This Covenant experience will guide participants in a comprehensive, in-depth study of the Bible over twenty-four weeks. Unlike the learning participants may have experienced in other groups, this in-depth study of the whole Bible emphasizes the biblical concept of
covenant as a unifying pattern through all the books in the Old and New Testaments. It underscores the unique relationship that God chooses to have with us as God’s people. This relationship is grounded in the faithfulness of God’s love and on our ongoing commitment to stay in love with God while we share signs of that love with others.
The cohosts for the twenty-four video episodes are Reverend Shane Stanford, senior pastor at Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, and Reverend Christine Chakoian, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Lake Forest, Illinois. They will meet with a different biblical scholar in each video episode.
Each video in the coming weeks features a conversation between the hosts and a biblical scholar around the Covenant table. Their conversation is a model for the kind of learning dynamic that is central to this study.
This is Episode 9 Additional Video: Ruth and Esther
The Jews in the Diaspora had to assimilate to survive. In the court tales of Esther (and Daniel) Jewish characters are given power and access to rulers because of their gifts, intelligence, virtue, or beauty. They are presented with a life-threatening crisis related to their identity as covenant people. And they are forced to make a decision: will I take a stand and identify myself as belonging to God's people or deny my covenant obligations and acquiesce to the ruling culture and its demands for loyalty. What Esther suggests to us is that taking a stand has implications beyond our own existence. Esther's risk saves the lives of thousands and makes us wonder what's at stake for us when we're trying to decide whether to take a stand for what is right.
Running time: 6:52
Individual video episodes are
available to purchase for streaming to computers and mobile devices from http://www.covenantbiblestudy.com/Shop.
In
addition to the twenty-four episodes of streaming video (more than seven
hours of video) are twenty additional streaming videos and ten streaming
storytelling videos from http://www.covenantbiblestudy.com/Shop.
To
stream a purchased video, login with your cokesbury.com user account, click on
My Cokesbury.com, and select Downloads/Subscriptions.
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Questions? Visit http://www.covenantbiblestudy.com/Shop
for more information.
