Transgender Ally Workshop

Bryn Mawr Church is hosting a Transgender Ally Workshop event on Sunday, April 29 from 3:00-4:30 pm.  Back by popular demand, the featured presenter will be Austen Hartke, the creator of the YouTube series “Transgender and Christian,” and the author of “Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians,” now available from Westminster John Knox Press. Along with sharing from his own experience as a transgender person and a person of faith, Austen will also address several key questions: What are some common terms and vocabulary?What is the transgender community? How can transgender allies build authentically welcoming communities and families? How can individuals and organizations create safe spaces and work for justice? What practical steps can we take to work towards full inclusion?

The event is free and open to the public; the church welcomes those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community as well as those who are still in the early stages of learning about marginalized gender identities and sexualities.

Austen has spoken at conferences all over the country and with organizations including the Reformation Project, Q Christian Fellowship (previously Gay Christian Network), The Wild Goose Festival, Why Christian?, Lutheran Outdoor Ministries, and the Philadelphia Transgender Health Conference. Currently Austen lives in St. Paul, MN where he spends his downtime baking, reading about theology, and exploring Minnesota State Parks with his dog, Mowgli. You can purchase his book “Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians” at your local bookstore, or at http://austenhartke.com/book.

Bryn Mawr Church is located at 420 S. Cedar Lake Rd. in downtown Bryn Mawr and is accessible; find more details online at brynmawrchurch.org andaustenhartke.com.

Holy Week

March 25       10:30 a.m.    Palm Sunday Worship and Palm Parade

March 29       7:30 p.m.    Maundy Thursday Service of Tenebrae,

Communion and Music. Offering benefits MN FoodShare

April 1         10:30 a.m.   Easter Sunday Worship

followed by a Candy Egg Hunt for Children

The BMPC annual meeting will be held Sunday, January 21, 2108 following worship.   We will have a potluck lunch after the meeting. Please plan to bring a dish to share and join us.

Sunday, December 3  –  Hanging of the Greens Service  10:30 a.m.

Sunday, December 10  –  Communion Sunday

St Anne’s Christmas Gifts due    

Voices for Peace Winter Concert, 4:00 p.m.

Saturday, December 16  –  Pageant  Rehearsal

Sunday, December 17  –  Christmas Pageant     10:30 a.m.                                           

Wednesday, December 20  –  Santa Night at St Anne’s  6:00 p.m.

Sunday, December 24   –  Worship, 10:30 a.m.

Christmas Eve Service  7:30 p.m.

Monday, December 25  –   Christmas Day

                         St. Anne’s Place / Haven Housing Holidays

This year there are two opportunities to include St. Anne’s Place families in your holiday giving.  Attached is information about both ways to give to families served through St Anne’s Place (now renamed Haven Housing).   I have attached information about both ways to give in this email.  They will be posted on the hall bulletin board at church starting tomorrow,  Sunday November 19.  Please note that we need you to bring your gifts to the church by Sunday December 10!

                                        Family Sponsorship

This year, we are sponsoring three families who are now in their own housing but still need support as they work towards their life goals.   Please sign up for an individual on the bulletin board at church so that we can track who has sponsors over the next weeks.  

                                  Holiday Store contributions

As many of you know,  St. Anne’s sets up a “Holiday Store”  on the third floor of the shelter where donated gifts are made available to the residents to shop for their family members.  If you volunteer for Santa Night this year on Wednesday, December 20, you can help the kids shop for their Moms from the store!  Stay tuned for an update from Heather.  Please bring unwrapped gifts listed on the attached wish list for the holiday store by Sunday December 10! (We will collect gifts and make one delivery, so please ignore the drop off dates listed in the flyer.)

Thank you in advance for your generosity this holiday season, and have fun shopping!.

Adult Ed at Bryn Mawr Presbyterian is reading:

• In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters With Addiction, by Gabor Mate (10/22-29, Nov. 5-19). This book explains that addiction is more than a matter of individual choice or a medical disease. Almost anything can become addictive, from seemingly healthy activities such as eating or exercising, to abusing drugs intended for healing. Addictions, for the most part, develop in a compulsive attempt to ease one’s pain or distress in the world. Instead of understanding and acceptance, we give addicts punishment and moral disapproval. The author locates the source of addictions in the trauma of an emotionally empty childhood, making it a relational rather than a medical problem. This potential cause leads to human connection rather than traditional treatment as the cure.

our next title:

• Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living, by Krista Tippett (12/3-17, Jan. 7-21). When President Obama gave Krista Tippett the coveted National Humanities Medal, he praised her for “thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of human existence.” Grounded in Tippett’s life of conversation, the book offers more than a chronicle of her award-winning public radio program, On Being. The author not only gives us the voices of the remarkable people with whom she’s conversed on-air. She speaks her own voice as well, a voice informed by her lifelong search for truth and meaning.

Join us at 9:30a.m. in the More Light Room every Sunday.  All are welcome.