April 7 begins our first in a series of five Adult Education Classes based on our new curriculum, “Gospel Portraits of Jesus.” “Gospel Portraits of Jesus” is a 5-week class that will explore a number of the names and titles for Jesus that appear in the four Gospels, with some attention to relevant Old Testament passages. The sequence of the names and titles of Jesus for our course of study moves from the most familiar name, Jesus, to Jesus’ activities as teacher, to several common metaphors such as bread, to more abstract names like Messiah and Son of God, concluding with a focus on resurrection and life. We hope you will join Connie and Adam for this conversation about Jesus and the Gospels on Sunday mornings at 9am in the Fireside Room.
This class is structured around discussion guides that you should read prior to coming to that class on Sunday morning. This isn’t a strict requirement, but our conversations will be based on the material for that Sunday morning. In order to help cut down on the amount of copies that we make at the church, I’ve put electronic copies of the curriculum below for you to download on your home computer, or iPad, and then decide if you want to print it out. The dates match up with what topic will be discussed.
We look forward to this exploration into the different portrayals of Jesus found in the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
Week 1 (April 7) – Session 1: Jesus is the name given by the messenger of the Lord to the One who would be born of Mary by the Holy Spirit. Download curriculum here.
Week 2 (April 14) – Session 2: Jesus is called Rabbi, Teacher, and Master. Download curriculum here.
Week 3 (April 21) – Session 3: In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks of himself as Bread of Life, Light of the World, Good Shepherd, and True Vine. Download curriculum here.
Week 4 (April 28) – Session 4: Messiah or Christ is a title by which Jesus was identified by the writers of the Gospels and other writers of the New Testament. Download curriculum here.
Week 5 (May 5) – Session 6: “I am the Resurrection and the Life” and “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” are two more ways that Jesus spoke of himself in the Gospel of John. Download curriculum here.
First Presbyterian Church of Ashland 