Pre-Thanksgiving Covenant Group!

Greetings all!

We will be meeting tomorrow morning at 8:00am to covenant together. If you are still around (and awake) please come by and join your fellow HDS Methodists in prayer and discussion. If you have left or are busy packing up...enjoy your break and may you have a safe and peaceful Thanksgiving.

Our Covenant....Finally Posted!

Our Covenant

Preamble

Christian discipleship is not a solitary enterprise, but it is most fully lived out in the context of community. We rejoiced in the gift of one another’s presence along our journeys of faith and commit ourselves to strengthening the bonds that unite us. We promise to watch over each other in love, to respect the full personhood of each member of our group, and to help one another, God being our helper, to grow in grace and in service to others. God blesses us beyond our ability to comprehend, placing us in a world of startling beauty and unlimited possibilities. We humbly acknowledge our tendency to take these blessings for granted and, by what we do actively or passively, to contribute to the world’s sorrow. Therefore, in gratitude for all of God’s gifts to us, we covenant together to use faithfully the power that is ours to preserve and enhance the created order, to work for justice in the human community, and to live our lives as committed and compassionate followers of Jesus Christ.

Acts of Compassion

· We will approach each person as a sacred mystery. We will not judge, but will listen. We will express our appreciation.

· We will seek to improve and maintain meaningful conversation with our friends and families.

· We will spend a minimum of four hours each month helping disadvantaged persons.

Acts of Justice

· We will not remain silent before injustice in the political arena, in the classroom, or in personal relationships.

· We will notice what is going on around us, seek to understand, and act.

· We will take risks on behalf of others,.

Acts of Devotion

· We will treat our bodies as a trust from God and manifestation of God’s handiwork.

· We will spend 15 to 30 minutes each day in devotional silence, prayer, and/or study of the scriptures.

· We will keep a discipleship journal, making entries at least once each week.

· We will keep a list of those for whom we are praying.

Acts of Worship

· We will attend worship at least once per week.

· We will give away one tenth of all we receive.

· We will seek to learn about and experience worship forms different from our own.

Spiritual Promptings and Warnings

· We will identify and refuse temptations.

· We will turn ourselves in new directions when we become aware of sin in our lives.

· We will keep a record of the ways in which we perceive God to be leading us.

· We will take responsibility for healing broken relationships in our lives.

Upcoming Event!

The annual Edward L. Mark Lecture will be held on Thursday, November 12, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. at Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church, 1555 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Elaine Wainwright, Richard Maclaurin Goodfellow Professor in Theology and Head of the School of Theology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, will deliver the lecture and has chosen as her topic, "Parable and Parabler, Habitat and Humanity: Telling Gospel Stories Anew in the Face of the Ecological Imperative."

The Lecture is free and open to the public. Harvard-Epworth is located three blocks north of the Harvard Square Red Line “T” stop; across from Cambridge Common and adjacent to Harvard Law School, and is handicapped accessible.

For more information about the lecture or to reserve seating, contact Harvard-Epworth by phone at 617-354-0837 or by email at harvardepworth@verizon.net.

Holiday Covenant Group at Au Bon Pain!!!

Greetings HDS Methodists,

A few of your fellow Methodists have agreed to meet this Wednesday, even though it is a University/State holiday. If you will be around or want to get a good start to the morning for a day's worth of catching up and paper-writing, please join us! We will be meeting at 9:00am at the Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square (delicious pastries and coffee!!). If you are busy...have a wonderful relaxing holiday and see you next week!

Change in Tomorrow's Covenant Group!

This is a reminder that tomorrow we will be diverging from the usual. The Covenant Group WILL still meet at 8:00am in Divinity Hall, but we will be leaving at 8:30 to attend the breakfast hosted by EcoDiv (and our own Emma Crossen!). This event, featuring the fascinating Dr. Sallie McFague, will be a discussion centering around climate change and spirituality. Also, if you are interested, Wednesday night Dr. McFague will be presenting her lecture entitled "Cities, Climate Change, and Christianity: Religion and Sustainable Urbanism". The lecture will take place in the Sperry Room from 5:15-7:00pm. Dr. McFague is quiet a distinguished scholar in this field and this is a great opportunity to hear her. Enjoy and see you all Wednesday!

A New Opportunity for Fellowship and Service!

Something brand new gets underway at Harvard-Epworth on Wednesday evening, October 21st! We are working to form a new community of fellowship, service, study, and worship. Based on the biblical injunction to “Do Justice, Love Kindness, and Walk Humbly with God”, the community will meet weekly at 6:45 p.m. at Harvard-Epworth Methodist Church (right near the Law School!). We will begin the evening by sharing together a simple meal of hot soup, bread and salad. During our time together we will reflect upon acts of community service performed during the week and we will renew our commitment to act together for justice in our local community and in the world. There will also be a “study period” consisting of engaging discussion about what it means to be a “Progressive Christian” in contemporary America. Such discussion topics will include: “What does it mean to follow Jesus instead of worship Jesus?”, “The Problem of Religious Exclusivity, Inclusivity and Pluralism”, and “Taking the Bible seriously, not literally.” Each Wednesday evening will conclude with a celebration and exploration of our faith through worship and song. A team of leaders from Harvard-Epworth has been planning this launch for many months. We warmly invite anyone and everyone to attend this program. The evening will conclude by 8:15. Please come and just bring yourself!

Weekly Covenant Group Continues!

We will be meeting tomorrow morning as usual at 8:00am in Divinity Hall. Donuts will be provided! Just bring yourselves. As a quick reminder, you are all welcome to come weekly, monthly, or yearly! Come when you are able.

Reminder: Covenant Group Wednesday!

Just another reminder: all are welcome to join us this Wednesday for our weekly Covenant Group meeting at 8:00am on the first floor of Divinity Hall. The Covenant Group is meeting every week, but please feel free to attend whenever you can/want...we'd love to see you! A light breakfast will be provided, bring your own drinks. See you Wednesday!

A note of appreciation

I want to express my appreciation to Scott for inviting me and the covenant members for including me in the meeting on Wednesday. Less than a month into my first year at EDS, and I am bracing myself daily for what Tillich refers to as 'ontological shock.' For me doing theology means swimming gracelessly through a sea of jellyfish. The covenant group offered an hour to catch my breath and reaffirm my commitment to Christian community as that supportive place to wrestle through our faith. It was an honor to listen as Alyssa (name?), Thomas and others share their concerns about feeling privileged and confused. One thing in particular impressed me; I heard students share their experiences but refrain from giving advice in the form of solutions. I wonder if premature solutions to problems rob us of deepening our relationship to God and each other. Some questions are meant to be life-long wrestling partners where our most faithful answer is "I don't know."

Reminder: Covenant GroupTomorrow!

For all who are interested (or able), the Covenant Group will meet tomorrow morning at 8:00am on the first floor of Divinity Hall. To restate an earlier post, this is a completely optional meeting; you do NOT need to attend every week in order to be a part of the Covenant Group...come whenever you can, even if its just once this semester! If you can make it, great...see you there!

By the way...the picture above is not a secret area of HDS that you have yet to discover. It is in fact Oxford University, where John Wesley studied, taught and began the small groups that eventually blossomed into the Methodist tradition.

Greetings HDS Methodists!

Welcome to the newly launched blogspot for the HDS Methodists!

My hope is that this site may be used as a means to notify one another about upcoming events, share our reflections and observations, share our joys and/or concerns that we would like lifted up in prayer, or to ask any questions of your peers about HDS, ordination requirements, writing sermons, etc.

Harvard Divinity School is a wonderful institution with a plethora of opportunities to explore and worship with other traditions, and to critically examine our own. As a nondenominational divinity school, however, it is up to us as students to build and maintain a community in our tradition. The foundation of the HDS Methodist community is the Wednesday morning Covenant Group that meets at 8am in Divinity Hall. We hope that you are able to join us for these friendly and informal gatherings. Of course, 8am is an unthinkable meeting time for some among us. Perhaps this site will provide a new medium for all to gather in a 21st century version of the Wesleyan societies.

Please feel free to offer posts of any appropriate material and, by doing so, help get this site off and running! God Bless