When I was a boy, a girl went missing while playing Hide and Go Seek with some of us. Her mother ended up offering a prayer, which I later identified, I believe, as the Prayer of Manasseh, from the Apocrypha. We look at the history of the evil King Manasseh from the Kings and Chronicles Books, and at this prayer which is attributed to him (which he certainly did not write). From the beautiful, poetic prayer we can learn a lot about why to pray and how to pray.

When I was a young kid in school, I was exposed to a boy who would probably now be called "neurodivergent". I ended up learning a lot about what it means to be different, but still be made in God's image. We look at Samson, a sinful, arrogant, corrupt, even laughable man who is manipulated by God to serving despite his apparent desire to dishonor his position as a Nazarite. We look at the many lessons we learn about what God can do with someone or some situation that seems imperfect.

We look at a story from Judges: the female judge Deborah and how her army destroyed the far more advanced army of their enemy. In the Bible, it is an epic of the Iron Age of the Canaanites vs. the Bronze Age of the Israelites. We study both the prose and the poem version of this story. We see how with God's help, the rag tag Israelite army destroys the experienced Canaanite army which is invading on their iron chariots. We look at how this applies to us today - and we consider more than just the lesson that we need God's help.

My father served in the Pacific in World War II as a Marine and the leader of a combat unit. We look at three stories of resurrection, of rising from spiritual death: the return of the exiles from Babylon, the rise of Christ after death, and the growth of the Christian church in very recent times. We also look at how my sister serving as a foreign exchange student healed my father and allowed him to rise again.

We look at the traditional view of Holy Week, from the triumphant entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, to the gruesome crucifixion, to the glorious resurrection. We note that low point between the ride into the Holy City and the rise of Jesus from death. But we consider a somewhat different view - that the crucifixion does not break the joy from Palm Sunday to Easter. We look at Jesus' last words on the cross and how they have been traditionally very misinterpreted. We see that things are different than we have viewed them in the past. We also look at an encounter I had as a kid with a family riding donkeys, and how we can see this as a lesson about why Jesus chose to ride a seemingly humble, if not ridiculous, animal into the city of his forefathers.

I once spoke with a highly educated physicist who was a psychiatric patient. We call her Annie. She talked to me about the Newtonian misconception of gravity as a force, when it really has more to do with the bending of spacetime. We consider the biblical story of the invasion of Canaan, and the evidence to counter and to defend the validity of this story. We then get back to the bending of spacetime - and we see that there is something very deep we can learn about advancing our faith.

I once saw John Wayne in a fancy mens store. I was a boy, and was with an older volunteer who was buying clothing for a kid whose family had no assets. We look at her bold behavior. We consider several passages from the Bible that all tell us how we should behave when living out our faith. We see that this volunteer, this older woman, truly followed the instructions of God as she approached John Wayne.

A very successful man who was in the hospital in great pain reminded me of an important Bible passage about humility: the apparent Creed that we think Paul inserted into his letter to the believers at Philippi. We consider Creeds in general, like the Apostles and the Nicene, and then look at this beautiful, rhythmic passage of Paul's. We then consider why Paul's poem might be a much better Christian Creed for today.