LEADER GUIDE FOR ADULT STUDY IN A CONGREGATION

Welcome to an adult Bible Study using the book Manna and Mercy by Dan
Erlander.

You are about to open an amazing resource. Manna and Mercy is in a word, a
brilliant book! A graphic novel way ahead of its time, Manna and Mercy utilizes
both clever, dynamic artwork and profound prose to tell the story of the Bible
in a condensed form.

One can easily get a lot out of Manna and Mercy by just looking at the
pictures and reading the captions, but the words of the text are equally worth
noticing and pondering. One of my favorite passages is from the Nativity
section, where Erlander writes, Mary placed the little baby in a feedbox. Angels
sang. Animals smiled. The trees clapped their hands, and all creation rejoiced.
Lowly shepherds, informed by angels, came and found the child in the feedbox.
God smiled. In this baby the creator of the universe was present—with
creation, with the poor one of the poor, good news to the poor!

As a writer I appreciate how difficult it can be to sustain themes throughout a

work, but Dan Erlander does just that in Manna and Mercy. Of course he has a
good precedent—the themes of God’s people appear again and again
throughout scripture. Themes of exile and return, sharing and becoming
selfish, trusting and wandering away. Erlander reads the Bible with a well-tuned
ear for God’s justice message, and traces that thread throughout Old and New
Testaments, highlighting the “big deals” who demand their own power and the
“cosmic koinonia” for which God continues to hope.

By the time you finish studying Manna and Mercy, the Bible will make more
sense to you. You will notice how the Wilderness School of the Exodus people
connects to the Wilderness School that Jesus encountered at the start of his
ministry. You will witness how the cycle of God’s people falling apart, yet
maintaining a remnant of faithfulness, repeats itself again and again and again.
You will see that the end of the story (never the end of course) circles back
to God’s love from the very beginning of the story.

Dan Erlander always makes sure that God is the main character in Manna and
Mercy. That focus proves so refreshing. As we read chapter after chapter, we
witness God’s vision, God’s challenges, and God’s perseverance. In the first
chapter of Manna and Mercy, we read about the journey with God upon which
we are about to embark: It’s a long story—a story of friendship, passion,
promise, disappointment, hope, and self-giving love. It is a story of God mending
the universe. Focusing for six weeks on God’s actions brings us closer to the
history and heart of our faith.

So go for it! Open Manna and Mercy, and invite your faith community to pursue
the two main goals of the book—1) that we learn the Bible stories and 2) that
we contextualize the stories for our daily faith lives.

How to Proceed?
How do we begin to study a book that is a boiled down, albeit brilliant,
compilation of the Bible? Manna and Mercy is deceptively simple, so figuring out
how to use it can also look easier than it is. How to start? What to lift up?
How to divide up the book? I arbitrarily made those decisions to give you a
place to start. I field-tested this Manna and Mercy Bible Study for six weeks
during a Lenten Sunday morning adult class at Immanuel Lutheran Church in
Seattle, Washington. Dan Erlander is a member of Immanuel Lutheran and he
participated in the study, so this study has his imprimatur!
How to divide up the Manna and Mercy book
We divided up Manna and Mercy into six sections, but you can extend or
shorten it to fit your time frame. We used our six weeks to focus on:
1) Creation and Exodus
2) Wilderness School
3) Kings, Prophets, and Exile
4) Jesus’ Life
5) Jesus’ Resurrection and the Early Church
6)God’s Vision
Manna and Mercy is densely filled with the stories of the Bible. In six weeks, we
had to pick and choose what we lifted up, and we had to leave out many, many
stories. I hope you are inspired by the stories and themes that we picked out,
and the activities we used, to be creative about using Manna and Mercy in your
own ways. The most important thing is to dive into this resource that will
spark your spiritual knowledge and commitment.

The shape of each class:

1) Tell the story. In a way Manna and Mercy is like a great picture book for
us to hear and see. We have created slide shows and scripts of Dan’s
pictures and words for you to use as you tell the basic story of God and
God’s people each week.
2) Explore the themes. Learning happens in many ways, including listening
and action. We included opportunities in this study for groups to discuss
big issues from Manna and Mercy, and to play with some of the themes in
the book. In order to unfold more of the theology of Manna and Mercy,
we turned to a great teacher to help us, Alan Storey. He is a
pastor/theologian from South Africa who loves this book, and has made
short teaching lessons that flesh out and contextualize the ideas raised
in Manna and Mercy. All the Alan Storey videos are available at the web
site, MannaandMercy.org.
3) We developed ongoing symbols to tie the weeks of the study together. I
read a children’s study guide for Manna and Mercy, and I really like one
of the ideas they used. The teacher hung up a clothesline, and each week
the class added a few of Dan Erlander’s pictures from that part of the
study. We borrowed the clothesline idea in our class, and it was great!
The clothesline provided a focal point at the front of the room. It
showed how the Manna and Mercy story grew with each week. It gave us
a chance to demonstrate how themes in the New Testament tied back to
themes in the Old Testament. Finally, the clothesline allowed us to add
our own stories to God’s bigger story, as we literally clothes-pinned up
our writing pages in between Dan’s pictures, particularly our church
stories from Session 5.
Within an hour-long class, you can review the previous week to set a context,
show a brief slide show of the section of the Bible on which you are focusing,
explore the themes from that section in two or three ways, including
discussion, interaction, and video learning, and wrap up with a summary and
prayer.

Everyone should have a book of their own!

Of course, before the study begins, everyone should get a copy of Manna and
Mercy. You can order them at http://mannaandmercy.org/order-stuff.html.
Ideally, participants adult study will have read the chapters in the book before
class. We did not always find that to be true, and it’s not absolutely necessary,
but the material will of course prove richer if the participants read and study
the book on their own, as well.

Dan Erlander does a great job of including the Biblical references throughout
Manna and Mercy. We were always sure to have Bibles available to class
participants, for further reference and to remind people that we were actually
studying our holy book.

May God bless and keep you as you embark on this delightful, life-changing
study. Manna and Mercy opens the Bible for us, and invites us into discipleship.
Where better but in community to practice that call!

Pastor Mary Lindberg

Seattle, Washington
Session 1: Beginnings – Chapters 1 and 2

Materials for this class

Paper, pens, pyramid handout, video link, slide show and script

(Optional) Clothesline
If you want to use the Clothesline idea each week (see introduction),
here's what you need to do:
 Purchase a clothesline and clothespin (twine will do).
 Make copies of the Power Point pictures for each week. You can
color them before you display them to add a little more zip.
 Each week before class or doing the introduction, add the Manna
and Mercy pictures from the week before to review the class
progress so far.

Week by week the clothesline fills with Manna and Mercy pictures as you
make your way through the Bible. It provides a focal point in the
classroom, a monitor of your progress, and an excellent way to display
Dan Erlander’s amazing artwork.

You can add other pieces to the clothesline in addition to the Manna and
Mercy artwork, in order to help demonstrate the concepts raised in the
book. For example:
 Class participants could color in the block letters of MERCY as you
talked about Jesus’s lessons of mercy. Add those letters MERCY
to the clothesline.
 Cut lengths of yarn, and use them to demonstrate how Old and
New Testaments themes are tied together. For example, the first
Wilderness School reminds us of the Wilderness School during The
Exile, as well as Jesus’ Wilderness School in the desert as he
began his ministry. Attach the ends of the yarn with a paperclip to
the bottoms each of the pictures that are tied together.
 During Session 5, if you write about churches from your past and
the lessons those churches taught us about God and Manna-and-
Mercy living: Clothes-pin your statement pages in between the
Manna and Mercy artwork on the clothesline to demonstrate how
our stories are part of God’s larger story and intertwined with
the stories of God’s people.
minutes. Participants receive no prompt, merely a paper and pencil.
Participants then turn the paper over and write for exactly two
minutes, beginning with the prompt "in the beginning." Which writing
exercise was easier? Why? God gave us the prompt—“in the beginning.”
We didn’t create something out of nothing; God did.

The Big Deals/Hierarchy

Show the Alan Storey video clip: http://www.mannaandmercy.org/audio-
video/alan-storey-video-clips/Video-11.html or order the full set of videos
on DVD from http://www.mannaandmercy.org.

Summary: God has called us into authentic partnership. God has chosen
to need us, to be dependent on us to fulfill the dream of mending our
world. When we choose not to love, society takes on a structure of
domination. People begin to think of themselves as “big deals”, standing
on top of others.

In the book of Exodus, we find a leader (Pharaoh) who is fearful of

people and forgetful of God – and he designs a structure of domination.
A fear-full leader is a love-less leader. A leader who forgets God wants
to be treated as a god, worshipped like God, who thinks they are god.
An oppressive system rests on exploited people at the bottom. Religion
often ordains this system and the military protects it.

Using the example of a pyramid, if you own a car, a computer, a house

with an indoor bathroom, you are in the top 5 or 10% of the pyramid of
the world. If you eat 3 meals a day, it means you are wealthy. We need
to realize where we are on this pyramid in relation to the world. If we
want to journey anywhere, we need to first know where we are. We
need to be honest about where we are on the economic pyramid.
Salvation, liberation, redemption is not “good news” for everyone. If
slaves go free, what will Pharaoh think of that? The status quo is
skewed on behalf of the privileged. So proclamation of good news for
the poor, release to the captives, and manna and mercy for all, is not
good news for those who have a stake in this pyramid.

Sin (love-lessness, justice-lessness, no gentleness, …) is never private.

Sin is personal but always has public or political ramifications because it
impacts the way society is structured. Because sin has a social impact,
there is no such thing as personal, private salvation. We cannot
privatize God’s word. Every decision we make impacts on everybody.

Building Pyramids
Once upon a time God was vexed with a nation called Egypt. In this
nation a big deal Pharaoh was on top. In the middle were various big
deals and ordinary citizens. On the bottom were the slaves who lived
under heavy oppression. The Pharaoh depended upon the priests and the
military to keep the whole system going and to maintain the status quo.

Throughout Manna and Mercy, Dan Erlander illustrated the concept of

hierarchies with pyramids. Small groups study the first pyramid of the
Manna and Mercy on page 4 (see handout). Note the levels and
proportions of people in each tier. Participants then turn over their
handout to the side with the blank pyramid, and draw their impressions
of modern pyramid-systems of government, family, or social strata (use
empty pyramid attached)

Summary
In session one…
 We demonstrated how Manna and Mercy condenses the Bible
 We heard the stories of creation and exodus
 We used a writing exercise to consider how you begin something
 We created pyramids to demonstrate the world’s hierarchies

Closing Prayer
In the midst of a vast universe of stars and galaxies there exists a little
speck called Planet Earth. God loves the whole universe and God loves
Planet Earth. The Creator loves everything on this planet, including a
very mysterious thing called Life. God of Creation, we give you thanks
for bringing us to this place to consider your creation and salvation.
Lead us through your stories, and into your ways. Amen
 Session 1 Supplemental Materials

Session 1: Beginnings
Script and Images for Slideshow
You can find the PowerPoint slides at:
http://mannaandmercy.org/adult_study_powerpoints.html
(Several good readers could be selected to read the following text as
the slides are shown)

1. In the midst of a vast universe of stars and

galaxies there exists a little speck called Planet
Earth. God loves Planet Earth. And everything on
this planet, including a very mysterious thing called
Life! We cannot explain life. It does things like breathe, reproduce,
eat, change, grow, and finally die to nourish other life.

2. God once created a special

being called “human.” These
partner creatures enjoyed God
and helped the Creator take care of the beautiful garden called
Earth. God smiled. All had enough, and the partner creatures loved
God and helped God. God looked at Earth and said…Tov!

3. God’s celebration was

disrupted when the earth
creatures decided they could
find joy in ways other than
living as partners with God. Humans decided to become big deals.
How did humans know if they were big deals? They knew by bossing
other humans around, by piling up stuff, and by dominating nature.

4. God groaned. Planet Earth

groaned. God thought about
destroying Planet Earth or at
least snuffing out the humans.
But God, in passionate love, decided on another way. The Bible tells
the story of God’s new way. It is a story of friendship, passion,
promise, disappointment, hope and self-giving love. It is a story of
God mending the universe.
 Session 1 Supplemental Materials

5. Once upon a time God was vexed with a

nation called Egypt. In this nation a big deal
Pharaoh was on top and slaves were on the
bottom. The slaves, moaning under the brutal
oppression, cried out to God. God heard their
cry and recruited a reluctant man named
Moses, a relative of the slaves, to help with a
liberation.

6. Moses led the slaves out of

Egypt to the east. The
Pharaoh chased them and
trapped them at the shore of
the Sea of Reeds. The
liberator God blew on the water, and the former slaves walked
across on dry ground. The army of Pharaoh pursued but got stuck
in the mud. The people were now free! They sang a song of
liberation: Yahweh is our strength and our song, and Yahweh has
become our salvation.

7. Yahweh thought and thought,

“Now that I have birthed a
people, what shall I do with
them?” Yahweh thought of a
wonderful plan:

1. I will tenderly raise my people to live as partners with me.

2. My people will teach other nations how to live.
3. Other nations will become partners with me and spread my
ways.
God went to work on the plan. The first step was to lead the
people into the wilderness. This precarious wilderness land would
become God’s classroom, the place where the people would learn
how to live.
Session 1 Supplemental Materials
Session 2: Wilderness School - Chapters 3-5

Materials for this class

Paper, pens, Manna Game handout, video link, slide show and script

Setup
Before class, make sure you can project the Session 2 slide show and
view the Alan Storey video. Preview both of these resources. Contact a
musician who can play their instrument during the Closing Prayer.

Introduction
Optional: Have your musician pick and lead a verse or two of a hymn that
ties into the theme of manna, sufficiency or bread sharing.

What did you remember during the week from Session 1?

Welcome to Wilderness School, where God’s people went because God

loves experiential education. God’s people escaped Pharaoh’s Egypt and
are preparing to enter the promised land. According to theologian Alan
Storey we need a place of transition between oppression and promise.
God’s people spent 40 years wandering and learning in wilderness school.
Why 40? Numerology is always symbolic in the Bible. 40 days and 40
nights; 40 days in the wilderness for Jesus. We also know that there
are 40 weeks of pregnancy. God is birthing a people, teaching them how
to live as effective partners so they can fulfill God’s dream to mend the
universe. In Wilderness School, God’s people learn about manna living, i.e.,
what is enough. They also receive God’s covenant, and learn about
Sabbath.

Tell the Story

Show the slideshow and read the script for Manna and Mercy chapters
3-5 (see script below).

Explore the Themes

Manna/Enough
Review the Manna Lessons from Wilderness School
1) don’t take more than we need;
2) what we have belongs to God;
3) everybody gets enough

Play the Manna Game. Everyone receives a piece of manna (crackers) and
table groups follow a list of instructions about what to do with their
manna. (Distribute one instruction sheet to each table, and assign a
group leader to lead the table through the steps).
1. The person whose birthday falls earliest in the year should give
their manna to the person whose birthday falls latest in the year
2. The shortest person should give their manna to the tallest.
3. Everyone should pass their manna two persons to the right.
4. People born west of the Mississippi should take the manna of the
people born east of the Mississippi.
5. The person with the most pets should give their manna to the
person with the least pets.
6. Give half of your table’s manna to a table with more men than
women and the other half to a table that needs your manna.
7. All tables redistribute their manna so everyone has an equal
amount.
8. Participants discuss how they felt as givers and receivers and what
they noticed during the Manna Game

The leader might want to continue the conversation, talking about when
people experience Manna sharing and when they don’t. Feel free to
include personal examples (e.g. sharing and equity at school and work),
church examples (the sharing bread of bread at communion, freely giving
away our money at the offering time, etc), and larger examples in
society (health care, hunger and food policy, the growing gaps between
rich and poor, etc).

Covenant
View Alan Storey video clip: The Law as Gift. Encourage participants to
write down a couple Alan Storey reflections from the video clip (for
example: “enjoy being enjoyed” or “never forget that you were a
slave.”)
http://www.mannaandmercy.org/audio-video/alan-storey-video-clips/Video-
13.html

Summary of clip: A liberated people has to decide how we are going to

live. We want to make rules and laws so we don’t go back into the
previous oppression. The Ten Commandments served as a Bill of Rights
for the new constitution. The first command is really a reminder that
God has set us free so these “commandments” are lived in response to
that gift of grace/liberation. We don’t keep commandments to make us
free or to make God love us – we keep them in response to God’s love.
The Sabbath is a time to enjoy being enjoyed (by God). Sabbath means
rest and remember. It is not just a day but a principle we should
remember every day. All creation (the environment) needs a Sabbath as
well to be rejuvenated. Every 50 years (Jubilee Year) we need to
redistribute wealth/land so there isn’t such a large gap between those
who have more and those with less. Jesus longs for this economy to be
realized. When you forget this Sabbath principle, you re-enter bondage
– this time Babylon rather than Egypt; you self-destruct.

Group members share the reflections they jotted down and talk about
which of Alan’s points they will remember and why.

Summary
During Session 2:
 We introduced the idea of Wilderness School, where God’s people
learned God’s ways of living.
 We explored the topic of manna living and “enough.”
 We learned about and discussed various aspects of God’s covenant.
 We closed with a taste of God’s gift of Sabbath.

Closing Prayer

Sabbath
God gave us Sabbath as a way to measure "enough." Invite a musician
to play a hymn on the piano for several minutes while the group simply
rests in quiet prayer and allows the music be a gift.

What will you take away?

 Session 2: Wilderness School – Supplemental Materials

Session 2: Wilderness School (Chapters 3-5)

Script for Slideshow
You can find the PowerPoint slides at:
http://mannaandmercy.org/adult_study_powerpoints.html
(Several good readers could be selected to read the following text while
the slides are shown)

1. God waited and waited for

the first teachable moment in
wilderness school. That
moment came when the people
grumbled about food. Yahweh
responded by showering them
with some edible substance called “What is it?” or “Manna.” By
receiving manna each day, the people learned: We can trust God
for daily bread. God gives enough—not too much, not too little.

2. But some of the people decided to hard

manna into big piles. The manna they hoarded
grew maggots. They learned God’s next lesson:
Hoarding stinks!

3. Yahweh had one more

lesson to share about manna
in wilderness school. No manna
fell on the seventh day of the
week, the Sabbath. The people
could eat manna from the day before, which did not rot. Humans
did not have to work on Sabbath. Sabbath is a beautiful gift of God
which makes it possible to rest.

4. God promised to give the wilderness people land, but

he worried that they would go back to Pharaoh’ ways
with big deals and little deals, rich and poor. Yahweh
came up with a plan: I will bind myself to this people in
covenant partnership.
 Session 2: Wilderness School – Supplemental Materials

5. What a day it was when the covenant-making

ceremony took place at a mountain called Sinai!
On that special day God gave the people a
covenant word that showed them how to live
on their land. The people received God’s gift
and called it Torah. The covenant gift taught
people about practical things—like farming,
animal care, sharing, balance, and Sabbath.

6. After many years in

wilderness school, and after
failing many exams, God’s
partner people were ready
for graduation. The
graduation ceremony took
place at the boundary, on the east side of the Jordan. Moses
delivered a powerful commencement address. He pleaded with the
people to remember God’s love and the lessons Yahweh had taught
them. Moses sang a beautiful song of praise, then climbed Mt Nebo
and died there.

Joshua, Moses’ successor, led the people over the Jordan River
and into the promised land. Those were good days—not perfect,
but good days. The manna people lived on the land of their
inheritance in simplicity and equality.

7. The partner people loved to tell stories about

their ancestors, especially Mother Sarah and Father
Abraham. The partner people cried out, “That story
is about us! We are the children of Sarah and
Abraham!. Our purpose is to bring a blessing to all the nations.”
Session 3: Kings, Prophets, and Exile -
Chapters 6-9

Materials for this class

Paper, pens, Session 3 handout, video link, slide show and script,
white board and markers, hymnal, Bibles

Setup
Before class, make sure you can project the Week 3 slide show and
view the Alan Storey video. Preview both of these resources. Make
copies of the hymn and the Session 3 handout.

Introduction
Optional: Have your musician pick and lead a verse or two of a
hymn that ties into the theme of exile.

What did you remember from last week during the week?

Highlight the large size of this section of the Bible. Invite

participants to find the same section in their Bibles. This next
section is a large, middle chunk of the Bible that is less familiar to
them than the beginning and later sections.

This section of the Bible encompasses a wide swath of time and

place. A repeating cycle emerges as God’s people continue to move
and change:

1. God’s faithful people "get it." They worship God and live a
manna life
2. God’s people get nervous and greedy and wander away from
God
3. A small remnant (remainder) of God’s people return to God,
and God delivers them to live a manna life once more

During this period in the Bible, God’s dream of a mended universe

falls apart for all but a small “remnant” group of believers. They
remain faithful, and God uses them to advance the dream of a
manna society.
Tell the Story
Show slides and read script for Manna and Mercy chapters 6-9
(see script below).

Explore the Themes

Exile
Direct class participants to gather their materials, stand up, and
go sit at another table. Each person should then write for 2
minutes about what happens to them when someone tells them to
move. They then share their writing with one other person.

Prophecy
From the midst of the people who remained faithful, God raised up
special preachers called prophets. They had names like Amos,
Hosea, Micah, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. Through the prophets words
and dramatic actions God pleaded with the people “Come back to
me! Come back to your mission, to your calling, to the lessons you
learned in the wilderness. Come back to the joyful manna life.”

Alan Storey Video http://www.mannaandmercy.org/audio-video/alan-

storey-video-clips/Video-19.html

Summary: Prophets are like architects who look at an open lot and
can envision new homes or buildings in that space – something
grand and beautiful. They are hoping you will “buy into” that
vision/plan. Prophets are architects who are calling us to buy into
God’s dream of the future now.

Storytelling
During the days of the Kings, Yahweh spirited some of the
remnant people to write down old stories—stories about creation,
Abraham and Sarah, the liberation from Egypt, the wilderness
covenant ceremony, the promise to David, and the words of the
prophets. When the stories were written down, God breathed a
sigh of relief. If everyone left the covenant, a future generation
might read the holy words and return to the way of righteousness
and mercy—to the manna life.
Brainstorm a list of Bible stories from the Old Testament—
Creation, Noah’s Ark, the Exodus, etc. Write the list on a white
board. Study participants work in partners to retell one of the OT
stories. They can use the Bible if they need help with story details.

Summary
 We considered some stories and themes of the large, middle
section of the Bible—exile, prophets, and storytelling.
 We practiced “exile” in a small way, and noted our feelings
about the experience.
 We learned more about prophets, with the help of Alan
Storey.
 We became the storytellers God called us to be, so that we
would remember God’s way of righteous and mercy.
What do you take away with you from this section of Manna and
Mercy?

Closing Prayer
(optional: also add the singing of a hymn verse that relates to
Isaiah 60)

Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord
has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick
darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and God’s
glory will appear over you. Amen
 Session 3: Kings, Prophets and Exile – Supplemental Materials

Session 4: Kings, Prophets and Exile

(Chapters 6-9)
Script for Slideshow
You can find the PowerPoint slides at:
http://mannaandmercy.org/adult_study_powerpoints.html
(Several good readers could be selected to read the following text while
the slides are shown)

1. During the days of early Israel,

God’s partner people lived in
relative equality. But
neighboring people kept
bothering, pestering stealing
and attacking them. The situation led to a heated debate between
people who wanted a king and people who didn’t want a king. The
pro-king majority wanted a king like other nations. The minority
feared that with a king they would be like the Egypt of their
slavery. The two sides agreed to try a new possibility—a faithful
people led by a faithful king.

Saul was the first king—he worked out fine. Then King David was
even better. Then things turned bad. King Solomon found glory in
his 700 wives and 300 concubines, his riches and his collection of
apes baboons.

Yahweh wept—Israel had become like Pharoah’s Egypt.

(optional): Put this spoken refrain on a board

so that people can respond after each slide:
Round and round the story goes, through it all God’s mercy flows.

2. Solomon died. God’s partner people divided into

two rival nations, each with its own king. The south
was Judah; the north was Israel. The people of both
Judah and Israel left their liberator God, and
worshiped their manna piles and the gods of their neighbors. The
old vision faded. Except for a small remnant, nobody loved Yahweh
 Session 3: Kings, Prophets and Exile – Supplemental Materials

with heart and soul and strength. Few longed to live as a manna
people, a Sabbath people. Yahweh wept, and all creation wept.
Round and round the story goes, through it all God’s mercy flows.

3. All hope was not lost. A small remnant still

remembered God’s covenant promise and longed for
mercy. From their midst, God raised up special
preachers called the prophets. Through their words
and dramatic actions, God pleaded with the people
“Come back to me, come back to the lessons of manna
and mercy that you learned in wilderness school.” The prophets
told the people that their stupidity would lead to ruin. The big
deals tried to silence the prophets.

But the prophets were right. The Assyrians destroyed Israel, and
the Babylonians destroyed Judah. God’s people were led away from
their homes in chains. By the waters of Babylon the people wept.
They hung up their harps because they could not sing Yahweh’s
song in a strange land.
Round and round the story goes, through it all God’s mercy flows.

4. God’s passionate love burned for the exile people.

God wanted to repeat the exodus and set the people
free. When the Persians defeated the Babylonians, the
liberator God saw an opportunity for the second
“great exodus.” A remnant of the exiles went home.
Yahweh dared to dream that now this people would
become a light to the nations. The exiles danced and
laughed and sang on the highway from Babylon to Jerusalem. Their
homecoming was bittersweet. Houses, farms, and the temple lay in
ruins. The people felt like they had entered a new wilderness.
Yahweh started a school—where there’s a wilderness, there’s a
school.

And the main lesson in this wilderness school? Mercy.

Round and round the story goes, through it all God’s mercy flows.

5. Inspired by their teachers, the partner people

worked hard to restore their devastated land.
 Session 3: Kings, Prophets and Exile – Supplemental Materials

They fervently worshiped Yahweh. Elated at first, it was not long

before God began to worry. Something started to happen which
upset the one who loves all people. The leaders of the beloved
people decided that Israelites had to be completely separated from
foreigners if they were to live as God’s special people. Marriages
were broken; families were torn apart. Yahweh cried with those
whose lives were shattered. The partner people had chosen a
narrow form of righteousness. They had forgotten about mercy.

God rejoiced because a small remnant refused to go along with the

popular point of view. Through this minority Yahweh spoke to the
whole people in the form of simple and beautiful stories, like the
story of Ruth. Through these stories, the small minority
proclaimed:
God loves all people and wants everyone included in the realm of
mercy.
Round and round the story goes, through it all God’s mercy flows.

6. The postexilic community lived in relative

independence under Persian rule. Great change
came when the Macedonians defeated the Persians.
During the Great Persecution, God's faithful
survived by telling faith stories to encourage one
another, like Daniel in the Lion’s Den. After a century of manna
living, the priests became big deals and exploited the poor. A
remnant of the partner people realized they had no power, no
control over the future. Their only hope was to cry out to God in
their helplessness, as the slaves had cried out in Egypt.
Round and round the story goes, through it all God’s mercy flows.
Session 4: God’s Surprise - Chapters 10-12

Materials for this class

Paper, pens, Session 4 handouts, video link, slide show and script, white
board and markers, hymnal, Bibles, props for acting out Bible stories
(such as baskets, fake food, tablecloths, goldfish crackers)

Setup
Before class, make sure you can project the Week 4 slide show and view
the Alan Storey video. Preview both of these resources. Make copies of
the hymn and the Session 4 handout. Arrange for a musician to
accompany the hymn. Be sure the props are ready.

Introduction
Optional: Have your musician pick and lead a verse or two of a hymn that
ties into the theme of new creation, or following the way of Jeus.

What insights from last Sunday did you remember during the week?

This week we begin by showing connections between old and new

testaments—creation in the Old Testament becomes the New Creation in
Jesus; wilderness school begins anew for Jesus in the wilderness and his
disciples during their 3-year adventure with Jesus; power structures
with new names still attempt to thwart God’s vision of equality, and new
prophets retell the stories of God’s visions, like they did in the old
testament.

Once we place the new testament in context, we turn to God’s

surprise—Jesus. In all he taught and in all he did, Jesus proclaimed the
reign of God as a place of abundant manna and abundant mercy for all.
Jesus proclaimed that the new reality, the reign of God, is filled with
blessed people who are poor, merciful, pure in heart, hungry, weeping,
and persecuted. Everybody, absolutely everybody, is included in the
embrace of God. God is with us, the collective us. Therefore we are held
in God’s compassion, and God leads us to share that compassion with
others as disciples.

This week will we focus on 3 themes: God is with us; manna and mercy at
the table; and the cost of discipleship.
Tell the Story:
Read the script and show the slideshow for Manna and Mercy chapters
10-12 (see script below).

Explore the Themes

Immanuel – God Is With Us

Instead of a dramatic Red Sea type of event to save the people and
restore the universe, Yahweh found a young woman among the poor.
She loved God and yearned for the day when God would liberate her
people and restore the manna society. Her name was Mary. The Spirit of
God breathed into Mary as the Spirit had breathed into the watery
depths to bring forth the first creation. There with Mary, God formed a
new creation, Immanuel. God with us!

Divide the group into smaller groups of 2-3 persons. Equip each group
with a camera or camera phone. Send groups out into the church
building to photograph signs they see that God is with us. Maybe they
see those signs in the traditional word and sacrament symbols in the
sanctuary. Maybe they will photograph food in the freezer for the food
bank. Encourage participants to be creative and talk to one another and
ask them to come back in 10 minutes. When they return, encourage
them to move around the room and share their photos. After the whole
group re-gathers, ask what they discovered on their quest for signs
that God is with us.

Manna and Mercy Stories

The New Testament piles up story after story about Jesus—his words
and actions. The gospels are simultaneously intimate stories about Jesus’
daily life and an epic tale of salvation.

Often the stories of Jesus and food bring together the themes of
manna and mercy. In this activity, groups join together to tell the larger
group one of the Jesus stories of manna and mercy.

Deliver handouts to each table with the following instructions:

Table Questions for Jesus and Mercy stories
Read your assigned story in the Bible.
Decide how you want to tell the story.
Find props that help you tell the story.
Be sure to tell about how you see Manna and Mercy in your story.
Tempted Luke 4:1-13
The Wedding Banquet Matthew 22:1-10
Banquet with Simon Luke 7:36-50
Mary and Martha Luke 10:38-42
Wedding at Cana John 2:1-11
Jesus Feeds 5000 John 6:1-14
Last Supper John 13:1-20
Give groups 5-10 minutes to prepare to teach the class their story.
They can use the available props and Bibles to prepare. After preps,
give each group a chance to tell their story, highlighting its manna and
mercy aspects.

OR
If you perceive this story-telling activity to be too threatening for your
group, you might simply invite people to close their eyes for a few
moments, to sit in silence for awhile, and from their collective memories,
recall significant Gospel pictures of Jesus and manna and mercy.

After a time of silence, the leader might start the sharing out loud a
Gospel picture by saying “I see Jesus at the Wedding at Cana” …and
invite others to call out what are for them significant snapshots of
Jesus and manna and mercy.

The leader can instruct people to “Begin each memory with the simple
words ‘I see Jesus’…. And then follow with your Gospel picture.”

After all have had a chance to share, you might simple close this part by
saying “Thanks be to God, who has met us in Jesus. Amen.”

Mercy for All – Jesus’s Vision

View the Alan Storey video http://www.mannaandmercy.org/audio-
video/alan-storey-video-clips/Video-32.html

Summary: Jesus spoke about mercy for all and that got on the nerves
of the religious establishment. God’s mercy is a gift for everyone. So
much religion stresses who deserves it and who doesn’t, who is in and
who is out. Religious fundamentalists often try to determine who God
has “blessed” and who God punishes and think only what they believe is
right. “Evangelism” sometimes tries to get everyone to think the same
way. Do we want others to do that to us? Didn’t Jesus teach us “to do
unto others what we would have them do unto us?” Religious
fundamentalism is often the oil on the fires of so much conflict around
the globe. Fundamentalism reduces discipleship to just believing certain
things. Jesus tells us that God loves every single person regardless of
what we believe. To commit my life to Jesus is to allow Jesus to
determine and shape my understanding of God. God loves to forgive
everyone and have them become holy partners with God to mend this
world. Jesus is explicit that we are to love our enemies because God’s
mercy is so broad; God wants even our enemies to be God’s partners.
To believe means to give our hearts to that expansive and inclusive
mercy.

After viewing the video, small groups can discuss these questions:
 Why do we flunk Mercy in Wilderness School?
 What messages did you grow up with regarding God’s mercy?
 How do each of us keep from becoming fundamentalist about our
views?
To commit my life to Jesus is to allow Jesus to determine and shape my
understanding of God. Tell of a time this happened in your life.

Summary
 We heard stories from Manna and Mercy about Jesus, who was
God’s surprise.
 We looked at gospel themes that appear in Manna and Mercy,
specifically: Immanuel (God is with us), manna and mercy table
stories in the New Testament, and mercy for everyone.
 We spent time learning to know one another in our community, and
sharing our faith.

Closing Prayer
Read The Magnificat together (or alternatively sing a version that your
musician might lead)

Luke 1:47-55
My soul magnifies the Lord
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior
For he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all
Generations will call me blessed;
For the Mighty One has done
Great things for me,
And holy is his name
His mercy is for those who fear him
From generation to generation
He has shown strength with his arm;
He has scattered the proud in the
Thoughts of their hearts
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones
And lifted up the lowly
He has filled the hungry with good things
And sent the rich away empty
He has helped his servant Israel
In remembrance of his mercy,
According to the promise he made to our ancestors,
To Abraham and to his descendants forever.
 Session 4: God’s Surprise – Supplemental Materials

Session 4: God’s Surprise (Chapters 10-12)

Script for Slideshow
You can find the PowerPoint slides at:
http://mannaandmercy.org/adult_study_powerpoints.html
(Several good readers could be selected to read the following text while
the slides are shown)

1. In a land of injustice and division the

poor cried out to God. They pleaded
with God to send a ruler who would
liberate them and a establish a
manna society which would never end.

2. Yahweh heard the cry of all who were

oppressed. This time God moved in a way
that surprised every creation. God found a
young woman named Mary among the poor.
In Mary, God formed a new creation—
Immanuel. God with us!

3. Mary gave birth

while she and
Joseph, her fiancé,
were lodged in a
stable. She held
her newborn in her arms and repeated the song she had
sung when the child was conceived.

4. Jesus grew in years and the oppression

of the Pharaoh’s-Egypt society
increased. One day Jesus went into the
Jordan River and was baptized by the
fiery prophet John the Baptist. Through this water passage,
Yahweh anointed Jesus to serve as God’s liberator-messiah.
 Session 4: God’s Surprise – Supplemental Materials

After Jesus’s baptism, heaven opened and the Holy Spirit

descended like a dove.

5. Empowered by God’s Spirit and a life of

continuous prayer, Jesus went from
town to town teaching and preaching
with great authority. In all that he said
and did he announced the good news of the reign of God.
6. Jesus proclaimed
that the reign of
God is filled with
blessed people who
are poor, merciful,
pure in heart,
hungry, weeping, and persecuted. Everybody, absolutely
everybody, is included in the embrace of God. Jesus’ ministry
was indeed “good news to the poor.” He called the people
back to the lessons learned in wilderness school. Jesus came
to restore manna society.

7. The big deals were severely

threatened by Jesus . They were
afraid Jesus would either succeed in
establishing a society based on his
ideas. The big deals decided it was time to act to get rid of
Jesus.

8. The big deal religious leaders and the

Roman rulers collaborated to arrest
and condemn Jesus, because he
represented the dangerous reign of
lover and mercy and shalom. They
sentenced him to death by crucifixion.
Tell the Story
Read the script and show the slideshow for Manna and Mercy
chapters 13 and 14 (see script below).

Explore the Themes

Crucifixion and Resurrection

View the Alan Storey video http://mannaandmercy.org/audio-
video/alan-storey-video-clips/Video-38.html.
Alan Storey claims the resurrection shows that the world is really
the way Jesus said it is: love, gentleness, justice are the most
powerful forces – and that means evil has already been defeated.
The world’s “no” has been overcome by God’s “yes”. We are to
trust in the victory of God’s dream: shalom.

After viewing the video clip, ask people about their reaction to
this understanding of crucifixion and resurrection. How is it
different from what they have learned previously (e.g. Jesus died
for my sins so that I could go to heaven when I die).

We are the Church

Distribute pens and blank sheets of paper, and invite participants
to write for 3-4 minutes about a congregation from their past
that they remember. How was God at work in that church? How
did that particular congregation shape their faith? Participants
share their writing in small groups, and hang their completed
pages among the pictures from Manna and Mercy to demonstrate
that we are all part of God’s larger story.

Generosity for All – The Macedonia Story

St. Paul was not only concerned that believers live the manna life
as congregations. He was also deeply concerned that Christians
throughout the ancient world create a global community of faith.
The big test came when the Christians in Palestine (mostly Jewish)
did not have enough to eat because of a famine. At the same time
the Christians in Asia Minor and Macedonia (mostly Gentile) had
more than enough. Paul was elated when he delivered a generous
offering from the Macedonian believers at to the church in
Jerusalem. He took this as a sign that the whole church on earth
was living as a manna society.

View the following video clip about a modern day Macedonia tale:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNfTOj8R8Vs

Yahweh rejoiced with a partner people had emerged from the

sacrificial death and the glorious resurrection of Jesus. Watch this
video that demonstrates what happens when God’s people learn to
work together?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuR769wAXs8

Mission Talk Handout

Give people time either in the large group or in small groups to
grapple with some of the following questions:

 Why do churches with the least sometimes give the most?

 What inhibits churches from working together?
 How is your congregation demonstrating God’s dream of
abundant mercy for all and abundant manna for all?
 Where do see the Pentecost winds of the spirit blowing
around the world today?
 The early followers of Jesus shunned the immoral and
hedonistic ways of the Empire. They refused to participate in
events which were contrary to the Spirit and teaching of
Jesus. How do we live counter-culturally today and what
would that cost us?
 Post-resurrection, Jesus made his mission clear:
o Tell the nations of God’s plan and dream
o Tell God’s story of suffering
o Invite people to repent and receive forgiveness
o Preach about a Contrast Society
How is your congregation fulfilling Jesus’ mission statement?

Summary
This week we joined God’s partner people just after Jesus’
resurrection, and followed them through the Pentecost infusion of
the Holy Spirit. We glimpsed the early church, with its mission
goals and ongoing challenges. We met St. Paul, and heard stories
of churches past and present that made a difference for others
by practicing a manna and mercy way of life.

Closing Prayer
The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord God is
upon me, because the Lord has anointed; he has sent me to bring
good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to
proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Amen
 Session 5: A New Church – Supplemental Materials

Session 5: A New Church (Chapters 13-14)

Script for Slideshow
You can find the PowerPoint slides at:
http://mannaandmercy.org/adult_study_powerpoints.html
(Several good readers could be selected to read the following text while the
slides are shown)

1. We begin with a death, which brought old life to some and

new life to others. Joseph of Arimathea buried the body of
Jesus in a tomb and sealed the tomb with a large rock. The
big deals laughed and congratulated each other. Now things
were back to normal. The vote was in. No to the life and teachings of
Jesus. Not to Jesus’ world of manna and mercy for all.

One vote had not been counted. Yahweh entered the tomb and cried
YES. God cried YES to Jesus and to Jesus’ life of manna for all and
mercy for all. God called, “Get up, Emmanuel!”

2. All creation shouted for joy. God wept for joy and
then danced with the angels around the cosmos. Life
had conquered death.

3. The Risen One appeared. He didn’t play the trumpet on

Easter. Instead he stole in. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus
explained the scriptures to his bereft disciples. They did
not recognize him, however, until he broke the bread in
their home. Jesus kept his promise. He was present in the
breaking of bread.

Jesus told the disciples of their clear mission. Your mission, should you
choose to accept it, is tell nation of God’s plan; tell God’s story of
suffering; invite others to repent and receive forgiveness. Preach manna
and mercy.
 Session 5: A New Church – Supplemental Materials

4. But how to carry out this huge ministry

expectation? The empowerment came on
the Jewish feast call Pentecost. Yahweh’s breath blew
as it had to bring forth creation.

After the Pentecost experience, the disciples went forth and told God’s
story. Thousands of Jewish people from all the over the Roman Empire
and beyond believed their message and were baptized.

5. God’s partner people needed one more form

of liberation. The believers, who were Jewish,
were convinced that a Gentile had to become a
cultural Jew in order to become part of the risen community. In other
words, a Gentile believer had to follow Jewish rules about ritual
cleansing, food eating, and circumcision. Yahweh’s Holy Spirit used a
variety of methods to liberate them form this way thinking.

A miracle happened. The Jewish Christians got it. Now Jews and Gentiles,
former enemies, gathered at the same table, their oneness being in
Christ.

The partner people had their ups and downs. There were saints and
sinners at the same time. Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit molded them into
a contrast society, a community which reflected the gracious reign of
God in a Pharaoh’s-Egypt world.

When the risen people failed to live as a contrast society, God raised up
teachers and preachers to call them back. By now they should have had a
PhD in wilderness school.

6. One group did not share the joy of God. The big deals
were extremely upset. Just when they thought things
were back to normal, this Jesus movement was spreading
all over the Roman Empire.

When the big deals ordered them to stop living as Jesus’

manna people, Jesus’ followers refused. When punishment
came, the believers responded with a form of power which the rulers did
not understand—the power of forgiveness, mercy and love.
 Session 5: A New Church – Supplemental Materials

7. While Jesus’ community resisted the violent attacks

form the outside, they also faced an inside threat—
Accommodation—the process of slowly adopting the ways of
the world.

The Holy Spirit called Paul, a rabbi, to teach the people

about staying true to manna living and sharing. The big test came when
the Christians in Palestine (mostly Jewish) did not have enough to eat
because of a famine. At the same time the Christians in Macedonia
(mostly Gentile) had more than enough. Paul pleaded with the Gentile
Christians to release their excess manna.

Paul was elated when he delivered a generous offering to the believers

at Jerusalem. The whole church on earth was living as a manna society.
Yahweh was glad. The sharing of Yahweh’s meal was a living drama of
God’s dream for the world.

8. Apostles, evangelists, and missionaries went all over

the ancient world spreading the gospel of healing and
wholeness which God offered to everyone.
 Session 5: A New Church – Supplemental Materials

Mission Talk Handout

Discuss the following questions:

1. Why do churches with the least sometimes give the most?

2. What inhibits churches from working together?

3. How is your congregation demonstrating God’s dream of abundant

mercy for all and abundant manna for all?

4. Where do see the Pentecost winds of the spirit blowing around

the world today?

5. The early followers of Jesus shunned the immoral and hedonistic

ways of the Empire. They refused to participate in events which
were contrary to the Spirit and teaching of Jesus. How do we live
counter-culturally today and what would that cost us?

6. Post-resurrection, Jesus made his mission clear:

o Tell the nations of God’s plan and dream
o Tell God’s story of suffering
o Invite people to repent and receive forgiveness
o Preach about a Contrast Society
How is your congregation fulfilling Jesus’ mission statement?
Session 6: God’s Dream - Chapters 15-16
Materials for this class
Paper, pens, Session 6 handout, video links for Revelation and Jeopardy,
slide show and script, Bibles

Setup
Before class, make sure you can project the Session 6 slide show and
view the Barbara Rossing video
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_03axPvnMQ). Preview both of these
resources, as well as the Jeopardy review game
(http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/clindberg/3234932).
Make copies of the Session 6 handout.

Introduction:
Yahweh was pleased because a family of people on Planet Earth was
learning the way of manna and mercy. Love was binding believers
together in community, and love was binding communities together.
Yahweh called teachers and preachers, prophets and seers, and some
poets and clowns to proclaim the good news of Cosmic Koinonia.

The final two chapters of Manna and Mercy begin with the good news of
God’s partner people understanding the purpose of Jesus’ life, death,
and resurrection to be the mending of the universe. And even though
more persecution follows soon thereafter, we close the book (and the
study) with more visions of what God had in mind from the very
beginning. Indeed, the final chapter of Manna and Mercy begins with the
same words that opened Chapter 1: In the midst of a vast universe there
exists a little speck called Planet Earth. God loves the whole universe,
and God loves Planet Earth. By the time when we read these words in
Chapter 16, after journeying through the Manna and Mercy study, we
have a much deeper sense of what God and God’s partner people
experienced over the course of their history together.

Begin this final class by asking participants what they think they will
remember from Manna and Mercy a year from now. What themes have
already reframed their lives? The title, Manna and Mercy, provides us
with a measure to take away from the study and practice in our
everyday lives. Ask participants what parts of their lives they’ve noticed
to be defined by manna or mercy. Hopefully they’ve connected the
threads that run through the book—justice, koinonia, forgiveness,
trust--with the threads that run through faith in daily life.

Tell the Story

Read the script and show the slideshow for Manna and Mercy chapters
10-12 (see script below).

Explore the Themes

The Order of Death vs. The Order of Life

Direct participants to turn to Chapter 16 on pages 75-77. These three
final pages include reflections worth reading again and again. Divide the
group into pairs, and invite each pair to look at the chart on the
bottom of page 75, The Order of Death vs The Order of Life, and note
how this chart defines baptized living. Take turns in your larger group
reading the underlined sentences on pages 76-77. These statements
form a powerful creed proclaiming what we believe about God’s
promises. Ask participants which statements particularly speak to them,
and which they would share with new believers.

Optional: View the Alan Storey video http://mannaandmercy.org/audio-

video/alan-storey-video-clips/Video-44.html where Alan describes a
version of Manna and Mercy’s “Order of Death” as a military/market-
driven train moving from life to death. Discuss the questions it raises
about whether church leaders should be “cheerleaders,” “chaplains” or
“conspirators.”

Endings to Beginnings
We have noted that Manna and Mercy circles back to the beginning of
creation as it wraps up with God’s enduring promise to mend the
universe and weave the entire cosmos into a wonderful unity called
Shalom. Sounds rather broad, doesn’t it?! Throughout all the chapters,
Manna and Mercy demonstrated that Yahweh cared about all the people
in the universe, as well as each person. Each of our stories witnesses to
Christ’s resurrection. Our endings usher in new beginnings and our little
deaths lead to new life. One of the key messages of the book of
Revelation is that trusting in God can lead us to a new beginning. Ask
participants to write for 3 minutes about this question: When did an
ending turn out to be a beginning in your life? Participants can share
their words, but should also feel free to refrain from sharing.

Revelation
Invite participants to share a question they have about the book of
Revelation. Rather than try to answer all the questions, pass out this
quick fact sheet and share the video clip introducing Dr. Barbara
Rossing’s study of Revelation (a church could follow up the Manna and
Mercy study with Rossing’s excellent video Bible Study.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_03axPvnMQ

Jeopardy Review
Play a Manna and Mercy review game. This fun Jeopardy game engages
participants in remembering what they learned about the Bible during
the past six weeks. You can play the game in a large group, or divide
into teams.
http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/clindberg/3234932

Summary
 We paid attention to the closing pages of Manna and Mercy, where
we find a beautiful summary of God’s promises.
 We noted the way that Manna and Mercy circles back to creation
in its final chapter, and wrote about a time when an ending led to
a new beginning in our lives.
 We scratched the surface of the book Revelation, noting 10 facts
that may debunk some myths about the book. We pointed toward
an expert who teaches a study of Revelation.
 We reviewed our Manna and Mercy study using a special Jeopardy
game.

Closing Prayer
From Revelation 21: “See, the home of God is among mortals. God will
dwell with them as their God; they will be God's peoples, and God will be
with them; God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no
more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things
have passed away.” Amen
 Session 6: Supplemental Materials

Session 6: God’s Dream (Chapters 15-16)

Script for Slideshow
You can find the PowerPoint slides at:
http://mannaandmercy.org/adult_study_powerpoints.html
(Several good readers could be selected to read the following text while
the slides are shown)

1. Yahweh was pleased because a family of

people on Planet Earth was learning the
way of manna and mercy. Love was
binding communities together in one
great body of Christ on earth. Yahweh
called teachers and preachers, prophets and seers, and some
poets and clowns, to proclaim the good news of Cosmic Koinonia.

2. But trouble was brewing. The big deals

of the Roman Empire felt threatened
when God’s people pledged loyalty to
Jesus, rather than Caesar. Christians
became subject to severe persecution.

3. Yahweh came up with a wonderful idea to

encourage faithfulness during times of
persecution. God sent strange and
awesome visions to a dreamer whose name
was John. John wrote down his visions and sent his writings to
Christian congregations. The visions of John called Christians to
keep the faith and endure to the end.

4. Day by day, God added to the number of

believers. The nations were coming to the
waters, coming home to God. Yahweh
thought about the story—the long story
of friendship, passion, promise, hope,
disappointment, heartbreak, forgiveness, death and
resurrection—and Yahweh smiled and dreamed again of the new
creation. Then God made a promise. God said, “I will never give
 Session 6: Supplemental Materials

up until my dream comes true. I will never give up.”

5. In the midst of yearning for God’s future, joy

abounds—a joy which no power in heaven or earth
can silence. We rejoice in these truths:
 We are not alone. God is with us.
 The story of God goes on.
 Everything and everyone has dignity.
 Hope is certain. Shalom will come.
 Grace abounds. The new creation come as an
unconditional gift.
 God calls all of us to be partners in creation and
justice.
 Everyone is invited to God’s mended universe.

6. Holy, holy, holy is God, the Almighty: who was

and is to come. Heaven and earth are full of
God’s glory. Hosanna in the highest… Alleluia
to God and to the Lamb be all praise and
honor and glory and power, forever and ever.
Amen.
 Session 6: Supplemental Materials

Ten Quick Facts

about the Book of Revelation

1. The book of Revelation came about in this way: The Creator

sent strange and awesome visions to a dreamer who was
imprisoned on an island called Patmos. The dreamer, whose
name was John, wrote the visions down and sent his writings
to Christian congregations. His dreams made absolutely no
sense to the big deals. To the oppressed believers, however,
the dreams were a word of hope and trust.

2. The focus in Revelation is not on the end-time, but rather

on faithfulness in the present.

3. The book is not called Revelations, it’s called Revelation.

4. The text of Revelation was not actually written with us in

mind. Even if it’s timeless, the text was written for a
particular audience suffering persecution.

5. The author of Revelation is not the John who wrote the

fourth Gospel.

6. The language of Revelation works like poetry. Each piece is

separate, and yet they all intertwine.

7. Revelation has two purposes: First, to call Christians to be

faithful through persecutions and second, to remind
Christians that we can’t serve two lords.

8. Political and social dimensions abound in Revelation.

9. All language in Revelation is non-literal.

10. Nearly two-thirds of the language in Revelation clearly

alludes to the Old Testament.