Dr. Shane Berg Speaks on Kickoff Sunday: You Truly Belong: An Introduction to Ephesians
September 13, 2026 9:30-10:30 a.m.
Dr. Shane Berg returns to Lewinsville Presbyterian Church on Kick-Off Sunday for Who Are We Together? An Introduction to the Book of Ephesians. This year, Lewinsville is drawing from Ephesians 4 to further explore the theme of deepening relationships. Dr. Berg taught Ephesians during his time at Princeton Seminary, and Pastor Layne was a student of his in that class. Dr. Berg earned his MDiv degree from Princeton Theological Seminary and his PhD in New Testament and Ancient Christianity from Yale University. Dr. Berg was the Executive Vice President of Princeton Theology Seminary. Before entering administration, Dr. Berg served on the faculty of Princeton Theological Seminary for seven years as Assistant Professor of New Testament.
Aliens, AI and Alternative Reality Class
Sundays, September 20 -October 18, 9:20 a.m.
Join Pastor Layne, Pastor Jen and guest speaker Dr. Katie Reklis as they explore how the possibilities of aliens, the advance of AI and alternative reality space challenge our theological claims of the nature of humanity.
What does it mean to be created “imago Dei”? How do we understand, relate to and worship God?
Books the Lectionary Leaves Out: Lamentations, the Pastorals and Philemon
Sundays, September 20 - October 18, 9:30 a.m.
The Reformed tradition emphasizes the centrality of scripture. Many, perhaps most of us gain our knowledge of scripture from listening to readings in worship and to exposition on those readings by preachers. But what do we do about books of the Bible that appear infrequently or not at all in the lectionary? We cannot ignore them, since we are told that all scripture is important. The Adult Education Committee has decided to devote one class a year to such works. Last year we discussed Esther and the Song of Songs.
Linton Brooks will open this year by looking at the Hebrew scripture book of Lamentations, describing the plight of those left behind after the Jewish elite was carried off into Babylon, the Pastorals (attributed to Paul but certainly written long after his time) discussing early church organization, and Philemon, Paul's only personal letter which raises questions about slavery and Christianity. This five-week Bible study will seek to discover the meaning of these works for our spiritual life today.
Special Speakers
REFORMATION SUNDAY GUEST PREACHER
Dr. Suzanne McDonald will teach at 9:30 a.m. and preach the 11 a.m. service
Sunday, October 25, 2026 9:30 a.m. class and 11 a.m. service
Being Catholic Before the Reformation:
What Art and a Will Can Teach Us
The story of the Reformation is often told in ways that make it sound like the pre-Reformation Roman Catholic church was in a terrible mess, and most people were longing for reform.
But pre-Reformation Catholicism was vibrant and many could hardly imagine life without its formative practices. Through art and a woman’s will, we will look at what worship and spirituality were like for ordinary people on the eve of the Reformation, and so gain a different perspective on what the Protestant Reformers were determined to sweep away and why.
GUEST TEACHER KATHRYN REKLIS DISCUSSES ALIENS, AI AND ALTERNATE REALITY
Sunday, October 4, 2026 9:30 a.m.
Kathryn Reklis came to Fordham in 2012 after earning her PhD from Yale University, with prior degrees from Yale Divinity School, and undergraduate study in English Literature, creative 
writing, and documentary photography at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
She currently serves as the Co-Director of the Comparative Literature program at Fordham and is an Affiliate Faculty Member in American Studies.
Blending methods from cultural history, critical theory, and literary study, she is interested in the conditions of possibility that make theological belief and practice possible at any given moment.
At Fordham, she teaches courses on modern Christian history, colonialism and empire, aesthetics and modernity, digital religion, and American Evangelicalism.” She also writes the “Screen Time” article for the Christian Century, examining theological themes in TV and movies. Dr. Reklis has lectured and published on AI (including a lecture entitled, “They Will Know You by Your Love (Of Robots!)” Aliens and Alternate Reality, and was a classmate of Pastor Jen’s at Divinity School.