By Blair Pogue

This Fall St. Matthew's adult faith formation offerings will continue to help us go deeper spiritually by exploring our Christian faith and ways to "practice" it Monday - Saturday. The entire congregation is invited and encouraged to read and ponder one book together: Brian McLaren's We Make This Road By Walking: A Year-Long Quest for Spiritual Formation, Reorientation, and Activation. The journey McLaren invites us into will include ways to connect God's story with our story, and spiritual practices God can use to help us live more abundantly in relationship with God, one another, and creation. Throughout the Fall our preachers will reference McLaren's themes and ideas and there will be small group opportunities to study the book. You are also encouraged to read it on your own or with your household, and then engage in ongoing conversation and learning in a group on The City called "The Learning Road."

We will also go more deeply into the pockets of energy identified by our congregation and explored by the High Commitment Discernment Team (HCDT), as ways to come alongside vulnerable neighbors: education, mentoring, two-way relationships, lessening the opportunity gap, racial reconciliation, homelessness, and systemic solutions. Thus far members of our congregation have engaged in three Deep Listening sessions with trained spiritual directors from City House, including a session in which we reflected on where we met God and what God was up to in Project Home.

This Fall there will be opportunities in the Faith Forum and at other times to understand the historic roots of race in our country, as well as the racial reconciliation to which Jesus calls us. There will also be related sessions in which those who are interested can learn more about how racism affects our daily lives and interactions, and how to be a good friend and neighbor to those who have experienced trauma. Finally, the HCDT is arranging a few pilgrimages in which we can learn more about the challenges facing our neighbors first hand, and then reflect on what we saw and experienced. It is hoped that all the learnings and insights we gain will deepen our faith, support us as we live as ambassadors of Christ in daily life, and help us discern how God might be calling us to participate in God's work in the days ahead.