Who’s The Audience

Context, context, context.  We often hear these words when it comes to understanding the scriptures.  Unfortunately, too often when people refer to context they simply mean three verses before and three verses after the main verse they are interested in.  Sometimes people broaden their view to the whole chapter but it seems it rarely goes beyond that.  What about the context with in the whole of the book or even in the whole of scripture?

One aspect of context which is very often overlooked is that of the audience.  In Sunday school we have been studying through the book of Mark.  One thing that has stuck out to me over and over again is the context in respect to the audience.  Why was this never pointed out to me before?  Why have so many churches and teachers overlooked this?

Now it is true that everyone can glean from the miracles and teachings of Jesus but the lessons being taught are not always what we tend to pull out of them because we neglect the audience.  In the book of Mark, Jesus’ main audience was the disciples, the twelve.  He was preparing them for ministry.  It wasn’t the multitude of the crowds that was the main audience.  This can change everything.  When we focus on what Christ was teaching the disciples and why it takes on new meaning than it would if that fact was neglected.

As we studied the illustration that kept coming to mind was that of a field trip.  Maybe it is because I am a homeschooler who knows but it fits!  Jesus was there teaching, training, and preparing his disciples as they wandered the region.  Many people were there, many saw, many heard, and many followed but they only had glimpses and didn’t know the intent or real lessons being taught.

It is like my hubby and I taking our children on a field trip.  We are teaching, training, and preparing our children.  We are leading them in the ways of the Lord as we teach and go about our daily lessons.  Sometimes people over hear us.  We have even had people follow us around in a museum to listen to my hubby’s commentary.  Do they learn and glean from that?  Maybe, maybe not.  If they do  that is wonderful.  But they are not our main audience.  We do not adjust our teaching for their benefit or understanding.  These other people do not know they full context of what we are teaching our children.  They do not know what we have already poured into them and are building upon.  They are missing the big picture. They really do have a limited awareness of the lesson at hand.

If we see the teachings of Jesus in the same manner and neglect the whole context, neglect the main audience, then we really only have a limited understanding of the lesson.  Sometimes the lesson is missed completely because we are looking at it the wrong way!

We are allowed to come along on Jesus’ field trip with the twelve (in Mark) but let us make sure to remember who his main audience was when we are studying.  That way we do not miss the real lesson being taught.  You will be enriched if you remember and do not neglect the context of the audience at hand.

Copywork & Handwriting

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When teaching penmanship, basic grammar, spelling, literature, accuracy, punctuation, vocabulary, sentence structure, attention to detail, and memory skills copywork and handwriting books are a great resource.  There are many different curricula available for such things but you want to make sure they are books of substance?  We do not want to just have busy work. When trying to instill godly character in our children it is important to use a curriculum that addresses those needs as well.  I have several listed here that you may want to look into.  We have used several ourselves!

A Reason for Writing has been around for a long time.   They offer curriculum for grades K-6th.  All of the lessons are based on scripture verses.  Along with learning good penmanship children are memorizing and sharing the Word of God.

Memoria Press has a little bit of a different approach.  Their books not only contain scripture but also classic poetry, literature selections, Latin sayings, and hymns.  They also have a great explanation on their website of the benefits of copywork.  They offer a primary set consisting of three books, a cursive book, as well as a composition and sketch book.

Veritas Press has a handwriting series entitled Classically Cursive.  There are four books in this series.  These reproducible books originated by the folks at Logos School are all you need to teach cursive handwriting.  These books use scripture and the catechism.  The four books are entitled, “Bible Primer, Ten Commandments, Shorter Catechism, and The Attributes of God.”

Last but not least are the Journibles.  These are actually designed for older teens and adults.  Yes, we adults can benefit too!  I am very excited about these and am looking forward to investing in some for myself.  Here is a description from the website on these books.

Each book is organized so that you can write out your very own copy of Scripture. You will be writing the Bible text only on the right hand page of the book. This should make for easier writing and also allows ample space on the left page to write your own notes and comments. From time to time a question or word will be lightly printed on the left page; these questions are to aid in further study, but should not interfere with your own notes and comments.

So there you go!  Several great resources for meeting the needs of handwriting and copywork but also attending to our spiritual needs.  Do you have any other great resources for this?  Have you used any of these?  Which are your favorite?  I would love for you to share!

J.I. Packer on the ESV Study Bible

J.I. Packer on the ESV Study Bible and how it helps to recover and revive the ministry of an adult catechist. Here is a snippet but the short article is well worth the read!

The reason why I’m so enthusiastic about it is largely that it takes a wider view of its task than other study Bibles do. Other study Bibles provide you with information and that’s it. The ESV Study Bible goes a step further. It’s a study Bible which not only explains the texts and expounds them accurately, but it has in it a whole series of articles for the making and shaping of discipleship to Jesus Christ on the basis of the Bible. It can be, in a very significant sense, a single-volume resource for pastoral ministry, and indeed for personal life, because it’s doing the job which professional catechists have been doing ever since Christianity started—teaching people the truths that Christians live by and teaching them how to live by those truths.

The ministry of an adult catechist is something which the early church understood very well. Every church worth its salt had an adult catechist to instruct inquirers. The catechism ministry has fallen very much into disuse in our time…………

………That’s the benefit that the reader of the Study Bible will get from the articles on Christian doctrine, on Christian ethics, on Christian faith and life, and a Christian stance in relation to any number of errors and alternatives that our time has produced.

Read the article in its entirety!