St. Paul’s 101 & With Gladness…

• St. Paul’s 101 begins on Sunday, January 13th at 11:30am, right after the 10am service. It will meet every Sunday well into February. I will be answering all your questions about who we are, what we do, where we come from, how we make decisions and so on. I want you to feel at home here.

In addition, St. Paul’s 101 serves as a first step towards Confirmation at Grace Cathedral on Saturday, June 1st. For those who wish to have the Bishop lay his hands on you in an affirmation of faith, formation classes will continue. Our youth are welcome and encouraged to join in both St. Paul’s 101 and the Confirmation class this year.

• With Gladness and Singleness of Heart describes what it is like when we are doing the work that God has called us to do. This class will give you an opportunity to make a simple prayer your own- “O God, send me to do the work you have given me to do with gladness and singleness of heart.” The phrase “gladness and singleness of heart” come from both our post-communion prayer and Acts chapter 2, which describes the state of Jesus’ followers at the birth of the church.

The class will have three parts:

1. On Saturday, January 19th we gather starting at 8am for hospitality and then at 8:30, I will offer less than an hour of imaginative teaching in the church. We return to Duncan Hall for a handout and some Q & A. Finally, we’ll got to Millennial Park in San Anselmo where I’ll demonstrate the teaching and give you an opportunity to try it for yourself.

2. Each Saturday morning for the rest of January and all of February, I’ll be in Duncan Hall at 8:30 for a series of structured conversations intended to reinforce the lessons from January 19th.

3. Finally, on Saturday, March 2nd, we will have a final gathering with hospitality at 8am and conversation at 8:30 to consider what we’ve learned.

This whole process will be 6 weeks, which is how long research has shown you need to do a new thing to make it a habit. In this case, I hope that the prayer “O God, send me to do the work you have given me to do with gladness and singleness of heart” with the accompanying teachings, will be well worked into your sense of what it means to follow Jesus.

Make this January a month where you make a new start in your life of faith.