Encounter God - Be Renewed
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Summer Book Group on Feminine Wisdom and The Divine
June 21, 2021 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
An event every month that begins at 6:30 pm on day Third of the month, repeating until August 17, 2021
This group will meet monthly on the 3rd Monday of the month beginning in June. We will meet in a hybrid style of those able to meet in person in Santa Rosa and those out of the area can join in through Zoom.
If you cannot finish the book, by all means come to the discussion anyway. In the first 30 minutes of the discussion, our facilitator, Mary Beene, spiritual director and pastor, will recap highlights of the book and leave room for those who read at least some of the book to add their insights. The rest of the discussion will focus on practices for prayer and discernment and discussion of issues raised in the book as we consider feminine wisdom and the divine.
Fee: $10 plus borrow or purchase of the books
Monday, June 21st from 6:30 – 8 pm Pacific
In our first book, Mirabai Starr’s Wild Mercy: Living the Fierce & Tender Wisdom of the Women Mystics, we will dance with saints and mystical leaders that can go before us in our own deep devotional life. We will focus on Christian mystics and stories, but dip our toes into Starr’s inter-spiritual waters to learn more about raising up our own feminine wisdom. The group will have a chance to experience and discuss practices and prayer-styles that arise in the reading.
Monday, July 19th from 6:30 – 8 pm Pacific
Our second book will be Beth Allison Barr’s The Making of Biblical Womenhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth. This text explores the author’s journey from childhood assent to differing roles for men and women in the church and the home to an understanding that these distinctions were neither Biblical, nor benevolent for women and men. As a historian, she traces the suppression of Biblical texts and early Christian understandings of women in order to maintain a Greco-Roman hierarchy between the sexes, and the modern inclination in some churches to reiterate and strengthen that hierarchy. We will discuss why some women see this doctrine as freeing, while others struggle under its repression, and we will open ourselves to hearing the wisdom of God’s will for us.
Monday, August 16th from 6:30 – 8 pm Pacific
Our third book will be Cynthia Bourgeault’s The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity. This intensively well-researched book explores Mary Magadelene, the first person to witness and preach the good news of the resurrection. A blend of intellectual, mystical, and emotional perspectives, Bourgeault recreates a picture of a woman who can inspire and guide our unique spiritual journeys. How can Mary Magdalene’s experience, and the experience of women and men who would not let her disappear, shape our own witness to who Jesus the Christ is in the world today?
