The Wired Word class approaches the Bible using current events and discussion.  This class is led by Sara and Frank Metheny and meets in the CYF room from 10:45-Noon. The lesson and link to material are e-mailed to attendees on prior Thursdays, so each person has time to study His word well before the Sunday School session.  If you would like the lesson e-mailed to you, please contact Frank Metheny at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and request to be added to The Wired Word e-mail list. Then bring your Bible and copies of the weekly lesson to class and join us!

We bring lessons and discussions to life and make them more relevant to modern Christian living with The Wired Word, weaving current events into our weekly Bible studies.

Each week our class includes Biblical commentary and discussion questions related to a topic in the news that week — sometimes even the same day!

The Wired Word:

• Relates current events to relevant Scripture passages.
• Encourages group dialogue on how the verses covered each week apply to everyday life.
• Engages group members with thought-provoking, stimulating discussions on the messages contained in the Biblical texts covered each week.
  • We provide your lesson complete with handouts — based on positive themes acceptable to Christian churches of all persuasions.
  • We have many responsibilities. We create insightful lessons and spark meaningful discussions that inspire our members and help them see how Scripture relates to their daily lives.

Each weekly installment includes everything we need to spark discussion and to relate the messages contained in Scripture passages to current headlines  . . .

• In the News discusses a current event to be analyzed in a Biblical context each week.
• The Big Questions provide a framework for the discussion.
• Confronting the News with Scripture provides the substance of the lesson along with suggestions on how session members can apply Scripture passages covered that week to their daily lives.
• Discussion Questions encourage additional in-depth exploration of the topic at hand.
• Closing Prayer is provided as a conclusion to the week's discussion.

Here is a sample of the material and topics that are provided for our session(s):

Dear Beneva Christian Wired Word Attendee,

Here is our session for this week  Please take some time to review it and all the related news links and we'll see you on Sunday Morning at 9:30!!

In the past couple of weeks, several stories about intemperate verbal outbursts or incidents of bizarre and rude public behavior have dominated the headlines. Rep. Joe Wilson and tennis player Serena Williams, figure in the first of these categories, and rapper Kanye West in the second. These are only current notable examples of incivility and they reignited a public discussion about the decline of manners and civility in our culture and society. This, then, is our topic for our next class: civility, and why it’s in such short supply, why it’s important to recover, and what the Bible says about our relationship with others, including our conversation.

If you wish to begin thinking about our topic in advance, below is some introductory material.

Recent Public Outbursts Elicit Renewed Calls for the Return of Civility

The Wired Word for September 27, 2009

In the News

They seemed to come in rapid succession: vitriolic verbal outbursts directed at others who were simply minding their business or doing their business. President Obama was addressing a joint session of Congress on the House floor when Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) interrupted his speech with an angry "You lie!" after the President asserted that the proposed reform of health care would not make funds available to illegal aliens to purchase health insurance. (Several days later, former President Jimmy Carter suggested that Wilson’s comments were "based on racism.")

It was not long after this incident that tennis player Serena Williams, playing in a semifinal match of the United States Open against Kim Clijsters of Belgium, was called for a foot fault on her serve. Replays showed that no foot fault had been committed, but it was close and the linesperson called it. Williams went off on the official, explaining indelicately what she was going to do with the tennis ball she held in her hand. She was charged with a penalty point, which — because it was match point — cost her the match.

At the Grammys, 19-year-old Taylor Swift had just launched into her speech after accepting an award for Best Video, when rapper Kanye West appeared, and after wrestling the microphone from Swift's hand, explained to those present and the television audience why Beyonce's video was better.

All three of these people have issued apologies of some kind — Wilson to the president, Williams to the linesperson, and West posted something that resembled an apology on his Web site.

Had these incidents occurred in isolation, social pundits might have ignored what many regard as the larger, back story: the loss of civility in our culture. But because they happened in such a quick chronological time frame and because the outbursts were committed by highly visible public personalities, the media buzz about the civility issue became louder.

More on this story may be found at these links:

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/09/18/disappearing.civility/index.html?iref=newssearch

http://sports.yahoo.com/ten/blog/busted_racquet/post/Serena-Williams-berates-official-loses-match-fo?urn=ten,189028

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-09-14-civility-cover_N.htm

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/21/wilson.lie.internet/index.html?iref=newssearch

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/15/jimmy-carter-wilsons-outb_n_288003.html

The Big Questions

1. A good question with which to begin this lesson might be to ask: What is civility, and in our culture what would civility look like?

2.  Is civility in decline, or is it simply more visible today than in the past — what with 24/7 television coverage, camera phones, Twitter, Facebook and so on?

3.  Some might argue that civility has a downside. A culture of civility is also a culture of dishonesty, some say, and that what is often perceived as incivility is more accurately an attempt to draw attention to the truth. What do you think?

4. In his book, Choosing Civility, P.M. Forni, Professor at Johns Hopkins University and Director of the Civility Initiative at Johns Hopkins, offers a number of "civility" rules. What rules of civility would you suggest?

5.  When someone is uncivil to you, how do you handle the situation? Are you conscious of how your profession of faith causes you — and helps you — to respond in a way that otherwise you might not?

6.  Do you think that developing the discipline of civility in your life would improve the quality of your life? If so, in what way?

Confronting the News with Scripture

We will look at selected verses from these Scripture texts.

Proverbs 10-15

James 1:1-27

James 3:1-12

2 Kings 2:23-24