ADULTEDUCATION

NEW CLASS:

This class is studying, "The Hard Texts of the Old Testament." If you've read much of the Old Testament, you've run into them. God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Moses healing the people with the bronze serpent on a pole, the rejection of Saul by God, the death of Uzzah when he touched the Ark, and many others, from the Law, the "writings" and the Prophets. We'll look at some of all of them. Each week will be a different text and I'll list them on the website and in the Caller. If you'd like to come to one particular one and no others, feel free. If you don't already have a SS Class, I'd love to see you every week, but you can also drop in and out from week to week, depending on your schedule and interest. Bring your Bible with you and your questions.

Young Adults Sunday School Class:

A new Young Adults Sunday School Class meets upstairs in the second room on the right.

This class uses s a discussion format.

"If you can't remember watching Nixon resign, maybe you should be there!"

The Kenneth Kaufman Class:

Meets downstairs in the church parlor in the education building. This class studies from "The Present Word" an "International Lesson" Bible study series. Participants come together to learn, discuss and reflect on each weeks lesson as they work through "The Present Word" series.

The Roy Hulan Class:

Meets downstairs in the education building. This class studies various topics of interest to the class. Join us in this class taught by George Cunningham in the Roy Hulan classroom downstairs in the education building.

On Sunday 5/25, we finished our lesson series from the Gospel of Luke. We also discussed suggestions for the upcoming quarter. A survey was done by the class members and the result was a 2-way tie. Both "Hymnology" and "Judaism" were our top vote getters. To break the tie I decided that since Denis was going to be out of town for the next 3-4 weeks and he really was interested in the topic of Judaism, we will hold that idea until next time. That makes our Summer Quarter's topic "Hymnology." This was one of my favorite classes at Divinity School and I have saved much of the material that our teacher shared.

Here is a short description of our topic which we will begin on Sunday June 1.

Hymnology

Hymnology is the systematic study of the history and the use of hymns. We will study: biblical teachings and examples of hymn singing from both the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible, hymn singing throughout history, theological teachings within hymns, literary and musical aspects of hymns, and the practical use of hymns. The class will study and listen to samples of various types of hymns including psalms, traditional anthems, African American spirituals, Southern gospel songs, contemporary Christian songs, and hymns from other cultures. We will do a thorough exploration of our denominational songbooks Chalice Hymnal and Chalice Praise that includes a review of how and why the books were developed and how to effectively use the songbooks in worship. A background in music and singing ability are not needed for this class.