Today I have been juggling three Bible Study guides and a few commentaries, trying to plan a series from 1 Peter.  The decision to go with 1 Peter was made back in September, but to my shame until now I haven't given it any more thought, and the first one is next week.  In the end, I have opted to adapt the title of the one of the study books to form a question "The Best of Times or the Worst of Times" and to use the longer Dickens quote as a jumping off point:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only. (A Tale of Two Cities)

I have to confess I have never read the book, but this sentence has a timeless quality about it and will hopefully lead us into a series where, after an introductory study next week, we can reflect on

• Hope
• Holiness
• Relationships, both domestic and societal (two studies)
• Suffering & Struggle