LiveBooking! "Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus"

Check out this new weekly feature for the blog.

by Sam O'Neal

Welcome to the first post on what will be a weekly feature on Small Group Dynamics: LiveBooking!

You've probably all heard of LiveBlogging by now. It's when someone attends a conference or event and then writes blog posts about speakers or experiences as they are happening. I recently had some fun LiveBlogging from the Willow Creek Small Groups Conference, for example, and you can see some examples of it here, here, here, and here.

So what is LiveBooking, you ask? Well, I had so much fun at the Willow conference that I asked myself, How can I do this more often? My answer was books. There are a great many books that intersect with small-groups ministry and the spiritual formation/growth of individual believers. And I know that group leaders often don't have time to read them all, just like most group leaders don't have the time or money to attend a lot of conferences.

So, I will spend a good chunk of time each week reading through a book that I think will benefit regular small-group leaders. And then I'll write about what I've read, both summarizing and giving my opinion. It will be kind of like "Cliff's Notes," but for group leaders! And then you can all add in your opinions and experiences, and we could have a real opportunity for learning and growth each week.

Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus
The first book I'll be blogging through is called Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus, by Ann Spangler and Lois Tverberg (Zondervan, 2009). This is a book that I actually received several months ago, and I've been excited to read it ever since.

Here's a quote from the 1st chapter of the book that shows why I've been waiting for a chance to get this off my shelf:

[C]onsider the challenge of communicating across centuries and religious traditions as well as languages and cultures. No wonder we sometimes find it hard to grasp what Jesus is trying to tell us in the Gospels. But what if we could find a way to fine-tune our hearing, so that we could develop first-century ears? The words of Jesus that electrified crowds, incensed his enemies, and changed so many lives would have a much greater impact on us.
Is it possible to re-tune our hearing and thinking so that we can understand Jesus better? We believe it is, because that is exactly what happened to us at the moment we began studying Jesus' Jewish culture. Passages that had previously left us cold or puzzled suddenly came to life. Lights turned on, stories took on new meaning, and the mist began to clear.

Tuning into the customs of Jesus' time and to the conversations of the rabbis who lived at that time can deepen your faith as it has ours, transforming the way you read the Bible.

Yes! Yes! This is something I've been trying to find for a long time. What was Jesus' world like during the time he walked and talked, and how does that influence our interpretation of the Gospels? I'm excited to keep reading, and I hope you'll follow along with me.