05.01.2016
BACI 2016 Lent Study Takes Theme of Reconciliation
Reconciliation is the theme for the sixth series of Lenten Bible Studies offered to the Church by BACI. As the Introduction explains: “Both the need and the hope for reconciliation – within and between churches, between cultures and continents, rich and poor, male and female, liberal and conservative – has recently captured more and more of our attention. New leadership in major churches, (Francis in Rome, Justin Welby in Canterbury, and now Michael Curry in The Episcopal Church) has offered new inspiration and increased our hope. But the work of reconciliation has to be done at the grass roots. Without us it will not come about.”
The BACI team involved hails from both North and South, and includes William Olhausen, Linda Chambers, Barbara Bergin, Earl Storey, Paul Houston and Ginnie Kennerley. The five Bible Studies, are titled 1. Power and Service, 2. Transcending Boundaries, 3. Reaching out to Others, 4. Taking down the Walls, and 5. Do as you would be done by.
BACI chair William Olhausen says, “We have kept things very simple: each study has an introduction, a Bible text on reconciliation, some notes and some questions – prompting us to consider not only the needs for reconciliation in our lives, our communities and the Church, but also the practical steps God is calling us to take.”
The studies will be formally launched in a promotion by our patrons, the Archbishop of Armagh and the Archbishop of Dublin, at 12.40pm on January 26 in Church House in Dublin.
The booklets will be available at a 10% discount at the launch. Please order copies to be collected there in good time from our treasurer, Barbara Bergin berginba@gmail.com or 56, Avondale Court, Blackrock. Co. Dublin. As this is RB week collection by a neighbour might be arranged if you cannot attend yourself. Copies can be bought subsequently in Church House, from The Book Well in Belfast and from leading cathedral bookshops, at £2.00 or €2.50 per copy, with a discount for 10 copies bought together. Other outlets may yet be arranged, so if in doubt please contact Barbara Bergin at the email address above.
The studies will also be available for free download from the BACI website https://bibliahibernica.wordpress.com/ from January 26.