Frustrated by a lack of Bible study material for adults, John Yeager developed a book series of weekly essays that reflect on scriptures passages from the Revised Common Lectionary for the three year cycle. This book is for Year A. He calls on his own experience in the secular world, his experience as a pastor, and the work he's done with alcoholics and other addicts. In the series he also draws on a wide variety of authors including Karl Barth, C.S. Lewis, and Mother Teresa as well referencing recent films and TV shows. These "think pieces" are short, usually no more than 3-4 pages each.
Originally designed and written for busy Christian educators and others teaching adult Sunday School classes, he has learned from his own experience that most Sunday School lessons get planned on Saturday night or Sunday morning and sometimes they're thought up in the car on the way to church. This book addresses that reality. This is material that can be thrown on the copier at the last minute and distributed for discussion. It includes the scripture passages that the essay is based on as well as several questions for reflection that are intended to spark dialogue even if there's only two-three students in the class.
Saint Augustine described a pastor's job this way: "Disturbers are to be rebuked, the low-spirited to be encouraged, the infirm to be supported, objectors confuted, the treacherous guarded against, the unskilled taught, the lazy around, the contentious restrained, the haughty repressed, litigants pacified, the poor relieved, the oppressed liberated, the good approved, the evil borne with, and all are to be loved."1 That still is relevant today even though he wrote it more than 1500 years ago.
I think John may have unconsciously recognized this final and most important pastoral duty when he entitled his book Called to Love. Whether this book is used in adult education classes or for personal devotions or as a "sermon starter," the theme of God's love consistently shines through.
(from the Foreword to Year B by Rev. Ed Thompson, General Presbyter, Presbytery of West Virginia)
1 Miller-McLemore, Bonnie J. John Wiley & Sons "Sermon CCIX." Qtd. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Practical Theology, December 27, 2011.
