Dear Friend,
This Saturday I offer the second session of my three part series called Building Your Spiritual Core. If you’re in or near the Bay Area, I hope you come. (9am to 11am at St. Paul’s, San Rafael.) If not, I still wanted to give a preview of what I’ll be doing in this second session.
Basically, I’ll be telling a story in five parts. The story is a grand story that starts with Abraham and brings us to today. The way I tell the story is inspired by this column from almost two years ago in the New York Times by David Brooks. The column is a kind of book report of a tome called A Secular Age, by Charles Taylor. I was intrigued by Brook’s claim that it would be ‘pockets of spiritual rigor’ that would survive and thrive into our future. I thought ‘isn’t that just what TRP strives to be?’
Over the past two years I’ve read the Taylor book very carefully and, by adding some things just beyond Taylor’s purvey, particularly from our ancient sacred history and from current reflections on post-humanism, I have created what used to be called a Grand Narrative. This Saturday I intend to share this story in a playful, imaginative way.
I’ve had great fun. I trotted out one of the five parts at a Bible Study last week and the ensuing conversation was one of the most energizing and stimulating we’ve ever had. I’m hopeful for a similar response this Saturday.
You’re welcome to come even if you missed the first session, which was an introduction to Discipleship Groups. In fact, this Saturday’s session will conclude with a reintroduction to D Groups. It should come as no surprise that our small groups are the ‘pocket of spiritual rigor’ we believe will survive and thrive in our secular age.
I will offer all three sessions of Building Your Spiritual Core again in the Fall. The dates are September 12, 26 and October 10. I also suspect that as we, as leaders of TRP, get invited to speak and teach in various places (we are leading the Clergy Conference in the Diocese of Indianapolis in April, for example) this material from Building Your Spiritual Core will naturally emerge.
Thank you for being in conversation with us. Don’t be afraid to just go ahead and start your own Discipleship Group so that you can begin Building your own Spiritual Core.
Faithfully,
Christopher Martin, Founder