completing this form to offer feedback.