Our present and future religious experiences are shaped by our remembrance of past encounters with God, often not our own but those of the people of God whose stories we find in the Bible and our denominational histories. Using the revised common lectionary as our guide, this four-part series, Memories of the People of God, engages biblical stories of Israel's encounters with with God in the wilderness of Sinai, the founding of the first Christian churches in Asia Minor, and Jesus' conflicts with the religious authorities. These stories serve as portals for reflection on the diversity of our root-experiences of God as an ecumenical community made up of persons from many nations, ethnicities, and backgrounds. Our series culminates in a celebration of All Saints' Day, where we remember together the cloud of witnesses that have gone before us, and look forward through this cloud to the day when we will see God as God truly is (1 John 3:2). 

Worship Team

October 26 - "Remembering the African American Journey with God to freedom"

Rev. LaTrelle Miller Easterling, pastor at Union UM Church

November 2 - "Remembering all the Saints"

Rev. Dr. Robin Olson

This event has been co-sponsored by Boston University's Elie Wiesel Center for Judaic Studies and supported by the Boston University Center for the Humanities.

Benjamin Pollock is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Michigan State University and author of Franz Rosenzweig and the Systematic Task of Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2009).  

His lecture will present a new account of one of the foundational narratives of modern Jewish thought: the story of Franz Rosenzweig's near-conversion to Christianity in 1913 and his subsequent decision, at the baptismal font three months later, to commit himself to Judaism. In sharp contrast to the account of Rosenzweig's crisis that has dominated the literature for the last sixty years, Pollock will claim that what lies at the heart of Rosenzweig's 1913 crisis is not a struggle between faith and reason, but rather a skepticism about the world and a hope for personal salvation which Rosenzweig came to identify with the figure of Marcion. Understanding Rosenzweig's struggle with Marcionism is not only essential to making sense of the series of conversions he underwent in 1913, Pollock will argue; it is essential to understanding the genesis of the notion of redemption which Rosenzweig would later develop philosophically in his magnum opus, The Star of Redemption.

The full program is at (http://www.bu.edu/ipr/).

Help Boston-area Refugees Stay

Warm and Dry this Winter Season!

Please donate new or gently used umbrellas, space heaters, and fans at the drop box located in the STH Oxnam Room.

Alternately, to make a monetary donation for the purchase the requested items, please contact Flynn Fernandes at ffernand@bu.edu.

Items will be collected through Thanksgiving distributed to the Boston area refugees through the local Catholic Charities office.

This project is being coordinated by the class TM-808: Three Missionary Faiths and their Importance for Development.

Dear STH Community,

Do you still not know what you want to be when you grow up?

Well, the Spiritual Life Office, Community Life Office, and STHSA are organizing a "Vocation Vacation" over Spring Break to explore some vocational possibilities.

Vocation Vacation will be Saturday March 10th - Saturday March 17th. We will be visiting a diverse selection of ministry sites, from emerging church ministries to homeless shelters to eco-justice advocacy sites, all along the east coast (Connecticut -Washington D.C.). The trip will be limited to a small group of 15 people, and the cost will be subsidized.

We need your help and creative ideas! Please take a moment and fill out the brief survey below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HCYSWHL 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact any one of us:

Robin Olson: rolson@bu.edu  

Micah Christian: micah68@bu.edu 

Rev. Robin J. Olson, D.Min.

Spiritual Life Coordinator

Boston University School of Theology

745 Commonwealth Avenue

Boston MA 02215

rolson@bu.edu

9:00 pm
Lexington UMC
2600 Massachusetts Ave.
Lexington, MA 02421  
A film screening with director Anne P. Brown



1972 - "Homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching."

1984 - "No self avowed practicing homosexual could be ordained."

1996 - "Pastors could not officiate over same-gender union or allow such ceremonies to occur in a local Methodist church." 

 2011 - "....." 

You are invited to join us for the 5th and final season of Reconciling Ministries Network's "Called to Witness" Campaign in the New England Annual Conference. This year's theme is "Love Your Neighbor."  

Training will include:

(1) General Conference strategies and messages

(2) One-to-One organizing skills

(3) Advanced Storytelling

(4) Action plans for meeting with every General Conference delegate.

• Do you want to learn more about how to transform the world and our church one person at a time?
• Have you attended a past Called to Witness or Believe Out Loud training, and thought "I want to bring my friends to this"?
• Are you willing to schedule a conversation about inclusion with one of your General Conference Delegates?

Then you need to join us...

The workshop will focus on gaining tools to make a difference locally, in advance of General Conference 2012, to affect the worldwide UMC. We will learn how to meet with delegates and share our stories in a way that motivates people to action.     

Please let us know if you will be attending

RSVP Leigh Dry, Leighdry@verizon.net 

This important training event is brought to us by the Coalition consisting of MFSA, Affirmation, and RMN.    

http://www.bostontheological.org/  

Institute for Philosophy & Religion 2011-12 Lecture Series "Politics, Religion and Theology"

Each year the Institute sponsors a lecture series on issues that cross the boundaries between different academic disciplines and between scholars and the educated public. Past topics have included "Courage," "Loneliness," "Civility," "Life, Death, and Immortality," "Responsibility," and "Evil."

Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA) 25 years of research, publication and education

The Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs is a center for research, publication, and education on one of the most important questions in the contemporary world: How does culture affect economic and political developments world-wide? Specifically, how does religion impact international affairs? Since its inception in 1985, CURA has sought to discover, trace, and analyze the connection between culture, economics, politics, and globalization. We have conducted research projects on every continent except Australia, and these projects have resulted in publications that have become major points of reference on their topics. In a dynamic and modernizing world, CURA's ultimate agenda is to further global understanding and communication.

This series brings sustained attention to negotiations over authority in a range of times and places. Speakers will address Muslim women's own authority-to write and interpret texts, to structure their own spiritual lives, to manage wealth and make marital choices-and the authority wielded by husbands and kin, governments, religious leaders, and normative texts.

 http://www.bu.edu/cura/calendar/muslim-women-and-the-challenge-of-authority/ 

Calendar of CURA Events  

The Fascination with Jewish Tales

Three Encounters with ELIE WIESEL

Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities,

Boston University George Sherman Union

Metcalf Hall

775 Commonwealth Avenue

In the Bible: Return to the Akeda-Why I Love Isaac

Introduction by Dr. John Silber, President Emeritus, Boston University

In the Talmud: The Greatness of Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus

Introduction by Deeana Klepper, Associate Professor of History and Religion;

Chair, Department of Religion, Boston University

November 21, 2011 at 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.)   

Introduction by Rabbi Joseph A. Polak, Director, Hillel Foundation;

Rabbi to the Jewish Community at Boston University

Please Note: No University parking is provided.

No food or beverages are permitted in Metcalf Hall.

For further information, call 617-353-2238.

Free and open to the public.

Tickets not required.

For security purposes, all bags are subject to inspection on entry.  Sign language interpreters will be available.

No seating in the Ballroom once the program begins.

Overflow seating is available in the Conference Auditorium.

The conference is sponsored by the RUAH program of CCooperative Metropolitan Ministries (CMM) and open to the public.  This conference is for clergy and laity, medical professionals, social workers, licensed mental health counselors and religious leaders, students and all who care about healing and wholeness.

Fee: $95 for registration and lunch; Discount: $85 for students, seniors and early registration by October 14.  Group rate for 5 participants or more from the same organization is $80 per person.

Keynote Speaker: Olivia Ames Hoblitzelle is a writer, therapist and teacher. She taught in the field of Behavorial Medicine where she pioneered how to bring meditation, yoga, and cognitive therapy into the medical domain to treat stress-related and chronic illness. She helped to develop one of the first training programs in Mind/Body medicine in the country and trained health professionals through Harvard Medical School.

Her teaching and writing are inspired by over thirty years of practice in psychology, Buddhist meditation, and the wisdom traditions.  Having taught meditation and cognitive therapy in a wide variety of settings from government agencies to school systems, she now focuses on elder issues, spirituality and conscious aging.

Olivia is the author of THE MAJESTY OF YOUR LOVING: A Couple's Journey Through Alzheimer's, a story about her and her husband Hob's diagnosis and ultimate decline from Alzheimer's disease.  Infused with the wisdom from a shared psychology background, as well as from years of Buddhist practice and study, Olivia's powerful account provides those dealing with caregiving issues, and diminishment of any kind a tender and peaceful refuge. A strong Buddhist thread runs throughout the book.

Featured Speaker: Rev. Dr. Gloria White-Hammond, M.D. is the Co-Pastor of Bethel AME Church, Boston, MA, and Executive Director of My Sister's Keeper, and a retired pediatrician from the South End Community Health Center.

Dr. White-Hammond's community service spans three decades and two continents. In 1994 she founded the church-based creative writing/mentoring ministry, Do The Write Thing for high-risk adolescent females. The project now serves over 200 young women through small groups in Boston public schools, juvenile detention facilities and on site at Bethel AME Church.

In 2008, Dr. White-Hammond retired from the South End Community Health Center after serving 27 years as a dedicated pediatrician to families from some of Boston's most challenged communities.

Since 2001, Dr. White-Hammond has made numerous trips into war-torn southern Sudan, Darfur and Chad. In 2002, she co-founded My Sister's Keeper (www.mskeeper.org), a women-led humanitarian and human rights initiative that partners with diverse Sudanese women in their efforts toward reconciliation and reconstruction of their communities.

Dr. White-Hammond is a graduate of Boston University (AB, 1972), Tufts University School of Medicine (MD, 1976) and Harvard Divinity School (MDiv, 1997). She is a member of the boards of Brigham and Women's Hospital, Save Darfur Coalition and Tufts University.

Office Depot has partnered with Sustainability@BU to begin a university-wide recycling program for ink and toner cartridges.  Faculty, staff and students are encouraged to place their used ink and toner cartridges in the special marked boxes (pictured below) provided by Office Depot.  The recycling boxes will be placed throughout the campus and can be ordered.