Diocesan News
BACI 2017 Lent Study Aims to Shine Biblical Wisdom on the Migrant Crisis
The Biblical Association of the Church of Ireland launched its 2017 Lenten Bible Study in Church House, Dublin, yesterday afternoon (Tuesday January 24). God’s Heart for Migrants – Biblical Wisdom for a World in Turmoil has been produced by David Shepherd of TCD for BACI and comprises five Bible studies focusing on migration.
Officially launching the study, Archbishop Michael Jackson, thanked BACI for taking on this important topic. The Archbishop said that the question that must be asked is ‘Can we let the stranger become Christ to us?’ “Can we let poverty, alienation, homelessness and degradation, become the lens through which we can become new people in Christ and in a common humanity?” he asked.
Archbishop Jackson said that ‘immigrancy’ runs throughout the Bible from Abraham to Revelation. He talked about the exclusion of people from ‘there’ rather than those from ‘here’ and said that immigration would remain an identity issue but asked if it need always remain a humanitarian issue. He said the encouragement of the study was to widen and deepen our humanity and to widen and deepen our scriptural understanding.
He thanked BACI for being the driving force in the Church of Ireland for letting the Bible speak to us and through us.
Speaking on behalf of BACI, the Revd Dr William Olhausen thanked the study’s editor, Canon Ginnie Kennerley, for the tremendous work she put in in pursuit of excellence in the production on an excellent Bible study. He said this was BACI’s seventh Bible study and added that each year they seek to identify a topic that will challenge participants.
The five Bible Studies are designed to aid reflection on the lessons offered today by the migration experiences of the Jewish people: from Abram on – to Canaan, Egypt and back, through the Exodus experience and the giving of the Law, to Ruth the Moabite and the challenges that faced her, and on again through the Babylonian exile to consider the perceived status of “pilgrims and sojourners here on earth” common to Jews and Gentiles alike in the early Church.
Copies are available from Christ Church Cathedral and St Patrick’s Cathedrals in Dublin and further stockists may be advised by BACI hon treasurer and distribution manager, Barbara Bergin ([email protected]). The copies cost €2.50. Copies are also available to download for free from the BACI website www.bibliahibernica.wordpress.com
For further information please contact:
Diocesan Communications Officer, Dublin & Glendalough
087 235 6472
Mrs Lynn Glanville
[email protected]