On the evening of Monday, October 24, 2011at 7:15 p.m. (desert time!), Russell Bourne will give the first in the series of lectures planned by our Adult Education Committee. Entitled "The American Church in Times of National Crises," the series will highlight the varied responses of American churches (positive and negative) to the challenges of historic eras, from the Revolution and the constitution to the Great Depression and today's Concerns.

      Russell's kick-off talk will not only address one of those eras—the collapse of the colonial church covenants and the importance of the great Awakening in the 1740s—but will also serve as an introduction to the series. There will be a discussion of the shaping of the series henceforth and the signing-on of appropriate speakers from within and beyond our community.

      As it stands now, there will be one lecture given on the last Monday of each month starting in January and continuing until May (leaving out April for Easter).

January 30	Gary Anderson	Disestablishment of the Church in the the New Constitutional Order
February 27	Father Snyder	The Fate of Anglicanism in the Young Republic
March 26	Rev. Clark West, Chaplain of the Episcopal Church at Cornell	Thoreau and Transcendentalism
May 28	Ed Baptist	Slavery and the Emergence of Black Christianity

      It is hoped that the series will continue in the fall of 2012, after the summer break.

      Please do come to the introductory talk, which promises to awake us all to a greater awareness of how the churches' participation in national crises has produced surprising results in the past, and may yet again.

      We will meet in the Chapman Room (please use the Cayuga Street entrance) promptly at 7:15 p.m.; desert and beverages will be served.