May 28 Gathering: Zacchaeus

Bible Stories for Grown-Ups Chapter 5

It’s one of the oddest stories in the New Testament: Jesus enters the ancient village of Jericho enroute to Jerusalem, where he will soon be tried and executed as an enemy of the state. While passing through, he encounters a tax collector named Zacchaeus who, because of his short stature, had to climb a tree to see what all the fuss was about.

Whatever the reason he climbed the tree, the diminutive extortionist has a change of heart when he meets Jesus and pledges to give half of his assets to the poor and to return any money he stole with 400% interest.

On the surface, it seems to be a story about repentance: Zacchaeus feels “convicted” about the wrong he has done and decides to make things right. But it’s also a story about reparations. In realizing the wrong he has done, Zacchaeus determines to not just repay what he has stolen, but to restore the fabric of his community.

It’s a massive turn from the story just a couple chapters earlier when a rich young ruler goes away sad after Jesus tells him to sell all he has and give the money to the poor. So what exactly is the point?

This week our New Wineskins study of Bible Stories for Grown-Ups gives us a 2-for-1 with a discussion not only of the story of Zacchaeus but also how the parable of the rich young ruler relates to the message the writer of Luke is trying to get across. We’ll dig into the difference between being sorry for committing harm and actually doing something to reverse the harm, and how that might relate to Jesus’s message of the kingdom of heaven.

Join us this Sunday, May 28, in the New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub powered by Zoom as we talk about Zacchaeus as model for modern reparations movements.

6:00pm ET: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time)
6:30pm ET: Presentation & conversation begin


Click here to view this week’s video

(Free Amplify membership required to view videos. Use access code HKWRJN if prompted then enter your contact information to access the videos.)


Special announcement!

Bible Stories for Grown-Ups author Josh Scott will join us LIVE during our June 25 gathering to answer your questions and dig even deeper into the interpretive lenses that inform the book. Mark your calendar now and be sure to join us as we welcome Josh back to New Wineskins!


Join us every week for a new discussion!

  • Sunday, April 23: Introduction
  • Sunday, April 30: Chapter 1 – Noah’s Ark
  • Sunday, May 7: Chapter 2 – The Binding of Isaac
  • Sunday, May 14: Chapter 3 – Jonah
  • Sunday, May 21: Chapter 4 – The Parable of the Talents
  • Sunday, May 28: Chapter 5 – Zacchaeus
  • Sunday, June 4: Chapter 6 – Healing the Blind Man
  • Sunday, June 11: Postscript – Where do we go from here?
  • Sunday, June 18: What have we learned and why does it matter?
  • Sunday, June 25: Josh Scott visits New Wineskins!

Bible Stories for Grown-Ups is available through several booksellers. Here are some links to the most popular sites:


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If you haven’t already signed up for our weekly email newsletter, now would be a great time! Get weekly announcements delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss a thing. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get a free digital download of our New Wineskins Manifesto for Spiritual Exiles!

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Feature image: A sycamore fig tree in Jericho, Israel, c. 2019 (Photo by Joe Webb)

May 21 Gathering: The Parable of the Talents

Bible Stories for Grown-Ups Chapter 4

“Well done, good and faithful servant.”

How many times have we heard that line preached at a funeral as a way of commending the deceased on a life well lived in service to God, Church, and Community? Or as a way of honoring someone’s perseverance at some kind of milestone-marking service like a graduation ceremony?

For many, if not most Christians, those words from the well-known passage known as the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30) are ones we long to hear. They’re the ultimate recognition of a job well done.

Did you ever stop to think, though, about whether or not that’s really the intent behind the master’s praise in that particular parable?

What if, instead of reading it as a story about wasted gifts, we saw it instead as an account of resistance? What if we considered the master’s congratulatory words not as praise for us to desire, but as the language of oppression and empire that Jesus calls his followers to stand against?

This week our New Wineskins study of Bible Stories for Grown-Ups turns to the New Testament with a discussion of how the context of the Parable of the Talents upends most of our traditional interpretations and exposes our tendencies to interpret scripture through assumptions born out of power and privilege…including our assumptions about who symbolizes God in Jesus’ parables.

Join us this Sunday, May 21, in the New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub powered by Zoom for a stimulating conversation about the deeper and more subversive agenda Jesus may be trying to communicate through this familiar parable.

6:00pm ET: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time)
6:30pm ET: Presentation & conversation begin


Click here to view this week’s video

(Free Amplify membership required to view videos. Use access code HKWRJN if prompted then enter your contact information to access the videos.)


Join us every week for a new discussion!

  • Sunday, April 23: Introduction
  • Sunday, April 30: Chapter 1 – Noah’s Ark
  • Sunday, May 7: Chapter 2 – The Binding of Isaac
  • Sunday, May 14: Chapter 3 – Jonah
  • Sunday, May 21: Chapter 4 – The Parable of the Talents
  • Sunday, May 28: Chapter 5 – Zacchaeus
  • Sunday, June 4: Chapter 6 – Healing the Blind Man
  • Sunday, June 11: Postscript – Where do we go from here?

Bible Stories for Grown-Ups is available through several booksellers. Here are some links to the most popular sites:


Have you subscribed to our newsletter?

If you haven’t already signed up for our weekly email newsletter, now would be a great time! Get weekly announcements delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss a thing. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get a free digital download of our New Wineskins Manifesto for Spiritual Exiles!

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter!


Invest in our community!

Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? Our online giving platform makes it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!


Feature image by Pixabay on Pexels.com

May 14 Gathering: Jonah

Bible Stories for Grown-Ups Chapter 3

How will we love our enemies?

It’s one of the most vexing questions we face, not just in Christianity but as human beings co-inhabiting a planet with people who embrace beliefs and values that are often in direct conflict with our own.

Interestingly, the book of Jonah from the Hebrew scriptures may offer some unexpected insight. Whether you believe the reluctant prophet was actually swallowed by a large fish for three days or not, his story is about much more than whether or not he obeyed God, as is so often taught. In Chapter 3 of Bible Stories for Grown-Ups, author Josh Scott invites us to think about Jonah’s story in terms of what kind of people we’re going to be:

A universal understanding of God, one in which God’s love is boundless for everyone and everything, also changes how we see our responsibility in the world. […] The author of Jonah uses him as a foil, a character in contrast, to demonstrate the immense largeness of God’s love, even for those we would deny, exclude, and erase.

Josh Scott, Bible Stories for Grown-Ups, p.51

This week at New Wineskins we’ll continue our study of Bible Stories for Grown-Ups with a conversation on the many layers in Jonah’s story and how they might help us learn more about our collective quest for liberation for all people.

Join us this Sunday, May 14, in the New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub powered by Zoom as we take a deep dive into the story of Jonah through the lens of liberation.

6:00pm ET: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time)
6:30pm ET: Presentation & conversation begin


Click here to view this week’s video

(Free Amplify membership required to view videos. Use access code HKWRJN if prompted then enter your contact information to access the videos.)


Join us every week for a new discussion!

  • Sunday, April 23: Introduction
  • Sunday, April 30: Chapter 1 – Noah’s Ark
  • Sunday, May 7: Chapter 2 – The Binding of Isaac
  • Sunday, May 14: Chapter 3 – Jonah
  • Sunday, May 21: Chapter 4 – The Parable of the Talents
  • Sunday, May 28: Chapter 5 – Zacchaeus
  • Sunday, June 4: Chapter 6 – Healing the Blind Man
  • Sunday, June 11: Postscript – Where do we go from here?

Bible Stories for Grown-Ups is available through several booksellers. Here are some links to the most popular sites:


Have you subscribed to our newsletter?

If you haven’t already signed up for our weekly email newsletter, now would be a great time! Get weekly announcements delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss a thing. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get a free digital download of our New Wineskins Manifesto for Spiritual Exiles!

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter!


Invest in our community!

Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? Our online giving platform makes it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!


Feature image: Pascal Deloche / Godong via pond5.com

May 7 Gathering: The Binding of Isaac

Bible Stories for Grown-Ups Chapter 2

It’s certainly one of the most disturbing passages in all of scripture. Abraham, the first patriarch of the tribe that will become Israel, prepares to sacrifice his son Isaac to appease what he believes is the will of God.

Obediently, the old man (who the story tells us was already a centenarian by the time he had children) loads up his son with a bundle of firewood and sets out for the mountains to do the deed. And just when he’s about to put the knife to his son’s throat, a voice stops him. A ram caught in a thicket takes Isaac’s place, and the story has a much happier ending (unless you’re the ram).

Traditionally this story has been taught as one of faith and obedience. Just do what God says, regardless of whether you like it or not. Everything will work out. Just trust us.

But what if there’s a different lesson? What if it has less to do with obedience than provision? What if the story isn’t about Abraham and Isaac being rewarded for their faith, but about God showing them there was a better way than the system of human sacrifice that had been practiced in the region for ages by many different cultures?

What if, as author Josh Scott says in this week’s discussion video, this story is not about a God who demands things of us, but provides all things for us?

This week at New Wineskins we’ll continue our study of Bible Stories for Grown-Ups with a conversation on Chapter 2 of the book, which centers on the story of the binding of Isaac. We’ll dig into the questions of why God might make such a demand, what Abraham’s and Isaac’s perceptions of it might have been, and what we can learn from the story today.

Join us this Sunday, May 7, in the New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub powered by Zoom as we unpack the story of Abraham and Isaac and see what kind of faith it invites us into.

6:00pm ET: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time)
6:30pm ET: Presentation & conversation begin


Click here to view this week’s video

(Free Amplify membership required to view videos. Use access code HKWRJN if prompted then enter your contact information to access the videos.)


Join us every week for a new discussion!

  • Sunday, April 23: Introduction
  • Sunday, April 30: Chapter 1 – Noah’s Ark
  • Sunday, May 7: Chapter 2 – The Binding of Isaac
  • Sunday, May 14: Chapter 3 – Jonah
  • Sunday, May 21: Chapter 4 – The Parable of the Talents
  • Sunday, May 28: Chapter 5 – Zacchaeus
  • Sunday, June 4: Chapter 6 – Healing the Blind Man
  • Sunday, June 11: Postscript – Where do we go from here?

Bible Stories for Grown-Ups is available through several booksellers. Here are some links to the most popular sites:


Have you subscribed to our newsletter?

If you haven’t already signed up for our weekly email newsletter, now would be a great time! Get weekly announcements delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss a thing. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get a free digital download of our New Wineskins Manifesto for Spiritual Exiles!

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter!


Invest in our community!

Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? Our online giving platform makes it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!


Feature Image Credit: © Stig Alenäs 2021 via pond5.com

April 30 Gathering: The Story of Noah

Bible Stories for Grown-Ups Chapter 1

For many of us, the story of Noah’s Ark (Gen. 6:5-9:17) may be one of the first Bible stories we ever encountered. Even for those who didn’t grow up in church, the tale is deeply embedded in our cultural memories.

But is the story of Noah, his family, and a catastrophic flood really the best way to introduce children to the Bible? And has the church’s use of that story with children impacted the way lots of adults still read the Bible today?

This week at New Wineskins we’ll dig in to the first chapter of Bible Stories for Grown-Ups and talk about how we’ve traditionally understood the story of Noah, what the original storytellers might have intended to convey through it, and how a deeper understanding of the cultural context of those ancient peoples might re-shape our view of that narrative in our current circumstances.

Join us this Sunday, April 30, in the New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub powered by Zoom as we begin our journey through Bible Stories for Grown-Ups!

6:00pm ET: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time)
6:30pm ET: Presentation & conversation begin

Click here to view this week’s video


Join us every week for a new discussion!

  • Sunday, April 23: Introduction
  • Sunday, April 30: Chapter 1 – Noah’s Ark
  • Sunday, May 7: Chapter 2 – The Binding of Isaac
  • Sunday, May 14: Chapter 3 – Jonah
  • Sunday, May 21: Chapter 4 – The Parable of the Talents
  • Sunday, May 28: Chapter 5 – Zacchaeus
  • Sunday, June 4: Chapter 6 – Healing the Blind Man
  • Sunday, June 11: Postscript – Where do we go from here?

Bible Stories for Grown-Ups is available through several booksellers. Here are some links to the most popular sites:


Have you subscribed to our newsletter?

If you haven’t already signed up for our weekly email newsletter, now would be a great time! Get weekly announcements delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss a thing. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get a free digital download of our New Wineskins Manifesto for Spiritual Exiles!

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter!


Invest in our community!

Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? Our online giving platform makes it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!


Feature Image: Fred de Noyelle / Godong via pond5.com

April 23 Gathering: Intro to Bible Stories for Grown-Ups

Many of us grew up learning Bible stories from Sunday school teachers with flannelgraph boards, introducing us to two-dimensional characters with a simple message, often set to an easy-to-learn song (anyone remember “Zacchaeus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he?”).

Those stories and characters were formative for those of us who grew up in church. They were our first glimpse into the collection of writings that make up the biblical canon.

Unfortunately, many people never go much further into their attempts to understand the Bible than those two-dimensional flannelgraph stories. And too many churches have continued to propagate an overly-simplistic view of the Bible today.

Such a limited view, of course, is part of the reason that many people have rejected both the Church and the Bible it claims as its central authority. The unwillingness to address nuance, cultural complexities, and historical realities in favor of an inerrant, unchanging “Word of God” has become a breeding ground for spiritual toxicity and religious abuse.

But what if there’s another way to read the Bible? One that takes context—including culture, history, politics, economics, as well as religion—into account? One that gives us a view into the societies from which our sacred texts have emerged? One that shines a light on the oppression, marginalization, and violence suffered by the biblical writers and their communities at the hands of exploitative, colonizing forces?

Starting this week at New Wineskins, we’ll take a closer look into the cultural forces that shaped those flannelgraph stories we grew up with by discussing Bible Stories for Grown-Ups by Appalachian native and progressive pastor Josh Scott.

For the next several weeks, we’ll go chapter-by-chapter through Bible Stories for Grown-Ups to read and hear some very familiar stories through a whole new interpretive lens. While we encourage you attend each of our weekly gatherings as we study the book together, each chapter will be a stand-alone lesson…so you can join our conversations as you are able without worrying about missing the whole thing if you’re unable to attend every Sunday.

We’ll also view a short discussion video every week from Amplify Media. To watch this week’s preview video, just follow this link.

Here’s our anticipated reading/discussion schedule:

  • Sunday, April 23: Introduction
  • Sunday, April 30: Chapter 1 – Noah’s Ark
  • Sunday, May 7: Chapter 2 – The Binding of Isaac
  • Sunday, May 14: Chapter 3 – Jonah
  • Sunday, May 21: Chapter 4 – The Parable of the Talents
  • Sunday, May 28: Chapter 5 – Zacchaeus
  • Sunday, June 4: Chapter 6 – Healing the Blind Man
  • Sunday, June 11: Postscript – Where do we go from here?

Bible Stories for Grown-Ups is available through several booksellers. Here are some links to the most popular sites:

Join us this Sunday, April 23, in the New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub powered by Zoom as we begin our journey through Bible Stories for Grown-Ups!

(Want a little more of a preview? Click here to check out Joe Webb’s interview with author Josh Scott on the Accidental Tomatoes Podcast!)

6:00pm ET: Happy Half-Hour (informal meet & greet time)
6:30pm ET: Presentation & conversation begin


Have you subscribed to our newsletter?

If you haven’t already signed up for our weekly email newsletter, now would be a great time! Get weekly announcements delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss a thing. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get a free digital download of our New Wineskins Manifesto for Spiritual Exiles!

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter!


Invest in our community!

Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? Our online giving platform makes it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!

April 16: Community Sabbath (No Gathering)

Once every 3 months we take a break from our weekly gatherings to provide space for rest and renewal. It’s one of the spiritual practices that are part of the rhythm of our community.

There will be no gathering on Sunday, April 16.

We’ll reconvene for our regular Sunday night gatherings on April 23 when we’ll begin our book study on Josh Scott’s Bible Stories for Grownups book series (click here to order your copy). See you then!

Our next Community Sabbath will be in July.


Invest in our community!

Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? Our online giving platform makes it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!

Good Friday: Hung On A Tree

He was abandoned
Left to die
Except for the few women
Who followed him to the end
Until he breathed his last
Until he forgave his offenders

Phuc Luu, TheWorkOfThePeople.com

What do we really mean when we say Jesus died “to save us from our sins?” Was Jesus executed to correct our individual behaviors? Or was there something more systemic at work?

⬇️

📺 View our Good Friday video from TheWorkofThePeople.com, “Hung on a Tree.”

Then, join the discussion by commenting below or on our Wineskins Workshops Facebook group.


Have you subscribed to our newsletter?

If you haven’t already signed up for our weekly email newsletter, now would be a great time! Get weekly announcements delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss a thing. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get a free digital download of our New Wineskins Manifesto for Spiritual Exiles!

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter!


Invest in our community!

Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? Our online giving platform makes it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!

Donate now!

Maundy Thursday: Water to Wash Feet

Washing with water,
With tender hands against calloused feet
Dissolving the dirt
Pouring out his life
Inviting each other then to do the same

Phuc Luu, TheWorkOfThePeople.com

It was one of Jesus’ final moments with his disciples, and one of their most intimate moments together. And while we often view it as symbolic of Jesus’ servant leadership, washing their feet was much more. It was an act of liberation.

⬇️

📺 View our Maundy Thursday video from TheWorkofThePeople.com, “Water to Wash Feet.”

Then, join the discussion by commenting below or on our Wineskins Workshops Facebook group.


Have you subscribed to our newsletter?

If you haven’t already signed up for our weekly email newsletter, now would be a great time! Get weekly announcements delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss a thing. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get a free digital download of our New Wineskins Manifesto for Spiritual Exiles!

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter!


Invest in our community!

Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? Our online giving platform makes it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!

Donate now!

April 9 Gathering: Easter Sunrise Service

Celebrate Resurrection Sunday with New Wineskins!

On Easter Sunday morning, you’re invited to join us in our New Wineskins Virtual Theology Pub powered by Zoom at 8:00am EDT for a Sunrise Service where together we’ll watch a sermon from Justice & Jubilee founder Rev. Jenny Williams and hold a brief conversation afterward (we’ll open our Zoom connection at 7:50am and plan to wrap up by around 8:30am).

PLEASE NOTE: Our Sunrise service will take the place of our regular Sunday evening gathering. Also please note that we won’t gather on Sunday, April 16, as we observe our quarterly Community Sabbath.


Have you subscribed to our newsletter?

If you haven’t already signed up for our weekly email newsletter, now would be a great time! Get weekly announcements delivered to your inbox so you don’t miss a thing. Plus, when you sign up, you’ll get a free digital download of our New Wineskins Manifesto for Spiritual Exiles!

Click here to subscribe to our newsletter!


Invest in our community!

Want to invest in our community for Spiritual Exiles and our work to create and support online micro-communities focused on justice and liberation? Our online giving platform makes it easy for you to support the work we do! Just click the link below to give. Recurring gifts support the community over the long-term…your assistance helps us grow and sustain the important work we’re doing together!

Donate now!