Crosswise Quarterly (Teacher/Winter 2024–25)

CrossWise: Navigation Through Faith & Life is a quarterly curriculum for adults of all ages

The winter quarter 2024–2025, “A King Forever and Ever,” explores the broad sweep of biblical teaching about God’s reign and connects to Jesus as the earthly exhibition of the divine Kingdom. Beginning with key moments in the history of David’s ancestors, Unit 1 highlights Jesus’s birth as the Son of David. Unit 2 is a four-week study of Psalms that extol the reign of God, while Unit 3 gives a New Testament look at Jesus’s teaching on “Life in God’s Kingdom.”

Unit 1, “Jesus, the Heir of David,” prepares us for the Christmas season with five lessons from Ruth, 2 Samuel, and Luke. Lessons 1 and 2 deal with key moments in the history of Jesus’s ancestors. Lesson three considers the role of John the Baptist in preparing the way for “an horn of salvation…in the house of…David” (Luke 1:69) while Lesson 4 highlights how Jesus’s birth, as the heir of David, brings good news to the world. Lesson 5 is a glimpse of Jesus, the “Son of David,” who bestows mercy on those in need.

Unit 2, “Our God Reigns,” is a four-week study of psalms that extol the reign of God. The first lesson explores Psalm 10, a lament in which the psalmist finds comfort in the assurance of God’s reign. Lesson 7 examines Psalm 93 that praises God as the eternal and all-powerful King. In Lessons 8 and 9, we study Psalms 103 and 145, which recount God’s merciful and powerful acts as ruler of an everlasting kingdom.

Unit 3, “Life in God’s Kingdom,” gives four lessons from Matthew in which Jesus explains the nature and obligations of Kingdom life to His disciples. In 1esson 10, we contemplate what it means to pray, “forgive us our debts” in a world sustained by debt and obligation. Lesson 11 presents a frank acknowledgment that the Kingdom of Heaven will meet resistance in this world. Lesson 12 promises a reward in the Kingdom for those who have given up much to follow Jesus. Finally, in Lesson 13, Jesus tells a parable about the judgment to challenge His followers to faithfully serve the King.