Classes are free and open to all. We serve a light vegetarian dinner before the class, for which we request a $5 donation. We value the conversation and sense of community we share during the meal and clean-up and find it deepens our connection to the classes that follow. Dinner starts at 6:45 and classes begin at 7:30.
We generally offer two classes per term, which are now online. You need not be a member of Seekers Church to participate.
School for Christian Growth Poetry Night
Tuesday, January 28, 2020
6:45 p.m.–9 p.m.
Bring a brown bag for dinner at 6:45. The poetry begins at 7:30.
Poetry Night
Led by John Morris
Poetry fills me with joy
and I rise like a feather in the wind.
Poetry fills me with sorrow
and I sink like a chain flung from a bridge.
But mostly poetry fills me
with the urge to write poetry.
From Billy Collins, The Trouble with Poetry
Poet John Morris will lead us in an occasional night of poetry. Bring 10 copies of a poem you have written or that someone else has written. During our time together each of us will read our poems and share why and how they speak to us. We’ll explore together the images and structure of the poems and their potential meanings.
School for Christian Growth January 2020 Short Term
Tuesday evenings 6:45 p.m.–9:00 p.m.
January 7 and January 21, 2020
Optional follow-up class after church on Sunday, February 23
Anyone who would like to bring their own dinner is welcome to join us to eat dinner together at 6:45. The class will begin at 7:30 and end at 9:00.
Sign up on the clipboard in the sign-up area just outside the sanctuary or by emailing marciasprague(at)mindspring.com. Required text: How to Break Up with Your Phone by Catherine Price. Please indicate whether you would like to purchase the book at Busboys and Poets across the street (where we can order copies) or buy the book some other way.
Getting a Grip: Bringing Awareness to Our Use of Smartphones, Social Media, and the Internet
Led by David Novello and Erica Lloyd
Smartphones, introduced only 12 years ago, allow us to do many things we could not have imagined earlier. At the same time, they were designed to addict, and there is no doubt that many people cannot break away from them. The same is true for social media and the Internet in general. There is increasing evidence that as a result our attention spans are shorter and we are suffering in various ways. In this two-night class, we will consider how paying attention can help us to act with more intention, in a way we wish.
Class participants will complete the first 16 days of the 30-day program in the short and inexpensive book How to Break Up with Your Phone, by Catherine Price, and will be expected to have read some of it before the first class. The book’s exercises are not time-consuming, but awareness and discipline are required to get the most out of the class. Because there will be two weeks between the two sessions, we will have time to complete over half the program, and will discuss in class what has arisen for us. Everyone will be encouraged to finish the program on their own afterwards. On Sunday, Feb. 23, there will be an optional gathering after service to talk about our efforts and what may have changed for us. Everyone will need to have completed a short amount of reading in the book before the first class.