President's eUpdate
Tuesday, January 12, 2016
Dear Saint Paul Community,
New Year blessings to each of you. We are preparing to welcome returning and new students soon when we begin the spring semester on January 25. During the beginning weeks of January, we are thrilled to welcome Course of Study students. We have 45 students in January taking Theological Heritage II: Early Church, Worship & Sacraments, Theological Heritage III: Medieval - Reformation, Congregational Care, Theological Heritage IV: Wesleyan Movement, and Ethics.
We are honored to be one of the United Methodist seminaries who hosts the Course of Study. Dr. Israel Kamudzandu is the new Director of our Course of Study. We are grateful for the extraordinary and faithful leadership of Rev. Dr. Steve Breon, MDiv '80, who has served in this capacity. We currently have a total of 433 Course of Study students who take classes at both campus sites: Oklahoma City University and Church of the Resurrection, plus Springfield, MO and Platte Woods UMC. The Board of Directors is currently exploring an additional site in the Great Plains Conference. There is information about Course of Study on our website.
We welcome Dr. Mike Graves, the William K. McElvaney Professor of Preaching and Worship, as he returns from his sabbatical/research leave. I intentionally use both terms because my expectation is that pastors, lay professionals and seminary faculty will be able to take sabbaticals during their days of service and teaching. Sabbaticals provide time away for spiritual renewal, study, reading, writing, reflection and completion of research projects to enhance teaching, preaching, leading or publishing. Dr. Mike Graves sent me a brief synopsis of his upcoming book, Eating and Talking in Church: Rethinking Communion and Community, about the earliest decades of the Christian movement, when believers met in homes.
Phyllis Tickle claims that about every 500 years the Church has a rummage sale and reinvents itself. If her math is correct, we are now 500 years removed from the Reformation, and one of the things we should rethink is Communion. In this book I outline four traits of those early gatherings that are in many ways the opposite of what we do.
1. Enjoyed a full meal together
as opposed to the little morsels we eat in Communion. Only the point is not how many calories they consumed, but that a full meal helped promote intimacy.
2. Held inclusive gatherings
in comparison to the practice of closed Communion in some circles today. Because they inherited Greco-Roman forms of banqueting, status still mattered, but the early Jesus movement tried hard to be inclusive.
3. Enjoyed festive meals
except for Holy Week, the meal was mostly festive. Jesus had been raised and promised to eat with them upon returning, so their gatherings were typically celebratory.
4. Participated in lively after-dinner conversation
on various topics, these being a precursor to the monologues we call sermons. The point is they placed a premium on everyone having something to contribute.
The book is a call for all of us, clergy and laity, to rethink Communion and what it means to be in community together as the Church. I hope to finish the manuscript this summer, making it available sometime in 2017.
Saint Paul releases Dr. Amy Oden and Dr. Harold Washington to their sabbaticals this spring. They are both working on projects for publication. Please join me in praying for their sabbath time.
The seminary is also piloting some new marketing expressions. Check us out on the Kansas City Star website and watch for our ad on the back cover of the February Theological Education edition of the Christian Century.
Below are some upcoming Saint Paul events to add to your 2016 calendars. We hope that you can join us.
On the journey with you,
Rev. H. Sharon Howell, President
Saint Paul School of Theology
Special Events
www.spst.edu/special-events
Faculty Chair Installation - Dr. Angela Sims
Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Chair in Church and Society
Saint Paul: Church of the Resurrection, Wesley Chapel
Tuesday, March 01, 2016 at 11:07 AM
Evangelical Society Lecture
Speaker: Dr. F. Douglas Powe, Jr.
Saint Paul: Church of the Resurrection, C050
Wednesday, March 30, 2016 at 11:07 AM
Wertsch Lecture
Speaker: Dr. Stephen Ray
Saint Paul: Church of the Resurrection,
C050/Video-linked to Saint Paul: OCU
Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at 11:07 AM
Women, Church and Society Lecture
Speaker: Dr. Emilie Townes, Preaching and Lecture
Saint Paul: Church of the Resurrection, C050
Tuesday, April 26 and Wednesday, April 27, 2016 at 11:07 AM
2016 Commencement - Leawood, KS
Saint Paul: Church of the Resurrection, Main Sanctuary
Friday, May 20, 2016 at 11:00 a.m.
2016 Commencement - Oklahoma City, OK
Saint Paul: Oklahoma City University, W. Angie Smith Chapel
Friday, May 27, 2016 at 4:00 p.m.
For further information please contact:
Tracy Miller, tracy.miller@spst.edu
Register online: www.spst.edu/special-events
4370 West 109th Street, Suite 300
Overland Park, Kansas 66211, United States
www.spst.edu
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4370 West 109th Street, SUITE 300
STAY CONNECTED:
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4370 West 109th Street, SUITE 300
Overland Park, Kansas 66211, United States
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