Christian faith is a lifelong journey. God’s not done with you yet.
First United’s Adult Education program offers insight, growth, and fellowship with classes, workshops, intimate discussions, and presentations and lectures by leading scholars. Topics range from church history to current events to race relations to international issues, and always include a biblical perspective. Sometimes a series of classes is scheduled on specific topics that lend themselves to in-depth study. Adult ed is a ministry that drives learning, deepens faith, and wrestles with the relationship between God’s world and the human world.
Sunday Morning Speaker Series
Classes meet at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays from September through late May. Bring your whole self, including your questions, your doubts, and a sense of humor. For more information on any adult education programs, contact Lydia Mulkey, Associate Pastor of Education (lmulkey@firstunitedoakpark.com), 708-386-5215 (ext. 103).
Bible Study and Small Groups
Monday Night Bible Study: 6-7:30 p.m. in the Library.
Wednesday Small Group: 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Conference Room.
For information on other Bible studies and small groups, contact Lydia Mulkey.
Lenten Series on God, Process Theology, and Climate Change
A Sunday morning Adult Ed series on process theology and climate change will be offered on Sundays in March throughout Lent. Classes will include discussion on Praying With Process Theology, one of the books offered in our Lenten book groups.
Classes also will offer a primer on process theology itself, which considers all things changeable and asserts that God’s character and role in the universe is persuasive rather than coercive. What might that theology offer to conversation about climate change?
March 1: Process Theology 101 in the context of climate change
March 8: Is climate change a Christian issue?
March 15: The problem of evil and climate change
March 22: From individualism to the common good: Stop trying to save the world all by yourself
March 29: What do we do now?
NOTE: Due to coronavirus concerns, Sunday morning events such as Adult Ed are canceled for the time being. Check back for details.
Lenten Circle
A discussion circle will meet 7-8:30 p.m. each Thursday in Lent to explore practices and questions that ask, “Do you notice God in your life each week? If so, where?” Circle time will include conversation, silence, and reflections. Contact Laurie Jolicoeur (708-822-0265) and Walter Miller (708-524-1020) for more information.
Book Groups
Lent offers an opportunity to study two different books. Small groups will meet at different times of the week during Lent. You can find a book group that meets your schedule. Look for sign-up opportunities soon, or contact Lydia Mulkey for more information.
On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal
By Naomi Klein
On Fire explains how the bold ideas and action within the Green New Deal could avert climate catastrophe and be a blueprint for a just and thriving society. The book gathers for the first time Naomi Klein’s impassioned reporting from the front lines of climate breakdown, and she pairs it with new material on the high stakes of what we choose to do next.
Klein is a Canadian reporter, author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses and criticism of corporate globalization and of capitalism. In On Fire, she makes the case for the Green New Deal – a vision for transforming our economies to battle climate breakdown and rampant inequality at the same time. In our era of rising seas and rising hate, she argues that only this kind of bold, roots-up action has a chance of rousing us to fight for our lives while there is still time.
Groups for On Fire will meet from 2-3 p.m. Wednesdays at church from March 11 to April 1 or 7-8 p.m. Thursdays from March 5-26 at the Oak Park Public Library. Contact Lydia Mulkey to sign up.
Praying with Process Theology: Spiritual Practices for Personal and Planetary Healing
By Bruce Epperly
We need to move from individualism and consumerism to simplicity of life and a sense of the common good. We need a worldview that inspires transformed spiritual practices as well as personal and community commitments to justice and ecological healing. We need to align ourselves with God’s vision of planetary healing. The 50 days of devotional readings and spiritual practices offered here, grounded in the insights of process theology, are designed to do just that.
Process theology provides a practical, life-changing vision for our pluralistic, postmodern, and planetary age. Our theological visions can cure or kill. Images of God emphasizing power, domination, and predestined privilege have led to planetary destruction and the eradication of indigenous people. In contrast to life-destroying theologies, we need theological visions that empower, heal, and inspire us to become God’s companions in changing the world.
Theology — and process theology, in particular — can be understood as a series of affirmations that can change our minds and change the world, if held sincerely and practiced consistently. These affirmations are intimately connected with spiritual practices that can be used by laypeople as well as religious and academic professionals to enable an experience of the profound interconnectedness of life and our intimate companionship with a loving, living God.
Groups for Praying with Process Theology will meet at three different times: from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Wednesdays from March 4 to April 8, to be combined with Bible study; from 7-8 p.m. Wednesdays at Wild Onion Tied House (church-supplied appetizers provided) from March 4 to April 8; and from 12:15-1:30 p.m. Sundays from March 8 to April 5 (lunch provided by the church). Contact Lydia Mulkey to sign up.
