Bible Project: Sermon on the Mount
The Bible Project team's videos about the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7 help us connect Jesus words with our daily lives. With a variety of teachers, this fall (Sept 15 - Oct 13) we'll dip into this collection of Jesus' most famous teachings in the Bible and see what we can discern about its meaning and purpose back then and here now. What are the poor in spirit? What about light and salt? What about turning the other cheek? And so much more! This course connects with the whole-church focus on the Sermon on the Mount in worship, Messy Church and Youth Ministry. Class will be held in the Library
Sept 15 -- Rachel Russell
Sept 22 -- Debbie Leavens
Sept 29 - Dan Thomas
Oct 8 -- Debbie Leavens
Oct 13 - Rachel Russell
Lewinsville Before and During the Civil War Cemetery Tour
As part of our celebration of the anniversary of Lewinsville’s founding (and in conjunction with Annabelle Spencer’s talk “Finding Sarah Ann: Lewinsville and the Underground Railroad” during the Christian Education hour), a tour focusing on the experiences during Lewinsville’s founding era of three groups affiliated with the congregation — European Americans born in Virginia, African-Americans enslaved by the first group, and relatively recent European American arrivals to Fairfax County from New York — will be available in the Lewinsville cemetery following the 11:00 service on Sun. 10/20. The tour is mostly self-guided through signs and QR codes; its creator, Cathy Saunders, will be on hand to answer questions. For those unable to attend in person, an online version is available at https://cwlewinsville.cesaunders.net.
Finding Sarah Ann: Lewinsville and the Underground Railroad
In January 1850, an enslaved woman named Sarah Ann, accompanied by her 7-year-old daughter Mary and “far advanced in pregnancy” with another child, escaped from Northern Virginia to upstate New York by hiding for 20 days under the false bottom of a produce wagon traveling north. They were aided in their escape by Lewinsville Presbyterian Church members Cyrus and Seth Osborne, who had hired Sarah Ann’s labor during the previous year. On Lewinsville’s Anniversary Sunday, George Mason University Ph.D. Candidate Annabelle Spencer will tell us about her research into Sarah Ann’s pursuit of freedom for herself and her children and their ties to other members of the Lewinsville community, enslaved and free.
Lewinsville Forum
The Lewinsville Forum is a discussion based Christian Education course that connects faith with current topics and public policy issues. Discussions will be led by Linton brooks, who served in the executive branch in republican administrations, and David Morrison, who had leadership in Democratic committees in Congress. The objective will not be to agree on specific policy positions, but to consider how our Christian faith should influence specific issues. Issues to be discussed will be drawn from the following list:
- The pros and cons of the current policy of military commitments, deployments and engagements as a tool of global leadership.
- The ethical issues underlying the Israel-Gaza conflict.
- How Christians should approach deeply divisive issues where genuine points of principle are involved, using the example of abortion.
- Issues raised by the General Assembly, especially (a) divesting from the fossil fuel industry and (b) strengthening provisions to ensure gender identity and sexual orientation issues do not prevent full participation and representation in church life and are supported by congregational leadership.
- The quality of our public discourse, hate speech, language.
- The ethics of busing immigrants to sanctuary cities.
The facilitators would welcome ideas for other topics, which can be provided to linton.brooks@cox.net. Class will be held in the 102 A