“It’s hard to believe that a year ago, I had never heard of ‘Zoom’.”
Like many, I wasn’t quite sure how attending online Zoom sessions for faith based courses would work compared to the face to face sessions I’d attended in the past, so was pleasantly surprised by one of my first courses – Unlocking the Mystery of the Bible by Ascension Press.
As part of our Parish Council’s plans, Joan Kent had approached Deacon Dave Skillen about leading this Bible Course for Sacred Heart as part of the “Year of the Word”, but had promised she would first “pilot” the course out and find facilitators to help. Joan approached Clare Simpson from our diocese, on testing the course with our small Called and Gifted Discernment Group, and it really was such a blessing.
“As someone who had always rather ‘run scared’ at much of the Old Testament, I welcomed the opportunity to join this journey through Salvation History and appreciate its importance in our understanding of the Gospels. “
The course worked incredibly well on Zoom and we watched weekly videos together, reviewed our workbook and the Bible Timeline Chart’s as a group and then had informal open discussions about the Bible and course content. The Bible really started to come alive in our minds…
We were led, over a period of 8 weeks, from the beginning of the book of Genesis, to the end of the Acts of the Apostles. We learnt that Jesus came to fulfil, not to replace the Old Testament. The chart below helps to explain this and was a sort of ‘light-bulb’ moment for many of us for connecting the Old and New Testaments!
We learnt so much from this course, that we were keen for the parish to have the opportunity to enjoy it as well. Our knowledgeable Deacon Dave agreed to lead the next course. It was so successful and well attended, that he was asked to repeat it, which he very kindly did. The course certainly helped unlock my mind to the mystery of the Bible!
As a footnote, it’s hard to believe that a year ago, I had never heard of ‘Zoom’. Thankfully something positive that has come out of this awful year is that many of us have been able to learn and benefit from this online medium and it has had the added benefit of helping to give us some sense of community fellowship.I’m really looking forward to helping to facilitate our “Let it Be Cafe Course” which is going to be fantastic for those wanting to learn more about Our Lady and deepen their relationship with her.
Thank you very much for reading and hope to see you on the next online course.
God bless,
Theresa
