Images of Life: An Invitation to Bible Study

"Images of Life: An Invitation to Bible Study" is the theme of a bible study package (consisting of a study booklet and packet of pictures) published by the World Council of Churches in preparation for its upcoming General Assembly in Vancouver, Canada. The Assembly theme: "Jesus Christ - the Life of the World" is the basis for the study. As its title indicates, the imagery in our daily life is taken as a springboard into our approach to the biblical text (thus, the inclusion of pictures and the recommendation to use them for making posters). But the specific aspects of this imagery are chosen in connection with pertinent images in the scriptures that are central to the understanding of the biblical message.
Images of Life
We have then seven invitations to the study of seven scriptural passages. Each lesson has been entitled according to the passage being studied:
Each lesson also incorporates many other passages from the scriptures which bear on the themes.
Use of the Study
First of all, it must be said that this is an excellent study guide which can be used profitably by the Orthodox. The introduction (pp. 1-4) should be carefully read to establish both the context and the method for bible study. The authors are astonishingly well aware that the idea of the Bible being a book to be read and analyzed by every individual is an outcome of the invention of printing (p. 2). They tell us that the content of the scriptures was first transmitted orally. They go on to say that, even after having become a collection of texts, the Bible functioned as a message to be heard by communities (p. 2). They conclude that imagery (images and gestures) must have played an important role in the handing on of- not the text, mind you, but-the biblical message (p. 3).
It is important to notice also that the authors end their introduction with a warning: all images are but indirect ways and means to God. They are bound to miss the goal if not sifted through God's only true and full image: Jesus Christ, the image
of the invisible God and the first-born of all creation (Col. 1:15; p. 3). When one adds to all this the fact that the authors began their introduction by recommending that the biblical studies begin with a prayer for new eyes (p. 1) - very reminiscent of that used by St. John Chrysostom - before reading the Scriptures, one will understand why I consider this booklet highly recommendable for biblical studies in our parishes.
Pattern of Study
Each lesson in the booklet follows a similar pattern:
A) The Members of the group are asked to visualize out of their own setting and experience the title image (way, birth, house, bread, treasure, crown, water).
B) A series of Old as well as New Testament passages reflecting the same image are given for consideration so that we may be familiarized with the biblical imagery.
C) The actual study text is offered with some clarifying comments.
D) A series of pertinent questions - to which one might add (especially items relating to our specific Orthodox experience)* - ends the lesson. They are meant as a stimulus for the group discussion.

Suggestions for Orthodox Groups
Here are some suggestions and/or comments for the use of this booklet as an Orthodox Bible Study:
1) The images chosen are clearly reflective of the sacramental aspect of church life: baptism (birth, water), Chrismation (way, treasure), eucharist (house, bread, treasure), confession/ penance (way, birth), marriage (way, house, crown), ordination (way, house, crown), church (way, house).
Some groups may also wish to rearrange the order of the lessons and cover the material as follows: Way, Birth, Water, Bread, House, Treasure, Crown, depending upon the emphasis given within the themes. Either order maybe used successfully.
2) Related to this sacramental aspect of our life and considered as its basis is the biblical imagery. For this reason, I would stress that the second part of each lesson be given full attention. The biblical world, and thus its imagery, being - for us, North Americans, both timewise and spacewise - very remote from us, one is expected to make an effort to understand the setting of a biblical image in order to grasp fully its meaning. One should not endeavor to transfer readily a biblical image into our 20th century North American culture.
3) Yet, unless the biblical message is molded into our day-to-day idiom and problematics, it will not be addressing us with full force. Luckily the biblical images used in this booklet are still so essential to our life that "bridging the gap" between the biblical world and ours is feasible for any average person. Thus I recommend that the first part in each biblical study not be quickly passed over especially by us, Orthodox. For, unless we are fully acquainted with the symbolism - that is the real meaning - of our common daily life, as the listeners to the prophets and Jesus Christ were of their own, the biblical message is liable not to hit home.
4) The previous point will take on much greater urgency when we realize- and we have to realize it - that our witness to Christ cannot be only indirect, that is, through Christian living and good example. We know but too well that our actual lives will never be perfect. The indirect witness through example is to be supplemented by a direct witness of Christ Himself who, we believe, is powerfully and fully present in the biblical message. Christ alone can fully challenge the others as well as ourselves. And Christ - the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation, and in whom, through whom and for whom all things were created - is the man Jesus of Nazareth who lived in, and thus spoke the language of, the 1st century A.D.
5) A group discussion of the fourth part of every bible study is to be done extensively and thoroughly. [twill be a good way for us, Orthodox, to implement the previous two points. It will also allow us to clarify our stands regarding many a contemporary issue. This will be a good exercise in learning how to articulate our faith and thus help us, whenever the occasion arises, to witness intelligently for Orthodoxy in our North American society.
*Such questions might include the following:
The Way: 7) How do liturgical processions in the Church reflect the image of the "way"? What do these processions (in the eucharist, baptism, marriage, ordination, funeral, Holy Week, etc.) say to us? Birth: 7) How does Baptism express the image of birth in the Orthodox Church? How does this baptism relate to the image of the "way"? (Examine the prayers in the Service of Baptism)
Bread: 9) How does the eucharist reflect the image of the "house of living stones?"
Crowns: 1) (For examples of Christian martyrs, cf. "Women Martyrs of the Lord" - Vol. 1, and "Pillars of the Church" - Vol. 5, in the Saints for All Ages series published by the Dept. of Religious Education of the OCA.)
2) What does the image of the crown signify in these services? Water: Examine the images of life reflected in the prayer for the Blessing of Water (cf. the Service of Baptism, or the Service for the Great Blessing of Water). Cf. also the Old Testament readings for Epiphany and Pascha.