LENTEN FAITH FORMATION

OPENING THE WORD

The Good News Is…

Lenten series for the Opening the Word is a class that focuses on reading and working with the sermon scripture for the week. First we read the scripture in its literary and theological context, and then we explore how this text is a Living Word for our church community and the world today.  We explore how the messages may affect our vocations, our ethics, and our mission now.  

• On Wednesday nights we meet from 6-7 pm in the Parlor usually with the pastor who is preaching the upcoming Sunday

• On Sunday mornings we meet from 9:45-10:45 in CR1 between the First Light and 11 am Sanctuary Worship

February

 18 No Class - Ash Wednesday Taize style Worship at Montreat Presbyterian Church in Upper Anderson Auditorium 

22   The Good News is…So Good it Catches us by Surprise (John 2:1-11, Matthew 13:31-32)

Feb 25 & March 1 The Good News is…Great Love for God and Neighbor (Luke 7:36-50, Matthew 25:35-40)

March

4 & 8 The Good News is…Together the Impossible is Possible (Mark 6:32-44, Ephesians 3:20-21)

11 & 15 The Good News is…We are Called to Protect and Care for the Vulnerable (Matthew 5:1-16)

18 & 22 The Good News is…Rooted in Justice, Mercy and Faithfulness (John 8:2-11)

25 & 29 The Good News is…Inspiring Us to Act (Mark 11:1-11)

April 1. The Good News is…Revealed Through Non-violence (Matthew 28:1-10)

The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

This thirteen-week group (over 14 weeks) offers a communal and experiential experience as you walk through Julia Cameron’s legendary The Artist’s Way. Through group conversation and various writing and artistic prompts, you’ll be held in creative practice, and invited into a process of discovering, healing, and transforming your relationship to your creativity and the playful and inspired be-ing you know you are deep down. You will listen for the spark of the Divine within you. Rather than being a place of escape from the world around you, this course will serve to nourish and deepen connection to your own soul so you can be better fueled and aware of what you bring to the table in a world that needs us to remain empathetic, awake, and engaged.

Participants will purchase (available at most book sellers) or borrow a copy of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. Any edition is OK!

This Class is limited to 12 participants. To sign up call the church office at 828-669-2725 or sign up genius?.  For more information contact at jlvancini@bellsouth.net . 

MORE INFO
This course asks you to commit to the process of doing The Artist’s Way—a workbook organized by weekly readings, reflection questions, and creative “tasks”—while bringing yourself and your process to the group. Imperfection is welcome and encouraged! 

Whether it is your first time hearing of The Artist’s Way, you’re approaching this as your yearly pass at it, or you want to go for a third attempt at it after never making it all the way through, this course is for you.

CLASS SCHEDULE

March 6 Introduction to the Course

March 13 Recovering a Sense of Safety

March 20 Recovering a Sense of Identity

March 27 Recovering a Sense of Power

April 3 Good Friday - Will Not Meet

April 10 Recovering a Sense of Integrity

April 17 Recovering a Sense of Possibility 

April 24 Recovering a Sense of Abundance

May 1 Recovering a Sense of Connection

May 8 Recovering a Sense of Strength

May 15 Recovering a Sense of Compassion

May 22 Recovering a Sense of Self-Protection

May 29 Recovering a Sense of Autonomy

Recovering a Sense of Faith

Tea and The Theopoetics

With Corrie Greene

Amos Wilder (Thornton’s brother) explores the intersection of theology, imagination and encountering the Divine - calling this experience ‘Theopoetics’.   Join us each Thursday of the Lenten season as Corrie Greene explores the Theopoetics present in the classic children’s literature: The Wind and the Willows and Winnie the Pooh.  Re-imagine the Divine through the experiences of Mole, Mr. Toad, Pooh Bear, Christopher Robin, Tigger too…there will be tea sweets, and plenty of food for thought. 

SCHEDULE

February 19 Theopoetics of Kenneth Grahame and AA Milne’s Golden Worlds

February 26 The Wind in the Willows: the Poetic Theology of Mole

March 5 Technology and the Toad Chimera

March 12 Inclusive Imagination: Christopher Robin and the Omniscient Narrator

March 19 Impulses of Wonder….ful Thing about Tiggers is Tiggers are Wonderful Things

March 26 The Golden World’s Guerilla Theatre: The Intersection of Self/Other/Imagination

If you have ever wanted to read this inspiring book, or would like to read it and be inspired again, please join the Earth Care Group on Mondays in the Church House Living Room at 1:00 between January 19 and Easter. This book is for gardeners, non-gardeners, and eaters of all ages. It’s the story of how one family, living on a farm near Abingdon, Virginia, agreed to eat only local food for one year – that is, only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius of their home, or that they grew themselves. Each person was allowed one exemption from the local rule, perhaps coffee or chocolate.

Kingsolver’s book will take some people back to the vanishing days when people were more self-sufficient; it will take a new generation forward into an unknown future when they may have to learn the miracle of food production and become self-reliant again.

Who were the witnesses at the cross as Jesus was crucified? Amy Jill Levine, a scholar, Biblical historian, and insightful educator, has written a study titled Witness at the Cross. Faith Builders class will be immersed in a study of folks we don't often think about who were standing around during the crucifixion. We watch them be transformed, and we look at ways we can be changed in our understanding of what happened both historically and through the writings of the Gospels. The Bystanders and Scoffers, the other Victims on either side of the cross, the soldiers, the Beloved Disciple, the Women, Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, have a story of their encounter with Jesus. Come study with us and read the gospel accounts of those last days of Jesus’s life on earth and reflect with us as to the relevance of these individuals to our lives and world today.

It is helpful if members purchase their own books. The study with DVD is our guide to Holy Friday. All are welcome. Witness to the Cross by Amy Jill Levine. Our study begins on Sunday, February 15, at 9:45 upstairs in room 10. 

Rev. Clay Fouse is leading an introduction to Laughter Yoga - you’ll immediately feel better! (Classroom TBD)

Rev. Clay Fouse is leading an Introduction to the Enneagram. Take the inventory and practice self-reflection for increased self-awareness through understanding personality.