August 2002
Shalom haverim! - (friends)
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En-Gedi Fellowship Dinner - Friday, September 20
Mark your calendars and pick out your recipes for our first Fellowship Dinner of the fall! En-Gedi is continuing its tradition of Fellowship dinners for us to get to know our friends better, and for you to have a chance to hear some excellent presentations. We would like to invite all our friends to a relaxed evening at our third En-Gedi Fellowship Dinner, Friday, Sept. 20, at 6:30 PM. The dinner will be held at the Zeeland Community Center, 14 S. Church Street, Zeeland, MI - in the same building as the Zeeland Library. Map to ZCC
It will be a potluck-style dinner - all we ask is that you bring a dish to share; we will provide table service and beverages. A freewill offering will be taken. Please invite your spouse or a friend. After dinner, we will listen to an excellent scholar on Jesus' life and context , Dr. Steven Notley. The title of his talk is "Are You the One Who is to Come? Jesus and John the Baptist". He will be speaking several more times that weekend. (More information is below.)
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Fall En-Gedi Class:
If
we want to understand Jesus, we need to understand His Bible. Everything
Jesus taught and His mission on earth were all based on the scriptures
that He read. In this twelve-week series, we will have an overview
of the Old Testament from a Hebraic perspective - focusing especially
on the texts that were the foundations for Jesus' ministry. We will
try to put ourselves in the culture of the Bible to hear its words
again for the first time. We will use Powerpoint images and objects
from the land of Israel to experience the stories that Jesus read
for ourselves.
Time: Wednesdays 7:00 – 8:30 PM September 11 – November 30
Location: Christ Memorial Church, 595 Graafscap Rd, Holland, MI,
Fellowship Hall
Instructors: Bruce Okkema & Lois Tverberg,
Directors of the En-Gedi Resource Center
Materials: Your own study Bible, which includes study notes
Class Notebook (provided, suggested donation $10)
Weekly Sessions:
Sep. 11 A New Look at Jesus' Bible - Overview Sep. 18 In the Beginning … Sep. 25 Abraham: A Covenant of Faithfulness Oct. 2 Jacob & Joseph, A Family Story Oct. 9 Exodus: The Great Rescue Oct. 16 Mt. Sinai, Covenant and the Torah Oct. 23 Joshua: Moving into Israel Oct. 30 David & Solomon: The Messianic Kings Nov. 6 Two Faithful Women Nov. 13 The Psalms: Jesus' Hymn Book Nov. 20 Daniel: Faithfulness in a Sinful Culture Nov. 27 The Messianic Promise
Sign Up: At the Adult Education
Kiosk at Christ
Memorial Church or by emailing
Lois Tverberg at egrc@egrc.net.
or calling the En-Gedi Resource Center at (616) 35 5-2200.
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En-Gedi is Multilingual!
En-Gedi recently learned that some of our
articles have been translated into Chinese and sent to friends overseas.
Our friend offered to translate any others into Chinese. Let us know!
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Dr.
Steven Notley is professor of Biblical Studies at the New
York City campus of Nyack College. A member and past director of the
Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research, Notley earned his Ph.D. at Hebrew
University under the direction of David Flusser. He has written extensively
about the first century context of Jesus' teachings. Many of his articles
are available at www.jerusalemperspective.com.
During his 16 years in Israel, Notley was extensively involved in directing travel and field study for students and laity in Israel, Greece and Turkey. He served as chairman of the department of New Testament Studies at Jerusalem University College from 1996 to 2001. Currently, Dr. Notley lives in New York with his wife, Sunya, and their four children.
En-Gedi takes great pleasure in hosting several seminars with him on the weekend of September 20 - 22, 2002. For more information about any of these seminars, contact us at egrc@egrc.net or (616) 355-2200.
En-Gedi
Pastor's Breakfast
Friday,
September 20, 2002, 7:30 - 9:00 AM
En-Gedi sponsors a breakfast series for pastors and seminarians with the goal of exploring the cultural background of the Bible. We intend this as forum to discuss the implications of the Jewish culture on biblical interpretation, and ways to introduce congregations to the biblical context. The breakfast will be from 7:30 to 9 AM at the Zeeland Community Center, 14 S Church St, Zeeland, MI 49426. (It is located in the same building as the Zeeland Public Library.) Map to Zeeland Community Center
The Gospel According to John The Baptist
As an expert on the historical and social context of the gospels, Dr. Notley will talk about John the Baptist in light of his first century Jewish context.
If you are a pastor, pastoral intern, or are in seminary and would like to attend, please email us at egrc@egrc.net, or contact us at (616) 355-2200 to register beforehand.
En-Gedi
Fellowship Dinner
6:30 PM, Friday, September 20, 2002
Are You the One Who is to Come?
Jesus and John the Baptist
Dr. Notley will discuss the ministries of Jesus and John the Baptist, and how they related to each other.
Zeeland Community Center, 14 S Church St, Zeeland, MI 49426
En-Gedi is continuing its tradition
of Fellowship dinners for us to get to know our friends better, and
for you to have a chance to hear some outstanding presentations. We
would like to invite all our friends to a relaxed evening at our third
En-Gedi Fellowship Dinner, Friday, Sept. 20, at 6:30 PM. It will be
a potluck-style dinner - all we ask is that you bring a dish to pass;
we will provide table service and beverages. Please invite your spouse
or a friend. After dinner, Dr. Notley will give a presentation.
Map
to Zeeland Community Center
Weekend
Workshop
Saturday,
September 21, 2002
The
Suffering of the Righteous:
Jesus in the Epicenter of First Century Jewish Thought
Shortly before Jesus' coming, the Jewish people began to go through a crisis of faith - suffering for being righteous. Before then, the prophets had justified affliction as God's punishment for sin. But now, for the first time in history, the more the Jews obeyed God's laws, the more they suffered at the hands of the Greeks and Romans. As a people they dealt with the most difficult question that mankind faces: How can a good God allow the righteous to suffer? Into this context Jesus came, and his response to this question was a central theme of His ministry. We will look at the conversation that was going on around him, and Jesus' revolutionary ideas.
Session 1 - Resurrection and the Jewish Response to the Suffering of the Righteous
Session 2 - Abel, Jesus and the Son of Man--The Hope for RedemptionSession 3 - Do this and Live! The Ethics of Jesus as a Consequence to the Jewish Crisis of Faith
The workshop will be held from 9:30 AM - 3 PM at the Zeeland Community Center, 14 S Church St, Zeeland, MI 49426. (It is located in the same building as the Zeeland Public Library.
Refreshments and lunch will be provided. Preregistration is required. Seating will be limited - sign up soon. The fee for the day-long session with Dr. Notley: $40/person. Pre-register by using our
Online Resource Center or by calling (616) 355-2200 or by email egrc@egrc.net. Please give each person's name, address and phone and email.
Sunday, September 22, 2002
Whose
Sin Caused the Tower to Collapse?
Reflections on 9/11
On the morning of 9/11 last year, Dr. Notley was going to work in downtown
Manhattan, a short distance from the World Trade Center. He will reflect
on his own experience in the light of Jesus' teachings.
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Thank you for your continuing prayer as
we serve the Lord together.
Shalom -
Lois Tverberg, Director
Bruce Okkema, Executive Director
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The
En-Gedi Resource Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that is
solely dependent on your tax-deductible contributions. We very much
appreciate your support.