The first term of the semester runs for six weeks (through March 23), although the course on 12-step programs will continue through the second term (for a total of 12 weeks). Click here to sign up for either class by email.

Here are descriptions of the two courses offered:

The 12 Steps for Everyone

Led by Jacqie Wallen and John Morris

“The greatest contribution America has made to the world, a contribution that will be remembered for thousands of years, is the invention of A.A.”

—Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a spiritually based, peer-support program in which recovering alcoholics achieve and maintain sobriety through “working” the 12 steps of AA. Numerous other 12-step programs have since come into existence, all based on the AA model. They include AlAnon, Narcotics Anonymous, Overeaters Anonymous, Debtors Anonymous, Codependents Anonymous, Sex Addicts Anonymous, and many others. We believe that everyone can benefit from working the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous whether or not they have a specific addiction problem. We all suffer from the human condition, we all need help letting go of unhealthy attachments, we all have a “higher power,” and we can all benefit from sharing our experience, strength, and hope with one another. In this class, we will work on one step each week, using readings from the “big book” of AA, in-class assignments, and step-focused AA-style meetings.

This is a semester-long class, consisting of two consecutive 6-week terms. Participants are asked to commit for both terms (12 weeks).

Silence, by Shusaku Endo

Led by Brenda Seat

I cannot think of a more powerful book to read during Lent than Silence by Shusaku Endo. Based on real events, the novel is set in sixteenth-century Japan and explores the Japanese feudal government’s persecution of Japanese Christians and missionaries who the government felt were promoting ideas that threatened its authority. Eventually, the government felt so threatened by any Western ideas that it closed the doors to the West for 100 years until Commodore Perry arrived with his Black Ships in the 1860s. The book takes this small part of history and explores what happens from the perspective of two Portuguese priests, Sebastion Rodrigues and Francis Garpe, and the Japanese Christians who were a part of their flock. We follow the escalating persecution and the seeming silence of God in the midst of their suffering, and their sense of abandonment by the church, by their country, and by God.

Shusaku Endo, the author, has been compared to Graham Greene in his exploration of matters of faith as it pertains to our everyday lives, and yet because of his unique perspective as a Japanese Christian he allows us to look at our faith more deeply and to become aware of the ways culture and religion are entwined, allowing us to see the true essence of our faith more clearly. This is a very difficult book to read since it deals with failure, defeat, torture and a sense of abandonment, yet it is a powerful and profound book which makes us look deeper into what it means to be Christian. I think you will find that it explores deeply the very essence of Lent.

This is a one-term, six-week course with a possible additional session.

The second term of the School of Christian Living begins this Tuesday, October 27th, with classes on Paul’s Theology (led by David Lloyd) and Conflict as a Spiritual Practice (led by Jeanne Marcus). The Paul class will be for six weeks – through December 8th, with no class on November 24th. The Conflict as a Spiritual Practice class will run for five weeks – through December 1st, also with no class on November 24th. As usual, classes start at 7:45 pm, and all participants are invited to come at 7:00 to eat a small dinner together before class.

Here are the descriptions of the two classes:

 

Dear Christian brothers and sisters at ____________; Yours in Christ Jesus, Paul

Led by David Lloyd

Is St. Paul a bogeyman for your faith? Too sexist, too fixated on sin and salvation, too much emphasis on the risen Christ? Let’s give him a fresh look and explore his theology through excerpts of his letters to the Christian congregations he established. We’ll look at his life and times, and see if he has anything to say to us in the 21st century.

　

Conflict as a Spiritual Practice

Led by Jeanne Marcus, NVC trainer and member of the Healing Group at Seekers Church

Inevitably, we will each find ourselves in conflict with others in our lives. Sometimes the experience of conflict is so painful that we try to avoid it, or make it go away as quickly as possible — even at the cost of giving up on what we really want. And some of us may have some sense that being in conflict is to have failed at compassion. Yet conflict simply means to have differences with someone else about what we want to happen. This is bound to happen between people who are fully alive, creative, and active, but who are also unique in how they experience life and in what they desire.

 

This class approaches our response to conflict as an important Spiritual Practice. We’ll look at how to transform our understanding of conflict from a problem to be solved to an opening for deep understanding, acceptance and transformation, of ourselves and our connections to others.