“Examining the life, actions and teachings of Jesus is a natural approach for self-examination during the season of Lent,” said Frank Granger, minister of Christian community at the First Baptist Church of Athens, Georgia.
He and members of his university town congregation have developed two resources to encourage such introspection: a weekday podcast and a daily reading journal — both related to the book Seeing with Jesus: Developing a Worldview Shaped by the Gospels by Jack Glasgow (2020, Nurturing Faith).
On the podcast, titled Open to Explore, church members share personal devotions about how the perspectives of Jesus intersect with their lives. These members also meet in small groups to discuss assigned chapters from the book out of which the devotions arise.
“During each week of Lent one chapter in the book will be highlighted, said Granger of the podcast, “with devotions in week one corresponding to book’s first chapter, devotions during week two corresponding to the second chapter, and so forth.”
Granger also created a 40-day guide for daily readings and reflections on the topics in Glasgow’s book. Granger’s “A Daily Reading Journal” may be downloaded in PDF form for free from the Good Faith Media bookstore, where the book Seeing with Jesus may be purchased.
Frank Granger in Grand Teton National Park as part of a 2018 Jesus Worldview Retreat hosted by Good Faith Media.
“The Daily Reading Journal is designed to provide a method for more-intentionally reading the book in daily segments over a six-week period — allowing time to reflect and explore the material presented,” said Granger.
A slower, more reflective approach to the book, he added, can help with better grasping and applying the teachings and example of Jesus. The downloadable guide works well for individual or small-group use — and includes prompts for further reflections and journaling.
“The book Seeing with Jesus is an excellent resource for gaining a full 360-degree perspective on how the gospels present Jesus,” said Granger, a veteran Christian educator. “The flow of the content, along with its division into six chapters, forms an excellent match with the six weeks of Lent.”
However, the Daily Reading Journal and Glasgow’s book, added Granger, are appropriate for use any time of the year. These resources, along with others in development, relate to Good Faith Media’s Jesus Worldview Initiative.
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Director of the Jesus Worldview Initiative at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee and former executive editor and publisher at Good Faith Media.
