Unfamiliar Faces: Bible Stories that Might Surprise Us

Some Bible stories are unfamiliar because we have barely heard them. Others are unfamiliar because we heard them so long ago, maybe in Sunday School or Vacation Bible School, that we stopped expecting them to have anything new to say.

This August, we will spend five weeks with some unfamiliar faces in scripture: two brave midwives, three faithful friends in the fire, one reluctant prophet, one generous woman by the river, and one sleepy young man in a window. Some of these names may be new to us. Some may sound familiar. But each story invites us to look again and listen for the grace, challenge, humor, and holy surprise still waiting in the text.