Category: Christian Education

In the coming weeks, we will make our way through Revelation with some help from Ward Ewing’s book ‘The Power of the Lamb: Revelation’s Theology of Liberation for You.’ This book is not a commentary on the text but an attempt to apply the lessons and meaning of Revelation for us today. Pairing Revelation and ‘The Power of the Lamb’ together should give a chance to discuss Scripture and an opportunity for those who want to dig deeper as well.

Oct 2nd: We are beginning our journey into and through the book of Revelation this week. For our initial meeting, we will share some of our initial impressions about Revelation and Fr. Will will introduce the book to us. We will review what apocalyptic literature in general is like, where this book fits into that genre, and why some folks avoid this book.

Sunday mornings at 9:15, we meet in Fox Hall, or you can access our meeting online by any of the following methods:

1. Click here – https://zoom.us/j/91297837526

Or

2. Go to Zoom.us, click “Join Meeting” & enter Meeting ID: 912 9783 7526

Or

3. On your cell, call (312) 626-6799 and enter Meeting ID 912 9783 7526#

In the upcoming weeks we will read and discuss some of the parables of Jesus found in the gospels.

July 31st: For our first week, we will be reading the Parable of the Two Debtors, Luke 7:41-43.

Aug 7th: This week, we will review the Parable of the Weeds, Matthew 13:24-30.

Aug 14th: Parable of the Faithful Servant, Matthew 24:42-51.

Aug 21st: Parable of the Hidden Treasure, Matthew 13:44.

Aug 28th: Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders, Matthew 7:24-27.

Sept 4th: Lazarus and the Rich Man, Luke 16:19-31.

Sept 11th: Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, Matthew 20:1-16.

Sept 18th: Parable of the Valuable Coins, Matthew 25:14-30.

Sept. 25th: We are drawing our discussion of the parables of Jesus to a close this week. Our time together this Sunday will be an opportunity to go back over the parables we have been reading through in the past weeks to see what has stuck with us and what has challenged us. Questions for us to consider: What exactly do we think a parable is now? What parable was the most difficult for us? What character in the parables do we identify with the most?

Sunday mornings at 9:15, we meet in Fox Hall, or you can access our meeting online by any of the following methods:

1. Click here – https://zoom.us/j/91297837526

Or

2. Go to Zoom.us, click “Join Meeting” & enter Meeting ID: 912 9783 7526

Or

3. On your cell, call (312) 626-6799 and enter Meeting ID 912 9783 7526#

We are looking forward to regathering this upcoming Sunday after our break for Holy Week. We will be meeting on Zoom as well as in Fox Hall. Hopefully, the technology will cooperate enough for us to be able to come together in person and online.

In the upcoming weeks we will read Justified by Her Children: Deeds of Courage Confronting a Tradition of Racism by Roy G. Pollina. The book chronicles the journey of Christ Episcopal Church in Martinsville, Virginia as its priest and people clashed over racism in their town and in larger society.

Apr. 24th: For our first week, we will have a short reading to get us oriented to the larger work of the book. Please read the Introduction and Chapter 1 up to page 11. We will pick up the speed next week.

May 1st: This week, we will review Chapters 2 and 3. In these chapters we will learn a bit of background about Christ Episcopal Church in Martinsville, Virginia, about Fr. Pollina’s arrival as rector there, and about the beginnings of the story of a young rector who was there in the late 1950s who helped that parish negotiate issues that were affecting that church and the nation.

May 8th: We will be focusing on chapters 4 and 5, and reflecting on some of the history of Christ Episcopal Church in Martinsville, Virginia, the central setting for the book’s story, as well as the evidences of the cultural racism that existed there and in our nation as the book’s story begins in the late 1950s. Our grateful thanks are extended to Fr. Pollina for joining us in last week’s session.

May 15th: The discussion in this week’s Christ Church Adult Ed session will focus on chapters 6 and 7. As we review those chapters we will consider the preparations made for welcoming their new rector by Christ Episcopal Church in Martinsville, paying particular attention to the activities of Rev. Philip Gresham’s first Sunday there. We will also review some of the early relationship of the Episcopal Church to African-American parishes. These settings provide much interesting and provocative material for our discussion, both as historical events and as examples for our lives as we deal with many of these same issues today.

May 22nd: Our discussion in this week’s Adult Ed session will cover chapters 8 and 9. In these chapters we get a view of the beginnings of the compelling story at the heart of Fr. Pollina’s book. We learn of the actions taken at the annual meeting of the Diocese of Southwest Virginia to address the recent ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court that segregation in public schools was illegal, as well as the decision for the diocese to establish a Diocesan Camp and Conference Center while back in Martinsville the popularity of the new young rector is increasing among the youth of Martinsville and along the local public speaking circuit. You will surely want to be a part of our 9:15 Sunday morning discussion as we delve into the historical implications for 1950’s Christ Episcopal Church in Martinsville and into the lessons that offer continued value in current day East Tennessee.

May 29th: Our morning conversation will consider Chapters 10 and 11. We will hear of the background and training of one of the book’s main characters, Bishop Marmion, as we also hear of Christ Episcopal Church Martinsville’s approach to addressing a welcome problem, greater attendance than can be accommodated by their current facilities. As in our last few meetings as we examine these elements of the 1950’s environment and culture described in the book, we will consider their relevance to our current world, and the lessons we might glean from that application.

June 5th: This Sunday’s Adult Ed session will focus on Chapters 12 and 13. In these chapters we are presented with the 1958 situation that forces Christ Episcopal Church of Martinsville and the Diocese of Southwest Virginia to directly address the ways they will deal with historic racism within the structure of the church. As the diocesan directive is presented that the new conference center will be available to all communicants of the diocese, regardless of race or color, we read of the reaction by individual parishes and of the diocese, setting the stage for compelling discussion this week, and in weeks to come as we see how the story unfolds.

June 12th: This week the discussion will focus on Chapters 14 and 15, where we learn of some of the background of the members of the Christ Episcopal Church, Martinsville’s youth group and of two key vestry members. At our meeting, as we reflect on how these descriptions of some key participants in this story of a parish’s attempts to navigate issues of racism in 1958, we will also consider our own current-day related challenges.

June 19th: In this week’s session we will discuss chapters 16 and 17. In the first of these chapters, we consider the implications of two key decisions by the 1959 youth group of Christ Episcopal Church Martinsville where they counter the position on integration expressed by the parish’s adult lay leadership. Then we further examine the continuing reactions of the Diocese of Southwest Virginia, while noting the many applications of these issues to our current environment.

June 26th: This week the Sunday morning discussion will review chapters 18 and 19. Among the questions that emerge from those chapters’ depiction of the attempts by Christ Episcopal Church in Martinsville to navigate racial issues in 1959 Virginia is the question of how gender intersects with race in those struggles. Additionally, we will consider the implications of the chapters’ described evidences of general parish effects of Fr. Gresham’s support of the bishop’s efforts to integrate the diocesan conference center.

July 3rd: This week our discussion will focus on Chapters 20 and 21. After reviewing the physical and symbolic description of the crozier to be gifted to the bishop of Southwest Virginia by the parish youth group, we read how Christ Episcopal Church Martinsville’s struggles with integration in 1959 Virginia as evidenced by a crucial vestry meeting. Please consider being a part of our conversation about the implications for the spiritual lives of the characters described by Fr. Polina’s book and the corresponding implications to our lives more than sixty years later.

July 10th: This week we will review Chapters 22 and 23. In our discussion of this material, we will consider the actions taken by the vestry of Christ Episcopal Church, Martinsville in response to the sudden resignation of their rector, with the foremost of those considerations being an assessment of the appropriateness of those actions. As has been the case throughout our discussion of Fr. Pollina’s compelling book, we will also note the continued 2022 applications of this story from the 1950s and 1960s.

July 17th: The discussion this week will cover Chapters 24 and 25. In focusing on this material we will review the path taken by Fr. Philip Gresham after his 1960 resignation from the position of rector of Christ Episcopal Church, Martinsville Virginia, examining evidence of the personal struggles that ensued after having taken such a stand in protest of the racial injustices he saw being espoused by the vestry of that parish. We will also follow the further actions of the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia as they come to eventual acceptance of actions that result in the ever so gradual dissolution of the historical practices of segregation that had been in place there since the beginnings of the diocese.

July 24th: This week our discussion will focus on Chapter 26, the last chapter of Fr. Roy Pollina’s fascinating book. In this chapter, we will hear of the last elements of the story of Bishop Marmion who championed the effort in the late 1950s and early 1960s supporting racial equity in the Diocese of Southwestern Virginia as well as the story of the fate of one of the main objects of those efforts, the diocesan conference and retreat center, Hemlock Haven. As we have done throughout this well told story, we will also reflect on the still occurring 2022 applications of these same struggles for equality for all.

Sunday mornings at 9:15, we meet in Fox Hall, or you can access our meeting online by any of the following methods:

1. Click here – https://zoom.us/j/91297837526

Or

2. Go to Zoom.us, click “Join Meeting” & enter Meeting ID: 912 9783 7526

Or

3. On your cell, call (312) 626-6799 and enter Meeting ID 912 9783 7526#

Our focus in the next few weeks will be a series of sermons from African-American leaders in the Episcopal Church.

Absalom Jones and William Douglass were the first two rectors of the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia. Jones established the church in 1792 after splitting from a Methodist Church and was ordained priest by William White, the Presiding Bishop.

The sermons are available online at http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/ajones/thanksgiving1808.html and https://readux.ecds.emory.edu/books/emory:b4vjd/pdf/, and also available in the book of sermons published by Seminary Street Press, “Absalom Jones & William Douglass: Early Sermons from the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas, Philadelphia,”

Feb. 13th: This Sunday marks the day when the Episcopal Church commemorates Jones in its calendar. We will begin by reading Jones’s “Thanksgiving Sermon.” The sermon gives thanks for the passing of the ‘Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves’ in 1807 in the United States that took effect on January 1, 1808 and a similar law in the United Kingdom, ‘An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade’ which received Royal Assent on March 25, 1807.

Feb. 20th: Last week we began discussing the famous Thanksgiving Sermon of Absalom Jones. Our time this Sunday will begin by looking again at that sermon before moving on to sermons preached by Jones’s successor William Douglass. Our focus will be on the first two sermons, ‘The God of Hope’ and ‘Peace in Christ.’ These two sermons give us a window into the spiritual life of the congregation at that time.

Feb. 27th: Our reading of sermons from the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia continues this week. We will look at sermons III and IV by William Douglass. Sermon III picks up on a few verses from 1 John about the ‘well-beloved Gaius’ and the way of life he pursued that allowed his soul to prosper. Sermon IV takes up the weighty matter of the practices of mutual forbearance and forgiveness within the church. Douglass picks through the difficult terrain of how we forgive each other and how we cultivate a spirit of forgiveness.

Mar. 6th: This week, we will consider sermons 5 and 6 which examine the concept of Grieving the Holy Spirit as well as God’s power, justice, and mercy. In particular, we will review Douglass’ examples of these things that may be observed in our lives and consider the continued applicability even more than 150 years later.

Mar. 13th: Our sermons from William Douglass this week focus on the need for wisdom and the pursuit of our own peace. Especially in sermon VIII, we see Douglass’s ability to set practical matters of our life in conversation with theological doctrine. What does our relationship to eternity mean for our own time? Douglass gives sermon VIII during a time of cholera and turns to a sense of God’s eternity as a source of comfort during a time of great illness. I am sure that Douglass’s reflections will provide ample opportunity for our discussion with him and with each other.

Mar. 20th: We are now coming close to the end of our sermons from William Douglass. Appropriately the focus of these sermons is on time and the fact that everything must come to an end. Douglass draws connections between our current life and the life to come. Is he just offering us a little consolation for our earthly suffering or something more? These sermons will give us an opportunity to discuss how our present life relates to a life beyond death and to the eternal God.

Mar. 27th: Our time with William Douglass comes to an end this week with the last two sermons in our book. We are fittingly taking up two different themes in these sermons: repentance and death. Douglass explores the dynamics of drawing close to God when we seem distant from God in sermon XI. What is required of us in this repair of our relationship with God? And, finally, the last sermon in this collection is a funeral sermon for Rev. Peter Williams. While looking to Rev. Williams life, the sermon also explores what it is for the faithful to pass away.

Sunday mornings at 9:15, you can access our meeting by any of the following methods:

1. Click here – https://zoom.us/j/91297837526

Or

2. Go to Zoom.us, click “Join Meeting” & enter Meeting ID: 912 9783 7526

Or

3. On your cell, call (312) 626-6799 and enter Meeting ID 912 9783 7526#

Our discussions for this series will be based around the work of the current Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, who wrote a book Catholic Evangelism for the Affirming Catholicism book series. Cottrell’s work focuses on how churches can create a culture of evangelism while remaining open, affirming, and Anglo-Catholic.

Dec. 5th: We’ll begin our series by focusing on the initial section of Catholic Evangelism that defines and explores the meaning of evangelism, evangelization, and mission. It will be helpful for our discussion if you can reflect ahead of time on two topics. First, what role do we think discipleship and making disciples plays in our parish? Second, what part does our own spirituality play in the work of evangelism? Do we pray for new people? How does our spirituality manifest itself (or not) in our lives?

Dec. 12th: The reading will remain the same from last week, but our discussion will be about our own lives of discipleship as something we are inviting people into as a church. We will be able to talk about the practices that sustain our own journey in the faith as well as what are some potential hindrances to sharing that faith with others. Please take some time to reflect before our time together on prayers and practices that fill your heart and help you strive to lead the Sermon on the Mount life we talked about last week.

Dec. 19th & 26th: Our focus this week will be on the purpose of the church and its mission. To get our discussion going please take some time to complete the sentence ‘The reason we have a church here is…’ If you need some help to think about this prompt try asking yourself what would be missing if Christ Church wasn’t here or what sort of church you think Jesus wants us to be. There are no wrong answers! Your replies will help us get our discussion going as we think about our own approach to evangelism here at Christ Church.

Jan. 2nd: We will continue our discussion of Catholic Evangelism with some assistance from our very own bishop. Bishop Cole will join us to reflect on the first part of the book. I am hoping we will be able to pick up some of the discussion from this past week on the statements about what we have a church for here at Christ Church. Taking time to think through this shared vision is important ahead of the next section in the book on the kind of evangelism we can pursue. It is important to know what we are inviting people into before we start to invite them.

Jan. 9th: Our journey continues this week as we move into the next chapter of our book (pgs 19-30). The focus of this chapter is on understanding evangelism as journeying alongside other people in their journey of faith. We will discuss this way of accompaniment as it leads into a growth spiral for ourselves and for others. A helpful exercise before our discussion will be for you to think some about opportunities at Christ Church and other churches where you have experienced the kind of growth Cottrell talks about in this chapter.

Jan. 16th & 23rd: We will continue to look at the same reading from last week. Our focus this week will be on the spiritual growth diagram on page 26. Looking at this diagram, and talking through it, will allow us to share how our own faith journeys have progressed along the circle as well as how we might invite others into the journey. I especially want us to spend some time before our meeting reflecting on how Christ Church has served to move us along on our faith journey or even how it has not met that need as of now. Hopefully this session will be a time for us to share some stories and to look to the future.

Jan. 30th: This week we are moving into the final sections of Stephen Cottrell’s book on Catholic Evangelism. We will be reading the chapters that describe the shifts in involvement in the parish community. We will try to get a better sense of what those changes from seekers into travelers into pilgrims mean for others and for ourselves, as well as try to think through some of the practical aspects of making those changes. Our question for this week and the next will be “What does it look like for Christ Church to be a missionary church?”

Feb. 6th: We are wrapping up our study of Stephen Cottrell’s Catholic Evangelism. Picking up on last week’s conversation about what we find life-giving in our parish, we will turn to think about how we are listening to those outside the church. One key aspect of evangelism is learning to listen to those around us.

Sunday mornings at 9:15, you can access our meeting by any of the following methods:

1. Click here – https://zoom.us/j/91297837526
   Or
2. Go to Zoom.us, click “Join Meeting” & enter Meeting ID: 912 9783 7526
   Or
3. On your cell, call (312) 626-6799 and enter Meeting ID 912 9783 7526#

Sunday, September 19th: Now that we have made our way through Daniel, we are taking a few weeks to work our way through the Catechism in the Book of Common Prayer on pages 845-862, or available in PDF here. For our first week, we will focus on the sections ‘Human Nature,’ ‘God the Father,’ ‘The Old Covenant,’ and ‘The Ten Commandments.’ These initial sections will lay the groundwork for the following sections on Jesus, the Spirit, and the Christian life. Fr. Will will walk us through these questions with ample time for discussions and questions.

Sept. 26th, we will continue our journey through the Catechism this week by focusing on the sections ‘The Ten Commandments’, ‘Sin and Redemption’, and ‘God the Son.’ In the story of salvation, we are moving from the time of anticipation of the Messiah to the fulfillment of that desire in Jesus Christ. In terms of the creeds, we are moving from the first to the second article, from the Father to the Son. We will look at the rationale of the Ten Commandments, the problem of sin, and how the Messiah moves us forward.

October 3rd, we continue to make our way through the catechism this week. We will turn to the sections ‘God the Son,’ ‘The New Covenant,’ and ‘The Creeds.’ Much of our discussion so far has been looking back to the Old Covenant but now we turn to think about Jesus and the life of the church. These sections are a hinge opening up the door to later discussions of Scripture, Sacraments, and the Christian Hope.

October 10th, the discussion will continue, focusing this Sunday on the sections: The Creeds, The Holy Spirit, and The Holy Scriptures. We will also use some of our time to list questions we hope will have been answered by the time we have completed this series on the Catechism.

Oct. 17th, our journey continues this week with the sections on the Holy Spirit, the Holy Scriptures, and the Church. These sections represent a turn to the practices and the routines we ourselves know in our everyday lives. We will think about how we see the Holy Spirit in our lives, what it means to think of the Scriptures as inspired, and just where is the Church today. Our time this week will begin with picking up some lingering questions from last week before we move on to these topics.

Oct. 24th, following on from our discussion of the Holy Spirit, we now take up the sections in the catechism that focus on the church. We will look at the sections ‘The Church,’ ‘The Ministry,’ and ‘Prayer and Worship.’ We can compare these questions in our catechism with some of our earlier historic views on the church. See Articles XIX, XX, XXI, XXIII, and XXIV on pages 871-872 in the Book of Common Prayer, and the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral on pages 876-877. They will show us how things have changed and what has been constant in our understanding of the church, and provide a way for us to think about how we carry those ideas into the future.

Oct. 31st, we are continuing our journey through the catechism while slowing our pace somewhat. We will look at the sections on ‘Prayer and Worship’ and ‘The Sacraments.’ Our section on prayer lists a few different kinds of prayer. It will be helpful if we can look through that list to see what of those sorts of prayer we actually make use of ourselves. We will then be able to look at the sacraments in general before moving on next week to look specifically at Baptism and Eucharist.

Nov. 7th, our time together this week will focus on the sacraments. We will look at the questions in the catechism about ‘Holy Baptism,’ ‘The Holy Eucharist,’ and ‘Other Sacramental Rites.’ Last week we began our discussion of the sacraments by thinking about them as outward signs conveying an inward grace. This week we will be looking at what those outward signs and inward graces are for the sacraments we celebrate regularly in our church. As we move to look on sacraments beyond baptism and eucharist, we will take some time to think of how Jesus does or does not explicitly command us to celebrate these other sacramental rites.

Nov. 14th, we are coming at last to the end of the Catechism. We will look at the last two sections: ‘Other Sacramental Rites‘ and ‘The Christian Hope.’ I am sure we will find much to talk about in the section on Christian Hope as it presents the four last things, death, judgement, heaven, and hell to us. It will be helpful if you can look over the section on sacramental rites to see if you yourself have made use of any of them.

Nov. 21st, we are coming to the end of our time going through the Catechism by turning to the last things. These last things are a traditional theme for Advent so it will be good for us to think through them together before the season arrives. We will go through the section titled ‘The Christian Hope.’ It will be helpful if we can look through a few Scripture passages as well. Please read through Amos 9:11-15, Matthew 24:23-31, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, and Revelation 22:1-7.

Nov. 28th, we will be wrapping up our discussion of the Catechism and looking ahead to what comes next. We will give some time at the beginning to pick up any lingering questions, concerns, or comments from our time spent going through the Catechism together. After that discussion, we will look ahead to our next series on Evangelism. Our discussions will be based around the work of the current Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, who wrote a book Catholic Evangelism for the Affirming Catholicism book series. Cottrell’s work focuses on how churches can create a culture of evangelism while remaining open, affirming, and Anglo-Catholic.

Sunday mornings at 9:15, you can access our meeting by any of the following methods:

1. Click here – https://zoom.us/j/91297837526
   Or
2. Go to Zoom.us, click “Join Meeting” & enter Meeting ID: 912 9783 7526
   Or
3. On your cell, call (312) 626-6799 and enter Meeting ID 912 9783 7526#

Our Adult Education will be turning to the book of Daniel for the next few weeks. Daniel has some well-known stories in it with the lions’ den and the writing on the wall. But many of us may not know very much about the contents and meaning of the book beyond these childhood stories especially as it is read on Sunday morning only once every three years. We will be trying to remedy this gap in our knowledge by reading through the Book of Daniel to explore its emphasis on personal piety, revelatory visions, and political intrigue. Daniel shows us a number of case studies of people living in exile who must defy and negotiate with the culture around them. Hopefully, our look at Daniel will help us think about what it means to be faithful to God in strange times and in strange places.

For our first week on this topic (July 11th), Fr. Will will introduce Daniel to us. We will learn about its origin, composition, and main themes. We will then turn to discuss the first chapter of the book together.

For the second week (July 18th), covering chapter 2, we will get our first instance of Daniel’s ability to interpret strange signs and symbols through God’s help. Helpfully Daniel is able to do this reading of the signs in time to keep the king’s executioner at bay. While the king’s dream may seem a bit odd, we can find similar ideas and images in two of the hymns in our own hymnbook. In addition to reading Daniel chapter 2, please have a look at ‘The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended’ #24 and ‘Immortal, invisible, God only wise’ #423

For the third week (July 25th), we will cover chapter 3, which contains the famous fiery furnace as well as a long extended prayer of blessing and praise to God. We will discuss this chapter with some help from The Visual Commentary on Scripture available here: https://thevcs.org/fiery-furnace. You will see three images of the trial in the furnace as well as commentary on the images and the reading by clicking the commentary button.

For week four (Aug. 1st) we continue with chapter 4. We will see another dream from King Nebuchadnezzar and another interpretation from Daniel. The result of the dream will again be one that challenges Nebuchadnezzar and requires Daniel to tell the king some uncomfortable truth. You can read a brief reflection on Daniel’s disciplined commitment to truth and chapter 4 by looking at this PDF.

Aug. 8th, we make our way to another iconic scene in the book of Daniel, the writing on the wall. Daniel 5 again shows us Daniel’s ability to interpret mysterious signs for the king. The message does not come in the form of a dream but in a public display where a disembodied human hand writes on a wall. Please have a look at the images and the video commentary for this chapter from The Visual Commentary on Scripture: https://thevcs.org/writing-wall

Aug. 15th we read and discuss chapter 6, which contains the famous description of Daniel in the Lions’ Den. We will all be familiar with this story and have our own images of it in our heads. While we will have some time to discuss the lions, I want us to focus this week on the first part of the chapter with its description of Daniel’s prayer life. Questions we can bring to our reading and reflection are: How often do I pray? In what direction do I pray? Do I kneel when I pray? Do I speak aloud when I pray? We will hopefully be able to have some discussion about how we are or are not praying like Daniel.

Aug. 22nd, our journey through Daniel takes on a slightly different feel. We move into a series of chapters centered on apocalyptic visions given to Daniel about what is to come. We should expect lots of symbolism, prophecy, and even some confusion. We will make use of the images from The Visual Commentary on Scripture given here (https://thevcs.org/daniels-four-beasts) to get a sense of Daniel’s vision of the four beasts.

Aug. 29th, we find ourselves in the midst of another vision and interpretation this week in Daniel. Daniel 8 witnesses a battle between a rampaging ram and a goat who stands against him. The fight between the two animals is interpreted with cosmic importance to Daniel by the angel Gabriel. We will take this chapter as a way to think about the role of prophecy in our own faith. Do we think these prophecies apply to the present time? Have we ever heard someone speak a prophecy in our own time? Does God still speak to people in this way?

Sept. 5th, we are picking up our pace as we come to the end of Daniel. We will be reading chapters 9 and 10 ahead of our meeting on Sunday. These chapters continue the prophetic and apocalyptic section of Daniel with more predictions about the fate of Jerusalem and the surrounding kingdoms. Daniel gives us a long prayer in chapter 9 begging forgiveness for Israel and for the restoration of Jerusalem. This will hopefully give us an opportunity to discuss two aspects of our prayer life. Do we ask God for forgiveness for ourselves and for others? What is happening when we ask God for things in prayer?

Sunday mornings at 9:15, you can access our meeting by any of the following methods:

1. Click here – https://zoom.us/j/91297837526
   Or
2. Go to Zoom.us, click “Join Meeting” & enter Meeting ID: 912 9783 7526
   Or
3. On your cell, call (312) 626-6799 and enter Meeting ID 912 9783 7526#

The Book of Common Prayer asks us to observe a holy Lent “by self‑examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self‑denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.”

To help us read and meditate on God’s holy Word, we will be taking time each week to study St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians together at noon on Tuesdays via Zoom. Fr. Will will introduce the reading from Scripture and facilitate the discussion. There will be no preparation or outside reading required. Students from Project Canterbury will also be invited to participate as well.

Click here to join the Zoom meeting, or enter the Meeting ID: 960 0876 9949, or dial in by calling +1 301 715 8592 followed by the meeting ID and #.

Week 1: Praying with the BCP

In this session, we will look at the Book of Common Prayer with an emphasis on daily prayer. The Book of Common Prayer is at the heart of our life as Episcopalians but can often intimidate us when we try to open it up. We will start to navigate the various parts of the BCP to understand some of the services that make up our liturgical life together. We will end our time together by learning to use the BCP to say the daily prayer of the church.

Unfortunately, the audio recording for this week did not work.

Week 2: Praying with the Rosary

This week we will explore using the rosary as a way to pray. We will look a little at the history of the rosary as a popular form of Christian prayer and devotion. Most of our time will be spent learning to use the rosary as an aid and guide to prayer. We will go over the different prayers, mysteries, and meditations within the rosary itself as well as explore why it can be such a powerful devotion. The rosary purposefully guides us through the story of our salvation in Christ while giving us words, images, and resolutions to guide us in our response to that story. We will end our time together by using the rosary to meditate and dwell upon the life of Christ.

Week 3: Ignatian Scriptural Meditation

We begin the first of two weeks focussing on reading the Bible. We will learn about and practice a way of reading the Bible that comes down to us from St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. Ignatian mediation allows us to enter imaginatively into the stories of the Bible to find ourselves in its world and to hear from what we find there. Our time will begin with an introduction to the practice before a time of guided meditation on a certain Biblical text. When we are done you will be able to practice this style of meditation on your own.

Week 4: Devotional Reading of Scripture

Our final Spiritual Fitness session, for the time being, follows on from last week’s Ignatian meditation. We will be learning the Sulpician method for meditating on Scripture. It is a simple and straightforward way of devotional meditation that can be adapted to a number of different circumstances. The method goes back to Father Jean-Jacques Olier who taught it to his parishioners in the church of Saint Sulpice in Paris as well as the priests who studied at the attached seminary. It focuses us on a three step engagement with Christ in adoration, communion, and cooperation. We will use it to engage with Scripture but it can be used on its own or as a way to cultivate specific Christian virtues.