Christianity and World Religions Study

Join us for a discussion of four world religions and how we as Christians relate to other faiths.  The book and video guide we will be using is Adam Hamilton’s Christianity and World Religions (revised edition 2018).  The book explores Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism and compares the beliefs of each with those of Christianity.  The author is looking at these religions from a Christian (United Methodist) perspective.

We are offering two opportunities for this six week series – on Zoom starting January 11^th at 9:15 am

(temporarily replacing the regular Holy Time meeting) or Wednesday evenings at the church, starting January 12th at 7:00 pm.  The packet of information to supplement the study is attached to this email in Word and pdf formats.

Marilyn Bass will be leading the study and encourages other participants to share their views and questions.  Please contact Marilyn and let her know that you are attending and which series of sessions (Tuesday morning or Wednesday evening) you are likely to attend.  Her email is marilyn.bass@rcn.com and phone number is 484-281-3215.

Here is the Zoom link for the Tuesday morning class:

     https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86546184502?pwd=cVRoK2wvV3NKTzVLR0xIQ3I3b2sxZz09

Meeting ID: 865 4618 4502   Passcode: 808098

Holy Time

Holy Time is a weekly meeting where the Pastor leads a interactive discussion of the Scripture lesson for the coming Sunday.  Holy Time meets every Tuesday morning from 9:15 am to 10:30 am in our Fellowship Hall. All are invited to join in for food, fellowship, prayer and a weekly scripture lesson.

Pastor Nina’s Reading Group

Do you love to read? Are you inspired by hearing (or reading) about stories of faith? Join Pastor Nina for a monthly book group to discuss the faith journies of a variety of authors. We will meet over Zoom on Tuesday evenings from 7 – 8 PM. You can come for one month or join us every month. Please join us having already read the book.  RSVP to Pastor Nina at pastornina.ps@gmail.com or to the church office.

September 21^st – Miracles and Other Reasonable Things by Sarah Bessey

In the brief instant Sarah Bessey realized that her minivan was, inevitably, going to hit the car on the highway on the bright, clear day of the crash, she knew intuitively that it would have life-changing consequences. But as she navigated the winding path from her life before the accident—as a popular author, preacher, and loving wife and mother—to her new life after, inhabiting a body that no longer felt like her own, she found that the most unexpected result was how it shook her deeply rooted faith, upending everything she thought she knew and held so dearly.

Weaving together theology and memoir, Sarah delivers “a well-written reminder of seeing the miracles in life’s highs and lows” (Library Journal). The road of healing leads to Rome where she met the Pope (it’s complicated) and encountered the Holy Spirit in the last place she expected. She writes about her miraculous healing, learning to live with chronic pain, and the ways God makes us whole in the midst of suffering. She invites us to a path of knowing God that is filled with ordinary miracles, hope in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and other completely reasonable things.

October 26^th – Touch: Pressing Against the Wounds of a Broken World by Rudy Rasmus

Before God touched his heart and transformed his life, Rudy Rasmus was a businessman running a “borderline bordello” in Houston. But thousands now know him simply as “Pastor Rudy”-with a downtown ministry at St. John’s Church that he and his wife Juanita started to reach out to those who Jesus called “the least of these.” TOUCH is the amazing story of Rudy’s life and ministry of grace that is changing lives daily. The church has become one of the most culturally diverse congregations in the country with people from every social and economic background, including the homeless, sharing the same pew. Pastor Rudy’s message to touch the lives of those in our own communities has a lesson for us all. Pastor Rudy is also a featured contributor to O, The Oprah Magazine-answering questions on ethics and marking one of the few times O has asked a Pastor to serve in this manner.

November 30^th Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans

Like millions of her millennial peers, Rachel Held Evans didn’t want to go to church anymore. The hypocrisy, the politics, the gargantuan building budgets, the scandals–church culture seemed so far removed from Jesus. Yet, despite her cynicism and misgivings, something kept drawing her back to Church. And so she set out on a journey to understand Church and to find her place in it.

Centered around seven sacraments, Evans’ quest takes readers through a liturgical year with stories about baptism, communion, confirmation, confession, marriage, vocation, and death that are funny, heartbreaking, and sharply honest.

A memoir about making do and taking risks, about the messiness of community and the power of grace, Searching for Sunday is about overcoming cynicism to find hope and, somewhere in between, Church.