Last Covenant Meeting

Greetings all! This morning was our last Covenant Group meeting of the 2009-2010 academic year! It has been wonderful sharing that time and space with you all, and I look forward to next year when we can welcome new students into the fold. Just a reminder, tomorrow night is our first HDS Methodist Retreat at the Queen's Head, 7-8pm. Hope to see you all there! Good luck with final exams and essays!

HDS Methodist "Retreat"!

Come one, Come All! To the 2010 HDS Methodists Retreat!

Who: All HDS Methodists and their significant others!

What: The first HDS Methodist Retreat! (unofficial)

Where: Queen's Head Pub, on Harvard's campus. The Queen's Head has a full kitchen with lots of good eats, and both nonalcoholic and alcoholic beverages. There is also a dart board (YES!), pool table, and a shuffle board table! Come to have fun, hang out, chat about summer plans and just spend time with your fellow HDS Methodist students!

When: Thursday, April 29 at 7:00-8:00pm (and stay for Team Trivia at 8!...We would make an awesome team!).

The Wednesday before (April 28) is the LAST day of Classes, so come CELEBRATE before diving into final papers and exams!

Contact Daniel (hit REPLY) if you have any questions at all!

See you there!

New Positions for 2010-2011

HDS Methodists! It is now that time of year when we need to declare our intent to be an Officially Recognized Group at HDS for 2010-2011. And, of course, we intend to be! However, in order to accomplish this task, we need 2 new committee members: a Treasurer and an Events Contact person. These positions are currently being held by the dynamic duo of Emma Crossen and Mike Nilon, but alas they are graduating this year. The jobs are not strenuous, and are more a formality than an actual responsibility since our activities consist of mainly our Covenant Group. But...if you so chose there is, of course, much room for growth; if you would like to make a commitment to either of these positions and take it to the next level (Methodist service opportunities, more involvement with other groups on campus, etc.) let me know either by email or at Wednesday morning Covenant Group. We need your signature ASAP! Thanks, and Happy Easter!

First Meeting of 2010!

Welcome Back HDS Methodists!

We will resume our weekly covenant meetings this Wednesday, January 27 at 8:00am. We will meet in our usual location: on the first floor of Divinity Hall. We hope to see all the "regulars" back as well as all you who had scheduling conflicts last semester...this is a great opportunity to join us and experience the community and fellowship of the HDS Methodist Covenant Meetings!

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.