At the heart of the gospel is a story of Christ’s redeeming work. How we understand this story impacts who we understand God to be, how we see ourselves, and how we relate with God. In this series, we will consider what Jesus accomplishes in his life, death, and resurrection, and we will seek to live in the fullness Christ’s atoning work.
Week 1: Substitution
This week, we looked at the substitutionary nature of the atonement. We reflected on the legal view of the atonement (penal substitutionary atonement), and considered the alternative view of medical substitution.
Kingdom Practice
This week, seek to live in the fullness of Christ’s healing work by practicing the examen Erin guided us in on Sunday morning. You can find the guided practice embedded below.
Week 2: Tragedy and Intimacy
This week, we reflected on a story of atonement rooted deeply in love. How might we, like Julian of Norwich, see sin as a tragedy rather than a crime and experience the atonement, like Father Richard Rohr, as a restoration of intimacy and union with God?
Kingdom Practice
This week, as we seek to open ourselves to the healing of Christ and live in deeper union with God, let’s practice together the examen Father Michael guided us in on Sunday morning. You can find the guided practice embedded below.
Week 3: Victory
This week, we considered the Orthodox story of atonement. Jesus in his life, death, and resurrection is victorious over the evil one. This story invites us to consider God’s great love which leads to the Lord:
- Offering forgiveness without the need for payment.
- Providing a path from healing from the sickness caused by sin.
- Going through death into Hades to defeat the evil one, and
- Giving himself in sacrifice to seal a new covenant and offer us union with God.
Kingdom Practice
This week, as we seek to open ourselves to the healing of Christ and live in deeper union with God, let’s practice together the examen we prayed on Sunday morning. You can find the guided practice embedded below.
Week 4: Exemplar
On 6.22 with Casey Tygrett
Additional Resources
Books and Articles
On the Incarnation by Athinasius
A Community Called Atonement by Scot McKnight
The Wood Between the Worlds by Brian Zahnd
What Did the Cross Accomplish by N.T. Wright, Simon Gathercole, and Robert B. Stewart
The Nature of the Atonement edited by James Beilby and Paul R. Eddy
Two Views of the Cross by Frederica Mathewes-Green
Learning Theology with the Church Fathers by Chris Hall
The Anastasis Center a website from Mako Nagasawa with a number of articles about medical substitutionary atonement
Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich
Podcasts
Atonement from The Bible Project
Redemption a podcast series from The Bible Project
Leviticus: What is Atonement from The Bible Project
Why Jesus had to Die from Voxology podcast episode
Rethinking the Cross from The Holy Post, an interview with Brian Zahnd (begins at 50:35)
Videos
Rethinking Penal Substitutionary Atonement a Holy Post interview with Brian Zahnd
If you want to explore thinking about God’s wrath and judgment differently:
Sinners in the Hands of a Loving God by Brian Zahnd
Cross Vision by Greg Boyd
Encountering God: Slow to Anger a teaching from our series Encountering God
Slow to Anger a video from the Bible Project
Character of God a podcast series from the Bible Project (check out episiodes 6-11)
Why Did God Flood the World? an article from the Bible Project
The First Time God Gets Angry a podcast episode from the Bible Project
If you want to explore the sacrificial system of Leviticus:
Walking in the Wilderness: Leviticus Details a podcast episode from our Walking in series
Walking in the Wilderness: Purity and Sacrifices a podcast episode from our Walking in series
Leviticus Scroll a podcast series from The Bible Project
The Great Day of Atonement a sermon by Hebrew scholar Jay Sklar
If you have a story to share about how you have been encountering God in this season, we would love to hear it!
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