Mark your calendars: The Spring Gathering of the Presbyterian Women of the PTCA will meet on Saturday April 25 at North Presbyterian Church in North St. Paul from 9AM-3PM. The cost for the event is $15. Registration deadline is April 18. To register, please download the 2009 Issue of Connections, the newsletter of the Presbyterian Women of the PTCA.
The Presbytery recieved the following information from St. Luke Presbsbyterian in Wayzata:
A global ecumenical conference held in Minneapolis in November 1993 is being remembered by many of its original participants this spring, and the public is invited to participate. “Re-Imagining Revisited: From Past to Future” will again draw together female theologians, clergy and church members to imagine God and the Church in new ways. It will meet April 17 to 19 at St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Minnetonka.
The original Re-Imagining Conference drew 2,200 women and men from around the world in search of justice and reconciliation. Together, they explored emerging theological ideas, using women’s experience as the basis of worship. In spite of controversy surrounding its unconventional images of God, the Re-Imagining Community continued to thrive through 10 more annual conferences, a monthly newsletter and ongoing small groups around the country.
On Friday, April 17 at 7:00 p.m., Re-Imagining Revisited will open with a keynote address by Mary Farrell Bednarowski, emerita professor of religious studies at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and a speaker at the original conference. She will be followed by a performance of “The Red Haired God” by Minneapolis playwright and novelist Pamela Carter Joern, as well as music and blessings.
Saturday’s seminar, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on April 18, will include speakers and opportunity for conversation. Noted author and scholar Rita Nakashima Brock will speak, as will Joern, Hamline University chaplain Nancy Victorin-Vangerud, and Rebecca Todd Peters, associate professor of religious studies at Elon University.
The group will reconvene Sunday morning, April 19, at 9:15 a.m. to share stories from the original Re-Imagining Conference, and to worship at 10:30. Preaching will be Mary Ann Lundy, retired deputy general secretary of the World Council of Churches.
The fee for Friday evening is $5. A $20 fee for all weekend events includes lunch on Saturday. Scholarships are available. Register by April 13 at www.unitedseminary.edu/CommunityPrograms/index.asp#rr.
This event is sponsored by St. Luke Presbyterian Church as part of its 50th anniversary and by the Hamline University Mahle Endowment for Progressive Christian Thought, with support from United Theological Seminary. St. Luke is a progressive church dedicated to seeking justice locally and globally, giving and working beyond the church, and using inclusive and healing language. St. Luke is located in Minnetonka west of I-494, one block north of Minnetonka Boulevard (County Road 5) and one block east of Highway 101, behind Groveland School, at 3121 Groveland School Road. Call the church at (952)473-7378 or visit www.stlukeweb.org for directions and with questions.
An Opportunity . . .
Helping Women Seminarians
“Each friend represents a world within us, a world not born until they arrive;
and it is only by our meeting that this new world is born.” (Anais Nin)
April 25 is Blue Bowl time. In the 1950’s, Lillias Anna Joy had a thought, did something about it, and a new world was born for each of us. Lillias wanted to thank God in a special way, and so she began dropping coins into a Blue Vase on her kitchen counter. She brought her vase to what was then called the “Prebyterial” so that each woman there could also share her own joys, with her own coins. And that first thought is still bearing fruit.
Each Spring our Blue Bowl contributions go to the Barbara Tilton Memorial Scholarship fund. These scholarships encourage and support women seminarians from our Presbytery, women for whom new worlds are opening through their seminary studies, women who will help to open new worlds to others through their ministries in the years to come.
We now have our chance to set aside our own “gifts of joy.” We might wish to do this to remember a friend-who entered and enriched our world-by making a gift to honor her. Gifts may be sent at any time to:
Barbara Tilton Memorial Scholarship
Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area
122 West Franklin Avenue, Suite 508
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Last year at the Spring Gathering we heard stories from some of the women who have received Barbara Tilton Scholarships, and Sarah Brouwer led our worship. This year Alanna Tyler, a seminarian at Luther, will join us for worship. During the service, each of us will have the opportunity to place our gift in the Blue Bowl . . . and good things will issue forth.
You can help keep new worlds opening for and through these women-remembering the present joys and past memories of your good friends-by mailing a gift to the Presbytery office or by placing it in the Blue Bowl at the Spring Gathering on April 25.
(The Scholarship Committee includes The Rev. Liz Heller, The Rev. Anita Cummings, The Rev. Julia Carlson, Joan Nichols, and Marilyn Youel.)
Connections, the newsletter of the Presbyterian Women of the PTCA is now online.
Be sure to read the latest on the Spring Gathering of the Presbyterian Women taking place April 25 at North Presbyterian Church. Registration forms are in Connections.
