Fall and Advent 2007 Adult Ed Class Summaries
Sundays 9:00 – 9:45 a.m. beginning September 9
Welcome Back Overview: How We Spent Our Summer and Hope to Spend Our Autumn.
David Rider, vestry representatives, and search committee leaders speak informally about ministry at St. Mark’s over the summer and into autumn. Join us for Q&A as we kick off an important program year for St. Mark’s.
Theology of Christian Mission and Outreach (David Rider, 7 weeks).
In our Christian conversation, we often use words interchangeably like outreach, mission, community service, evangelism and charity. Are these words synonyms, or do they stem from different theologies of Christian service? Depending upon our assumptions, we can end with differing priorities for St. Mark’s. In this discussion, David Rider and Outreach Commission members engage you in conversation about our parish’s past and future vision for mission on and beyond our campus. Click here for class syllabus.
Toward God: A Class on Prayer (Anne Richards, 11 weeks).
In this class, we explore the centrality of prayer in the Christian life. We will talk about what prayer is, how to deepen (or begin) one’s prayer life, and various forms of prayer. We also will discuss practical topics related to prayer, such as how we imagine God, the effects of prayer on the rest of one’s life the place of the cross in prayer; meditation; sin and prayer, and the prayers of Jesus. The text for the class will be Michael Casey’s Toward God: The Ancient Wisdom of Western Prayer (Liguori/Triumph, 1996, available in our bookstore after Labor Day).
Wednesdays 10:00 – 11:15 a.m., beginning September 12
Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (David Rider and Carol Hoidra, 15 weeks).
This Bible Study engages Paul’s most polemic Epistle, one Martin Luther once said he loved more than his wife. The civilized Paul engages the barbarian Galatians who epitomized the outsiders of the biblical world as they washed their warrior hair in lime and screamed terrifying battle cries, dispatching the heads of their enemies. In the first verses, Paul invokes divine authority for his identity as he articulates a new teaching on justification by faith, a theme fatefully invoked again during the Protestant Reformation. Our class addresses Paul’s overall theology (especially justification and grace) and shares our individual approaches to Scripture as we read the Epistle together. Click here for the class syllabus.
Advent Adult Education Classes
Sunday, December 2, 9, 16, & 23 at 9:00-9:45 a.m.
Centering Prayer Group
Anne Richards leads a Centering prayer group this Advent. Each session begins with some brief instruction in centering prayer, a short discussion of that Sunday’s gospel, and then 20 minutes of centering prayer. Centering prayer is silent prayer that focuses on sitting in God’s presence with the aid of a sacred word or mantra. Infuse your busy Advent season with peace and nourish your spirit with quiet prayer in this congenial group, which meets in the Library. Optional reading: Open Mind, Open Heart by Thomas Keating (Continuum).
Birth of The Messiah
Fr. Rider explores the Christmas story through the lens of raging Christological debates of the early Church. How does the manner of Jesus’ birth speak to his humanity and divinity? Why does Scripture contain three different birth stories? Join us for this provocative and illuminating discussion.
