Margaret is working on a booklet with information on our class members and she has a questionnaire she would like for everyone to fill out. Jim Litton brought information on two events he had attended recently. One was the annual Circle of Care event and the other was the latest El Sistema concert and he encouraged class members to support these groups.
Luther Trent will lead our class this month and opened with prayer. Today we studied Philemon, the personal letter that Paul wrote while in prison to his friend. The letter was delivered by Onesimus, a runaway slave that had belonged to Philemon, and Paul was asking for leniency for Onesimus and he also guaranteed he would pay Philemon back for anything Onesimus might have taken. Luther talked about slavery in the Roman Empire and some of the ways people came to be slaves. We also discussed why Paul did not condemn slavery and also why Paul sometimes used other people to write for him but would write in his own hand for emphasis. Small references in Scripture indicate he might have had some physical ailment (maybe bad eyes) that made it necessary for other people to write for him. Next week our study will be in Galatians.
Written by: Sharon Selby
