Theology Update for the Week of January 4

Dear friends in Christ,

Warm greetings as we begin the Year of Our Lord 2015.

Tomorrow (January 4) I will “wrap up” our study of Ecclesiastes. We’ll look at chapter 12, which starts so movingly (“Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth, before . . . the shadows lengthen . . . and the golden bowl is broken . . .”). And we’ll look back over the book as a whole. Newcomers are welcome, and first-timers are likely to find it interesting (despite it being the last class of a series). We meet on the 5th floor at 10 o’clock.

There are no weekday classes January 5-9.

Next Sunday, January 11, Dr. Robert Duvall is going to offer a class on the “Ariel” poems of T. S. Eliot. The most famous of these is “The Journey of the Magi” (“A cold coming had we of it, and just the worst time of the year . . .”), but Eliot wrote others (four are printed in his collected poems and plays). This is sure to be a feast, but an unusual feast, looking at what is (for many of us) an unexplored corner of Eliot’s work. Visitors are welcome: 5th floor, 10 o’clock.

Then on Tuesday, January 13, the Rector’s Christian Doctrine Class will begin. This is a 14-session class, meeting on most Tuesdays from 6:30 to 7:30pm in Andrew Hall from January 13 to early May. The class covers the basics of Christian faith and practice as this church has received them. It is particularly for people who’d like to join the church, and it does provide preparation for confirmation or reception when the bishop comes on Sunday, May 10. There is no registration for the class—if you are interested, just come.

On Monday, January 26, the Good Books & Good Talk seminar will discuss What Happened to Sophie Wilder by Christopher Beha. Beha, a New Yorker who lives in Brooklyn and is an editor at Harper’s, is noted for placing “sincere religious feelings at the very center of contemporary young urban life.” Anyone who reads the novel is welcome to the conversation, which is scheduled to run from 6:15 to 7:45pm

And I’m delighted to announce that on Wednesday, February 4, starting at 6:30 p.m. (following the short Eucharist that follows the 5:30 Evensong), Christopher Beha himself will speak in the church on “Faith and Fiction.” Parishioners (and writers) Heather Cross and Andrea Lippke will then respond to his talk and (along with me) engage Beha in a public conversation. There will be time for questions; a reception will follow. The evening is free and open to the public, so please pass on the news about it.

On the web
“How to Be a Sick Christian,” an essay by yours truly, has been published and is (at least for now) a “free article” here. I see that 218 people have “liked” it. I cannot tell how many have liked it.

Peace,
Father Austin