Chautauqua

Each summer, our regular Sunday School classes disband for the summer months, and we offer short-term classes.  Classes are open to all and begin at 9:45.

Session 1 - June 1, 8, 15, and 22

A Christian America? Past, Present, and Future
Ashley Cruseturner
Using Gregg L. Frazer’s 2012 definitive work The Religious Beliefs of the Founders: Reason, Revelation, and Revolution and Jonathan Rauch’s newly published Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy, we will reexamine founding assumptions that shaped our “civil religion” and consider whether the current culture wars over Christianity actually presents an existential crisis for American constitutionalism.

Christian Ethics and the Christian Life
David Morgan
These four sessions will explore various dynamics associated with living a Christlike life. Topics for conversation will include (among others) the nature of God, the nature of humanity, the will of God, and the kingdom of God. Participants will examine what functions as authorities for Christians, what values are most significant, what are some motivations for believers, and what tensions result from our efforts to live a godly life in our chaotic times.

Session 2 - June 29, July 6, 13, and 20

Commands of God
Rosalie Beck
We will study the last 2 Commandments from Exodus and will look at a couple of the commands given by Jesus.

Of Art and Joy and Faith:  A Journey into the World of Christian Wiman
Betsy Vardaman
Discussion of excerpts from some of Christian Wiman’s books of poetry and prose—Joy, My Bright Abyss, and Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair—will provide the foundation for our time together. 

Christian Wiman is a poet, editor, essayist, and translator.    He grew up in West Texas.  In his late 30s he was diagnosed with a rare and debilitating cancer, which he has dealt with now for two decades. His illness, love of his family, and commitment both to the arts and to Christianity are interwoven and form the fabric of his very being.  He teaches religion and literature at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and at Yale Divinity School.

Session 3 - July 27, August 3 and 10

Biblical Foods: Third Time's the Charm
Mark Brickhouse
Following on from our culinary adventures of last summer, this year we will cook some milk and honey recipes and explore some of the foods of the Promised Land. 

Join the Resistance
Kent McKeever
What is resistance as people of faith?  Should we resist? What should we resist? What does Jesus teach us about resistance? If “Caesar is still Caesar after Easter” (as my Spiritual Director challenged me recently), then what does that mean for us during these troubling times? Together, we will explore these questions, and many others, receiving guidance along the way from several Resisters Extraordinaire. Each week we will also focus on some practical everyday acts of sacred defiance:  

Week 1: Rest is Resistance
Week 2: Joy is Resistance
Week 3: Church is Resistance 

All Summer

Childcare - Jess Best and Lenita Rockenhaus 
(Infants through age 2) 

Godly Play Class - Janet Sheets
(Ages 3 through Kindergarten)

1st-6th Grade Class - Various Teachers

Youth Sunday School Class - Various Teachers