Community

May 5: Deb Justice will continue her two-part series on music.  Deb will provide a brief background and discussion on Presbyterian music. What has the idea of uniquely Presbyterian music meant over time, and what does it mean for churches like First Presbyterian today? A life-long Presbyterian, Deb is a postdoctoral associate at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music. Deb has a masters degree in ethno-musicology from Wesleyan and a doctorate from Indiana University, and her research deals with how modern communities relate to musical traditions.

May 12 and 19:  Join Bill Goettler and Maria LaSala and members of the Sanctuary Task Force for a conversation about the emerging needs of the sanctuary. It’s time again to think broadly about our church worship space, and also to consider the more immediate concerns, including a new carpet and sound system. What kind of art should add to our worship space? And what hymnal shall we use, if any? These and other questions will be considered. The class will meet in the Miller Gathering Hall. Coffee and tea will be provided.

Sundays, April 14 and 21:  Join Jessica VanDenend and learn about Empathy and Social Justice. Jessica, who will receive her PhD from Union Theological Seminary this May, will talk with us about her research about how we as people of faith engage with and respond to the suffering of the wider world.

How do we open our hearts to the stories of others without feeling satiated, overwhelmed, stagnated, or numb? We will also look at ideas that come from Carl Jung’s analytic psychology that might prove of practical use as we seek to employ empathy in a healthy and effective manner.

Sundays April 28 and May 5th:  We will consider the use of organs, electric guitars, hymnal, and projection screens in worship. Today’s churches face a lot of musical choices in articulating theology and identity. This class is a two-week look at current Presbyterian musical practices around the country, and how they fit into the larger pictures of general mainline Protestantism and the US religious scene.

Week one will provide an overview of mainline Protestant musical practice within America’s sacred soundscape. We’ll talk about the changing role of mainline groups and their music.

Week two will provide a brief background and discussion on Presbyterian music. What has the idea of uniquely Presbyterian music meant over time, and what does it mean for churches like First Presbyterian today?

Deborah Justice, a life-long Presbyterian, is a postdoctoral associate at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music. With a masters in ethno-musicology from Wesleyan and a doctorate from Indiana University, Deb’s research deals with how modern communities relate to musical traditions.
Join us on these April Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m. in the Miller Gathering Hall. Coffee and tea will be
provided.

On March 3, 10, and 17th, the Adult Education Class will continue the opportunity to learn about and to practice praying.

March 3:  YDS Intern Hannah Dreitcer will introduce us to the ways dance is prayer. Hannah, a dancer her whole life long, will talk with us about how dance is an important part of her daily prayer practice and spirituality. Hannah will dance for us … and then invite us to explore the ways our bodies can express thanksgiving, joy, and even despair.

March 10:  Steve Davis will talk with us about monastic prayer, inviting us into the world of the early church leaders.

March 17:  We will explore how music is prayer.

February 3rd and 10th:

The Adult Education hour offers a sensory experience this month. On February 3rd and 10th, Dr. David Stowe, visiting ISM fellow, will be our guest. Can you imagine an ongoing experience of religion that doesn’t include music? Or a lifetime of listening to music that doesn’t involve musical works inspired by the sacred? In a two-part adult education series, David Stowe explores the intriguing interconnections between sacred sound and religious experience.

Part 1:  ”Sacred Soundscape: Music and Chant in World Religions,” takes a very broad look at the dynamic interplay between music and religion.
Part 2:  ”Babylon Revisited: Psalm 137 as America’s First Protest Song,” zeros in on a particularly rich text from the Hebrew Bible. Both talks will include musical examples and film clips.

David W. Stowe is a 2012-13 research fellow at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music,” where he is researching and writing a cultural history of Psalm 137. He is the author of several books on American music, most recently No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism” (2011). He is professor of English and Religious Studies at Michigan State University.

February 17th:

Beginning on Sunday, February 17th and continuing through March 17th, the Adult Education class will focus on Prayer. Co-Pastor Maria LaSala will begin the series with an exploration of why the faithful lift
prayers to God. Looking at scripture and at the prayers written through the ages, we will have a chance to talk about our own understanding of the power of prayer.

February 24th

February 24th will take us into the practice of Lectio Divina, an intentional way of reading scripture. This payerful practice of scripture reading might deepen our own prayers.

As we look ahead to March we will have a chance to explore Dance as Prayer as our Intern Hannah Dreitcer helps us to see how prayer is embodied. Steve Davis will talk with us about Monastic prayer.  And we will close our series exploring the Benedictine Prayer practice of Centering Prayer.

On January 20 and 27, Co-Pastor Bill Goettler will lead a two-part series on the Presbyterian Church’s social witness policy regarding the ongoing struggle for Peace in Israel and Palestine.

The class begins at 9:30 a.m. with coffee and tea and meets in the Miller Gathering Hall. All are welcome.