This Week In Common

Members of both seminaries are invited to attend an informal conversation with Vincent Harding on Wednesday, February 25th at 2 p.m. in the RBC Conference Room. Dr. Harding is well known for his activism and dedication to peace and justice.

This Friday, November 20th, Common Grounds Coffeehouse will welcome Nate Sebens! Nate is a graduate of Guilford College in North Carolina, and studied last year at Earlham School of Religion. He sang the lead role in Richmond Civic Theater's Beauty and the Beast, and was Curly in Oklahoma!. He is currently choir director at West Richmond Friends Meeting.

Please join us as students writers from both Bethany and ESR bring us a program of shared writing.

Take me back to the 60's - this Friday from 7:00 to 10:00, Common Grounds Coffeehouse welcomes back Gene Webb and Margie Stoller, playing light jazz, and every pop and folk song you ever heard from the 60's! West Richmond Friends Meeting, 609 West Main Street, corner of SW 7th and W. Main. Admission free, bring your friends!

All are invited to Joint Worship in the spirit of the Taize Community this Friday at 11:20am in Bethany's Nicarry Chapel. The theme of the worship is "Praise of God in the Multiplicity of Creation." Worship will include readings, as well as music from the Taize Community in France.

Allan Winkler is the author of the important new book, "To Everything There is a Season: Pete Seeger and the Power of Song." Allan is a folk musician and Distinguished Professor of History at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Join us to learn about Pete Seeger's peace witness through story and song.

Gerald Mast is Professor of Communication at Bluffton University. He writes and speaks widely in the area of peace studies. His newest book, co-authored with J. Denny Weaver, is "Defenseless Christianity: Anabaptism for a Nonviolent Church."

We will spend a few minutes thinking together about next spring's speaker line-up.

This semester is a time of newness for our seminary communities, with students and faculty joining us for the first time, and especially as Bethany Theological Seminary welcomes a new Academic Dean.

Tomorrow, Friday, October 30, at 11:20 during joint chapel, Dr. Steven Schweitzer will be anointed and installed as the Academic Dean of Bethany Theological Seminary.

This Friday Common Grounds Coffeehouse welcomes back Grandpa Joe (known to the rest of the world in his alter ego as Phil Baisley, ESR teacher and Quaker pastor.) October 30th from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m., West Richmond Friends Meeting, 609 W. Main Street, just 2 blocks north of ESR. Admission free, donations welcome -- live entertainment, good food, great company!

Aaron Nell will explore the needs of adolescents and what strategies help them creatively engage moral reasoning through play. Aaron has been working with youth, particularly those suspended or expelled, for nearly a decade, and has immense wisdom and hope to share on this subject.

Aaron Nell will explore the needs of adolescents and what strategies help them creatively engage moral reasoning through play. Aaron has been working with youth (particularly those suspended or expelled) for nearly a decade, and has immense wisdom and hope to share on this subject.

Last summer during a production of Annie, a man entered a Unitarian Universalist church and opened fire. Two people were killed, and several others injured. Reverend Chris Buice, ESR alum, will share about the church's healing process.

All are welcome at Peace Forum on Thursdays from noon-1:10pm in the ESR Dining Room. Delicious, nutritious lunch is always provided.

"If you believe and I believe
and we together pray,
the Holy Spirit must come down
and set God's people free."
(from an Iona Community song)

You are invited to experience Testimonies of Transformation--four poetic/dramatic readings from the gospels of people whose lives have been deeply touched and changed by Jesus.

Joint Worship for Friday October 16, will contain songs, readings and prayers from the Iona Community, a dispersed Christian ecumenical community working for peace and social justice, rebuilding of community and the renewal of worship. (Visit http://iona.org.uk/ for more info on the community.)

We will gather in Bethany's Nicarry Chapel at 11:20 am to sing and pray for the coming of the Spirit to set all God's people free.

Are you ready to celebrate this season's harvest? The next 100 mile radius potluck will be at a local farm, where we can properly welcome fall! Meet new people, see friends and eat delicious food!

Common Grounds Coffeehouse welcomes back Brian Dannaker, one of the area's best and most popular guitarists, this Friday, October 16th from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. Brian was the winner of the 2008 "Battle of the Bands" competition. His solo guitar licks will make you wonder how he does them!