February 15 Spiritual Discipline of Testimony
February 22 (First Sunday of Lent) Spiritual Discipline of Prayer
By Yolanda Pierce, Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School
What spiritual disciplines can promote spiritual growth among the Church in this present age?
Bio.:, She is the University Distinguished Professor of Religion & Literature, and the University Distinguished Professor of African American & Diaspora Studies. Her scholarly research specialties include African American religious history, womanist theology, and race and religion. She holds degrees from Cornell University and Princeton University. She has served as the Founding Director of the Center for African American Religious Life at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). A widely published author, she has written several books, essays, and articles for academic and trade journals. In addition to her teaching and academic scholarship, Pierce is a native New Yorker, public theologian, community activist, and ordained minister. Author of The Wounds are the Witness: Black Faith Weaving Memory Into Justice and Healing.
Lent Weeks 2 -6 : “Dancing with Divine Humility” by Marjorie Thompson
How we see God’s nature, power, and love inevitably shapes how we see ourselves. It is a mirroring dance, the divine-human relationship, since we are beings created in the divine image. This 5-week class is designed to help us dive deeper into themes of divine humility and love that we began to explore in May of 2025. We will focus first on texts in Philippians and Matthew that root us in a spiritual theology of God’s humble love, which models and evokes our own loving humility. We will then play with aspects of intuition and creativity that reveal our non-dominant gifts, linking them with the Spirit’s preferred way of reaching us with guidance and insight. Finally, we will explore several spiritual practices that help align our hearts and minds with divine love—intrinsically gentle, centered, and poured out in service.
Bio: Rev. Marjorie Thompson is author of the best-selling book Soul-feast: An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life and Forgiveness: A Lenten Study. She is a Presbyterian minister who has spent 13 years as Director of Congregational Spirituality with the Upper Room Ministries. She is currently retired but continues to write, to maintain a limited spiritual direction practice, and to teach locally.
March 1: Domination and Humility in the Divine-Human Relationship: Four Views
March 8: The Inverted Arc of Salvation: Divine Self-Emptying and New Creation
March 15: The Beatitudes: Blueprint for the Humility of Kingdom Life
March 22: Exploring our Non-Dominant Gifts: Intuition, Creativity, and Insight
March 29: Spiritual Practices to Align with Divine Love
April 5 EASTER no class
April 12 "Everyman" by Jim Womack.
A discussion of a medieval artwork of Pieter Bruegel with reference to Psalm 8.
Bio: Jim is a long time member of Second Presbyterian who taught art history and art at Montgomery Bell Academy for 40 years.
April 19-May 27 TBA
May 24 Memorial Day Weekend
