Youth News

Adult Nurture

Marcus Borg Wednesday Class 

Adult Nurture invites you to join us, beginning Jan. 7, for a new Wednesday evening class, a book study of Marcus Borg and Convictions.  Marcus Borg's name is a familiar one in religious circles: he is a New Testament theologian, a respected voice in progressive Christianity.  He is also a man who, on turning 70, is looking back over his experiences and his religious truths, distilling them into, as the subtitle says, "How I Learned What Matters Most."  

Convictions is both a memoir and an exploration of evolving beliefs.  It's a very reader-friendly book in which Dr. Borg considers several subjects, among them: Salvation being more about life than the afterlife;  the truth of the Bible even if it is not literally true; and Jesus' death on the cross matters, but not because he paid for our sins. Dr. Borg's conversations explain how his life shaped his beliefs and his beliefs shaped his life. The 70-year old summation is settled, he says, but not cemented.  He truly believes that, if Americans embrace the beliefs elucidated in Convictions, both American society and American Christianity would be enriched.

You may, after reading his book, share Dr. Borg's convictions; you may not.  At the very least, you will be challenged into provocative thought and discussion.  The first evening's class, led by Lea Schelke, will focus on an introduction to the book and its opening chapter.  The book can be ordered in class and will be received within two or three days.

York Connection

God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked, the good fortune to run into the ones that I do and the eyesight to tell the difference.  Amen.

The ancient Romans named the month of January (Januarius) in the honor of their god Janus. He was a deity with two faces, allowing him to look forward and backward at the same time. At New Year's, I suspect many of us are like Janus: we look forward towards the future and backwards at the past, recalling our failures and successes and promising to do better in the coming year. Some folks take their resolutions so seriously they beat themselves up, when they fail to follow through. Accepting that I am human and will never reach perfection, I choose to simply greet the New Year with a hopeful attitude, promising to do my best and re-affirming my belief that, "the Lord is my Shepherd."

If you are one of those folks who make ambitious resolutions but seldom follow through, you may possibly identify with the words of Mark Twain: "Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual."
 

Clerk's Corner

- Barbara Thornley