Church Action eNewsletter Week of September 30, 2024

[RCCAtl]

God calls us to some things we cannot do alone.

1. Dr. Donyelle McCray, Yale divinity School, will deliver a lecture series at Sewanee School of Theology, on October 2 honoring Pauli Murray, poet, activist, attorney, professor and priest. These three lectures are available free of charge online. First is at 9 a.m. CST. For information visit https://engage.theology.sewanee.edu/portal/online_lectures_webinars      
2.  How comfortable are you when someone approaches you with a pastoral concern? Lifelong Learning at Columbia Theological Seminary online lunchtime series continues Oct. 2   with Lindsay Geist “Pastoral Care vs. Mental Health Referral." You’ll have the chance to refresh your pastoral care skills and learn new insights into how to respond compassionately and appropriately when people come to you and ask if you have a minute. Find out more and register at CLICK HERE.

3. The Candler Foundry, an initiative of Candler School of Theology at Emory University, invites you to continue the conversation begun at the Symposium for Spiritual Awakening for Climate and Democracy last week with “And It Was Good: The Bible, Theology, and Ecology.” This course offers a unique opportunity to deepen your understanding of the intersection between faith and ecology. Wednesdays, Oct. 2 – Oct. 30, 7-8:15 p.m. Cost is $40. Click on the link above for details.
4. Wright Thompson in Conversation with Condace Pressley, Atlanta History Center, McElreath Hall. Thompson is author of “The Barn: The Secret History of a Murder in Mississippi.” Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 7:30 p.m. If you are not member of the center tickets are $12. Find them at Tickets. A shocking and revelatory account of the murder of Emmett Till that lays bare how forces from around the world converged on the Mississippi Delta in the long lead-up to the crime, and how the truth was erased for so long.
5. The Lillian Smith Book Awards are presented to authors whose books, through high literary merit and moral vision, honestly portray the South, its people, its problems and its promise. The 2024 Awards Ceremony, is Oct. 3 at 7 p.m. in the Decatur Library Auditorium. This free event includes remarks from recipients and a Q&A followed by a book signing. The awards are sponsored by the Southern Regional Council, University of Georgia Libraries, DeKalb County Public Library/The Georgia Center for the Book, and Piedmont College. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is requested. R.s.v.p. here. The award this year goes to Susan Crawford for “Charleston: Race, Water, and The Coming Storm” and Victor Luckerson for “Built From the Fire: The Epic Story of Tulsa's Greenwood District, America's Black Wall Street.”
6. A reminder that Columbia Theological Seminary will host on Thursday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m., a "Leading During Elections: Faithful Practices for Our Fractured Politics" program that begins with a panel discussion between local civic and faith leaders. Register Here. “Leading During Elections” also has a course component that includes a workshop developed by Faith in Public Life's theologian-in-residence, Rev. Tuhina Rasche, and Director of Policy and Government Affairs Rushad Thomas. Register Here.This gathering will be in-person and also livestreamed. Registration available here.  Click hereto see the full list of instructors and topics. Pay what you and your community are able, $50 recommended for access to full resource. One registration allows you to use the resources for your class or group. Contact [e-mail]
7. Sacred Harp singing, Oct. 3, singing at 7:00 p.m. at Emory Presbyterian Church, 1886 N Decatur Rd, Atlanta 30307. Park behind the church, and enter the Fellowship Hall. This is an indoor singing, with COVID precautions to protect the community.  Leaders ask that participants take an at-home test before departing and bring the details for verification, or arrive early to test onsite (tests will be available onsite beginning at 6:30 p.m.). Vaccination is required.
8. Connection is one of the major components of mental health. That’s why we’re confident that on October 5, 2024, the Fall United Day of Hope will make us all feel, from one end of America to the other, the true power of togetherness.  Join NAMI in a step toward mental health for all. Upcoming NAMY Walk in Doraville on Oct. 5 and in Rome on Oct. 19. NAMI - Upcoming Events (namiwalks.org)
9. In celebration of Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month, The Absalom Jones Episcopal Center for Racial Healing and the Diocese of Atlanta invite you to a morning of hope: “And Who Is My Neighbor? Finding Hope Through Relationships.” This event will highlight leaders who are making a meaningful impact and inspiring us with their commitment to building relationships and navigating the often-challenging immigration process. Saturday, Oct. 5, 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the Center’s Chapel, 807 Atlanta Student Movement Blvd., Atlanta 30314. Seating is limited. To R.s.v.p., email your name and number of guests to [e-mail].
10. Step into a world where music transcends boundaries and human love knows no limits at The Trey Clegg Singers: The Power of Love Concert. Set in the welcoming embrace of Central Congregational United Church of Christ, this enchanting evening promises to be a tapestry of soul-stirring performances. Saturday, October 5, at 7 p.m., 2676 Clairmont Road, Atlanta 30329. Click here to Purchase Tickets. They are $25.
11. The Rev. Amy Gopp, senior pastor of Kent United Church of Christ in Kent, Ohio, is the featured preacher Oct. 6 on “Day1” with host Katie Givens Kime, the nationally broadcast ecumenical radio program also accessible as a podcast and online at Day1.org. Hear Day1 in Atlanta on WSB 95.5 and 750 AM Sundays at 7:05 a.m. “Holy Union” is drawn from Mark 10:2-16, a Gospel reading in which the Pharisees test Jesus by asking him about divorce. Jesus answers then says that any who wish to enter the Kingdom of God must enter it as children. “We were made for holy union—not to be separate and alone. The epidemic of social isolation and loneliness is evidence of that,” she says. “Day 1” has been broadcast every week for 79 years, formerly as “The Protestant Hour.” Featuring outstanding preachers from the mainline denominations, “Day 1” is currently distributed radio stations across America and overseas, and the “Day1 Weekly Program” is on all podcast apps.
12. Eco-A Cathedral Woods Restoration Walk, Oct. 6, 2-4 p.m., near Peachtree and Northside, Naturalist Walk. For more information and to register click here. 
13. Duo marimbaists Andy Harnsberger and Caitlin Jones will perform at the Cathedral of St. Philip, 2744 Peachtree Road, Atlanta 30305, in person and livestreamed at cathedralATL.org, Sunday, October 6, at 3:15 p.m. Harnsberger and Jonesserve as percussion faculty members at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn. They will play Harnsberger’s “In the Midst of Darkness,” Stout’s “ Bossacatta,” and “Sequoia” by Alex Stopa.  Following the recital, the Cathedral offers a service of Choral Evensong, sung this week by the Cathedral Choir.
14. Explore the remarkable life of John Lewis with historian David Greenberg in a Livingston Lecture at the Atlanta History Center. From his roots in rural Alabama to his leadership in Atlanta during the Civil Rights Movement, learn how Lewis became a symbol of hope and resilience. Wednesday, Oct. 9, 7 p.m. Get your ticket at Livingston Lecture featuring David Greenberg | Atlanta History Center
15. Six organizations have joined together on the Build Economic Security Together project to build a proactive economic security agenda for Georgia. A survey is the first step in gathering input from Georgians about their lived experiences, their economic needs, and their desires for the future of their state. Will you help build this vision for economic security by sharing your answers? No information here will be quoted in work of any of the participating organizations without permission. Take the survey HERE. Current organizations on the BEST Planning Committee include: Georgia Budget & Policy Institute, ProGeorgia, GALEO, 9to5 Working Women Georgia, Barred Business, and Georgia Coalition for the People's Agenda.  
16. All Saints’ Episcopal Church kicks off its new music series, Jazz at All Saints’, Oct. 11, with the soul-stirring Gary Motley Quartet, led by piano virtuoso Gary Motley. Building on the church’s longstanding reputation for music excellence, the series will feature two concerts this fall and two in the spring. Motley is the obvious first choice for the inaugural concert, for his brilliance as a performer and as a composer and arranger for artists and choral groups across the nation has made him an icon in Southern jazz circles. Motley is also a professor and the founding director of the Jazz Studies program at Emory University. Concert at 7 p.m. with Q&A followed by Reception in Ellis Hall. For more info email [e-mail]. Tickets: https://allsaintsatlanta.org/music/jazz-at-all-saints/ and Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/cc/jazz-at-all-saints-3536139 .
17. Braver Angels Depolarizing Ourselves workshop, 12:15 p.m. at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 25 Boulevard NE, Atlanta 30312, parking available at 494 Edgewood Ave., Sunday, Oct. 13. For people of faith, civil discourse begins in recognizing the image of God in our conversation partner. This Braver Angels workshop addresses how we may inadvertently be complicit in, or possibly even encourage, polarization. This workshop is designed to help you lessen the effects of polarization when you encounter them in your political conversations. This is a group session that is 1.5 hours long. It will be led by John Schwenkler, a Braver Angels leader. A light lunch will be provided for no charge.  If you have any questions contact [e-mail]. Register by clicking here. 
18. The2024 Christian Unity Gathering  is in Nashville, Oct. 15-18. This year’s ecumenical gathering focuses on the critical intersection of ecological sustainability and socio-economic equity. Christian Unity Gathering 2024 - National Council of Churches has all you need to know. Speakers include Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Bishop W. Darin Moore, Presiding Bishop of Presiding Prelate for the Mid-Atlantic Episcopal District of the AME Zion Church, Rev. Dr. Teresa Fry Brown, Candler School of Theology, Emory University, and so many more. Visit the link to see the list of outstanding speakers.
19. Music at St. Luke's presents internationally acclaimed concert organist David Briggs in concert Friday, Oct. 18. 7:30 p.m. Currently artist-in-residence at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, NYC, and known for his unbridled virtuosity and passion for making organ music vibrant and accessible to a wide and diverse audience, he is one of the most sought after concert organists of his generation. At the age of 17, he obtained his FRCO (Fellow of the Royal College of Organists) diploma, winning the Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians. From 1981-84 he was organ scholar at King’s College Cambridge, during which time he also studied with Jean Langlais in Paris. He teaches performance at Cambridge University, frequently serves on international organ competition juries, and gives master classes at colleges and conservatories across the U.S. and Europe. He will present works of J.S. Bach, Haydn, Franck, Dupre’, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, and Guilmant. No ticket required. A reception follows in J. Coleman Budd Hall, 435 Peachtree St NE, Atlanta 30308.
20. Weekend Retreat: Caring for Our Common Home Oct. 18 - 20, Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center, Sandy Springs, directed by Dr. Rob McDowell, PG. Pope Francis’s 2015 environmental encyclical Laudato Si’describes how our Sister, Mother Earth, “cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her.”  He asks that we change our hearts and minds in how we view God’s Creation by drawing on centuries of Christian spiritual experience and informed by modern science and its assessment of humans’ impact on our common home.  This retreat is a deep dive into creation spirituality from the Old Testament to the Gospels to modern thinkers. The goal of this retreat is to embrace the Holy Father’s call for an “ecological conversion” necessary for all future generations to enjoy the fruits of the Earth. This is a silent retreat. Register at https://bit.ly/4ecA8um.
21. Save the date and register now for Reformation Day at Emory 2024, Thursday, Oct. 31. Find information at Register Here.