Windows onto the Passion: The Passion and the Bible course
This series of three online evening courses will offer some different windows—lenses—onto the Passion. While the story of Jesus’s last week from his entry into Jerusalem through to his crucifixion on Good Friday is familiar to Christians, this series will offer new angles and creative approaches on these narratives.
As well as providing a reflective space—an opportunity to pause during Lent—these courses will also offer some fresh resources and insights for those preaching and leading worship during Lent and Passiontide.
Each evening will include a lecture, short break and time for discussion between participants and the tutors.
In the first session with Jayme Reaves, we will read the Passion texts in the Gospels as part of our devotional practice. But often, familiarity makes us blind to what is hidden in plain sight.
We will explore together the narrative of Jesus’s final days, and how what he experienced resonates with and challenges us as communities of faith and individuals to respond appropriately and sensitively to contemporary victims of torture, sexual and physical abuse. [Trigger warning: we will be discussing the experiences and impact of abuse in various forms]
Session Two with Ayla Lepine on 24 March
The Passion in Art will focus on the devotional tradition of the Stations of the Cross, with an exploration of art by women including Frida Kahlo, Sybil Andrews and Julia Margaret Cameron.
Across a wide range of materials and approaches, new ways to journey with Jesus in his final hours can emerge, transforming our vision of Christ’s Passion and modern art’s engagement with theology.
Session Three with Thomas Oord on 2 April
The Passion, Self-Denial and Letting Go will explore the Passion through the lens of self-denial and letting go—or, to use the Greek term, kenosis. How helpful is it to understand Christ’s Passion as an act of self-sacrifice, and how might we re-imagine self-denial and letting go in our contemporary society, church and ministry?
Leave a Reply