Reading "The Bush was Blazing..."

Our meeting before a two-week Christmas break covered Joshua, Judges, Acts, and the births of the Anglican Church ("They may be Angles, but they look like Angels") and Holy Roman Empire.

We'll meet again on January 6.  Smoot does the dinner, Lynne, worship; our TR will emerge from our responses to the common reading, the paperback book by Law. 

Week Thirteen Coming Up

Thanks to Jeff and Sally for great chili and lemon-coconut pie with salad!  So many were absent that we discussed third year matters, saw some of the harp concert, and left with plans for next week.


We'll read texts assigned on pp. 67-68 in our Reading Reflection Guide (RRG).  TR will still be presented by Scott T.;  Susan, who didn't get to use the worship she'd planned, will provide both worship and dinner next week. 

Quicksand

"Save me, O God,
for the waters have risen up to my neck.

I am sinking in deep mire,
and there is no firm ground for my feet."

The opening of Psalm 69, appointed for Friday, November 7

Apropos of wandering children

Steve shared this portion of an article that relates to his TR and our shared memories of roaming our childhood neighborhoods:

Outside of pockets of extreme deprivation, children’s society is severely restricted by our practice of placing children under the equivalent of house arrest. In only three generations, children in the British Isles as well as the United States have lost their freedom to roam, their independently explorable territories shrinking from hundreds of acres to the dimensions of each child’s own back yard. This is not an accusation toward parents; their decisions reflect their judgments about their children’s safety in the world. Specifically, parents judge that there is no community beyond their doors that they can rely on to keep their children safe. Christopher Alexander’s Pattern 57: Children in the City (A Pattern Language) states that “If children are not able to explore the whole of the adult world around them, they cannot become adults. But modern cities are so dangerous that children cannot be allowed to explore them freely.” Unfortunately, this has become the case not just in large cities, but in small towns and even rural areas.The Monster with the Iron Teeth

Link to EFM glossary

Here's a link that Sue Hannan, mentor for the other St. James' class, just sent. It was compiled over the years by a long-time EFM mentor. Should be helpful as we move along.
ajackson.org/glossary
  Susan

Successfully on line

We have had a gmail account and thus our posts will appear as written by litlbill. Thanks for setting this up!

Bill and Lynne Lovelace

EfM Covenants and notes for our next meeting

Welcome, EfMera.  The only people who will read this blog are those of us in the Wright - Rouse - Smoot class at St. James', Marietta.  I suppose, in future years, new members of the class will be able to see old postings.  So, let's not say anything here that would be better said in person or in private!

We arrived at the following covenants for the year:

Covenants

1. Confidentiality: We will keep each other's statements and stories within the group.
2. Politics: Political statements, arguments, controversy:  This is not the place for that.
3. Cell phone courtesy:  We will silence our cell phones, and we will not take calls or texts during a session (except when we're expecting an urgent call, of course).
4. Preparation for class:  "The more you put into the class, the more you get from it."  We all have impossible weeks; but we will come ready to discuss the readings most of the time.
5. This Blog:  We will use this blog to record thoughts and questions for fellow EfMera who cannot make our weekly meetings.  
6. Negative references to people or groups outside of the room:  No one will pile on those who aren't present to defend themselves.
7. Respect:  We will be respectful, especially when we are presenting a perspective that we do not share.
8. Listening:  We will listen to the words, the body language, and the intention of the speaker, with minds open, not formulating our counter-arguments or judgements.

We heard spiritual autobiographies from Smoot, Wright, and Rouse. 

Next week

• we'll hear ten minute autobiographies focused on spiritual development from Bill N., Jeff, Lynn, and Jenni.
• dinner will be provided by Bill and Jen (please let them know if you won't be there)
• worship will be provided by Steve

Professor Rouse tests her Blog powers

I can select font, color and so forth, see settings and choose a time to post, and see how many people have viewed the blog. 

Post title here

I got on with no problems and posting seems pretty clear. Just make sure everyone knows to have a gmail account. I'm going to include a link to that review to see how easy the link function is to use.http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2014/07/atheists_the_origin_of_the_species_by_nick_spencer_reviewed.html

This could be our EfM Blog: How easy is it to sign up and comment?

Luis Smoot loves frogs

I'm posting this little article and then adding M. Susan Rouse to the list of readers.

Susan, if you can read this, can you easily write a comment?   If you do comment, does that show up?  We'll see.