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Lenten Series Schedule: March 5 to April 2, 7:30-9:00 pm

sara — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 03:00:35 +0000

Week One, March 5: Beginning
A brief introduction to the faith of Islam as a background and aid to reading A Thousand Splendid Suns.

Week Two, with Karen King, March 12: Martyrdom in the early Church
Its historical context, and a look at some of the writings of and about the earliest Christian martyrs. What does it mean for us now to embrace a faith whose creed and biblical canon was shaped by and fixed during a time of violence, and the possibility of martyrdom.

Week Three, with Karen King, March 19: Resurrection Faith
How do Jews, Christians and Muslims talk about resurrection? Karen will have recently returned from a seminar in Jerusalem in which Jews, Christians and Muslims, themselves living with the ever-present threat of violence, religiously approach life and death.

Week Four, March 26: The Holy Week Story
Who are the many characters in the events of the Holy Week and how did their choices reflect their best effort to be faithful to God and to one another in a time of crisis?

Week Five, April 2: Wrap Up
What are we prepared to say about Jesus’ choices in his ministry and especially during Holy Week? Which of those choices are we called to imitate? What does it mean for us, in 21st century America, to “take up our cross” and follow?

We will meet each week from 7:30-9:00. Child care will be provided.

Coming in Lent: The Cross in the 1st and 21st Centuries

sara — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 02:32:11 +0000

The weeks of Lent culminate in Holy Week and Easter—stories of life, death, hope and struggle which are at the heart of our Christian faith. The context of those stories—Jerusalem in Jesus’ time—was a violent and volatile political setting that is vastly different from life as we know it in the United States in 2009. How do we understand the stories of our faith in peacetime and in a culture where Christianity is culturally understood to be the religion of the land?

To get a sense of the dangers of life in wartime today, we will be reading A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini (2007). Written by the author of The Kite Runner, the story is set in Afghanistan and tells a story of family and community life through the experience of two women whose lives intersect as both struggle to survive in a culture which must endure one war after another.

With Karen King’s help, we will look at how suffering and dying has been regarded in the Christian tradition. What might it mean for us to “take up our cross and follow”? We’ll look at the variety of ways in which “resurrection” is understood, with a particular focus on early Christianity. We will ask what it means for us today.

Finally, we will take a look at the Holy Week narrative itself. Who are the major players? Are there really any “bad guys” or is it the tragic account of many different people each struggling in wartime to make the best and most faithful decisions they could?

Our Thursday evening meetings will be from 7:30 – 9 p.m. Child-care will be provided.

Epiphany Book Group

katherine — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:01:05 +0000

In the spirit of the “season of revelation” an intrepid group of COS members began to meet in the cold of January to discuss the writing of Brian McClaren. Selections from his book, Everything Must Change were made available by the diocese as “Epiphany Papers.” Joyce Scheyer, our seminarian, convened the group.

According to McClaren, the book asks two essential questions: What are the world’s top crises, and what do the life and message of Jesus say to those global crises? He believes many young people see Christianity as a failed religion because it fails to address systemic injustice, poverty, and dysfunction. He thinks we can do better.

You may have an opinion on one or the other of these questions. The group continues in February on the first two Thursdays, 7:30-8:30. No need to read in advance-just come and join the conversation.