The Epistle to the Hebrews
Dear Friends,
I hope you enjoyed our last week’s worth of reflections arising from Dag Hammarskjöld’s Markings.
During July we will be reading through the Epistle to the Hebrews together guided by John Proctor, a former tutor at Westminster College. Some early Christians attributed this letter to Paul but, even in the earliest Church, there was no agreement that he wrote it – and the letter is anonymous. The writing is more polished than other New Testament texts and is believed to have been addressed to Jewish Christians living in Jerusalem encouraging them through a period of persecution. It was tempting to turn back to Jewish faith and practice to escape persecution and the writer tries to shore up their new-found faith. Some scholars think the Epistle was, in fact, written for a Jewish audience and uses Jewish ideas to make claims for Jesus the exalted Son of God and High Priest. Our reflections over the next few weeks pay closer attention to the text than we’d normally do and are more akin to a Bible Study than a thought for the day. We hope you enjoy them.
With every good wish
Andy
The Rev’d Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship