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Join us for an in-person, after-worship study concerning the difficult teachings of Jesus. Beginning Sunday, September 11, Mark and Teresa Kissel will lead a 60 minute study based on Amy-Jill Levine’s book, “The Difficult Words of Jesus.” 

Jesus told parables to help us discern questions of ethics and human nature, and he preached the beatitudes to give us comfort and encouragement. But sometimes He said things that followers ever since have found troubling. For instance, He instructs disciples to hate their own families (Luke 14:26), to act like slaves (Matthew 20:27), and to sell their belongings and give to the poor (Luke 18:22). 

The book, written by a Biblical scholar, examines how these difficult teachings would have sounded to the people who first heard them, how they have been understood over time, and how we might interpret them in the context of the Gospel of love and reconciliation.