June 6  

What in God's name is going on?
Worship is changing, just like it always has.  What is going on?
For many, worship immediately conjures the image of pews (and perhaps an extended family), the sounds of an organ (and perhaps the drone of a preacher), the smell of incense (and perhaps lilac perfume), and, of course, that single one hour block on a Sunday morning (11-12, and don't go over). But worship is changing, just like it always has. We'll fly through the ages to help us begin the summer with a sense of where we've been, where we are, and some experiments that may tell us about where we're going. 

Trace Haythorn, Leader

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To view a PDF of the presentation from this class, click here.

June 13

Sing to the Lord a New Song
Puzzles, pleasures, and provocations of crafting/singing "new" worship songs
We might well adapt an old camp song for the 21^st century church: “Write new hymns, but keep the old. One is silver and the other, gold!” In this session, we will explore new ways to sing an old song—and explore, as well, why some people get so provoked when we do.

Mel Bringle, Leader

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June 20

"...That they might worship me"  Reflections on Worship in the Old Testament
Explore what selected Old Testament texts teach us about worship.

Exodus recounts how God liberated God's people from slavery so that they might worship God. Come and explore how the Exodus narrative and selected texts from the Old Testament describe worship, the intersection of worship, justice, and neighborliness, and what it means to be "a priestly people and a holy nation" (Exod 19:6).

Christine Yoder, Leader

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Experiencing God:  Worship that Engages all the Ages
Worship of God engages us, shapes us, and inspires us no matter our age.
“Mom, I’m bored.”
“Shhhh.”
“How much longer?”
“Just be patient. It’ll be over soon.”
Is that really the best we can do? Tell our children just to be patient and endure worship because it will be over soon? Should not the worship of God engage us, call to us, shape us and inspire us? What does worship that invites all ages look like? Together we will explore what it means to experience the worship and praise of God so that worship is not something to be endured but rather something to be anticipated.

Rodger Nishioka, Leader

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Click here to view slide presentation.

Theology Shapes Shape Shapes Theology
Exploring how church design shapes our worship.
Mike will discuss how a congregation, church leaders, and the Holy Spirit inform an Architect in finding and establishing a physical expression of a particular church. He will also illustrate what differentiates the designs of an Evangelical Megachurch, a Mainline Traditional church, and an Organic Church.

Mike Sizemore, Leader

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When Faith Takes Form
What happens in worship when our faith takes form in church architecture?
Marilyn will begin with a historical overview of “church” as “building” from the simple Early Christian basilica, through the souring expression of the Gothic, its classical reiteration in the Renaissance and ending with the Protestant “clarification” necessitated by the Reformation. Mark will share unique examples of contemporary worship spaces where liturgical integrity is expressed in some surprising ways when faith takes form.

Mark & Marilyn Borst, Leaders

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Audio coming soon

What the @&#* is that--Arts in Worship
How are the arts not only vital in worship but as worship?
Who created that amazing banner hanging in the sanctuary?
I think I enjoyed that movement piece in worship, but I wish I knew more.
Where’s all this emphasis on art coming from at Central?

Be not afraid: Class attendees will not be called upon to create any kind of art! This is simply a chance for us all to explore.

Edna Bacon, Celeste Anthony, Ellen Philips, Leigh Campbell-Taylor, Leaders

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Scripture, the Community and Howard Thurman's Grandmother
How is scripture and worship connected to Howard Thurman's grandmother and why does that matter?
What is scripture? The answer seems self-evident, but is it? And who is Howard Thurman's grandmother anyway? In this study, we'll take a look at scripture not just as a text but as something we do, something we create together particularly, but not exclusively, in the act of worship. And we will learn who Howard Thurman's grandmother was and why she matters to who we are today.

Margaret Aymer Oget, Leader

Come to the Water
Word, Water, Bread, Prayer, Song, Silence:  How does worship shape us for the work of justice?
From the 1950s-1980s, baptism was a sacrament that seemed, well, cozy and sweet in most mainline denominational liturgies. The Presbyterian order for baptism seemed primarily to offer a welcome into the family of faith. Beginning in the 1990s, we began to reclaim an ancient and more ‘radical,’ demanding claim: that baptism marks us for a life lived for Christ and against the power of evil. From this foundational sacrament, worship and justice are inseparably bound.

Kimberly Clayton, Leader

An old song in a New Key:  Creating and Creative Worship
Taking your place on the worship planning team of Central.

“I wish I could tell Dave and Gary a thing or two about music and worship!"

Come on! Bring your imagination to the worship planning table. In this session, we will listen to the biblical texts and explore church traditions for October 31, Reformation/All Saints Sunday, and as a class, we will build a worship service to God’s glory.

David VanderMeer and Gary Charles, Leaders

Reformed Worship / Re-formed Worship
Worship:  "Reformed and always being reformed according to the Word of God"
What does it mean to call worship “Reformed”? Is this about following a certain structure, observing a certain style, or honoring certain insights that come to us from our particular family of Protestant Christianity? How do we worship in a way that is both Reformed and “always being reformed according to the Word of God”?

Martha Moore-Keish, Leader

The Psalms as a Path to Praise
How the Psalms set us on a path to full human life.
Psalms are often recited and sung in worship. The book of Psalms call us to a life of Praise. To arrive at such a stance requires worshipful honesty, radical openness, and deep willingness to bring before God all of our lives. The Psalms invite us to join in praise with “everything that breathes.”

Kathleen O'Connor, Leader

Come to the Table
Why is our sacramental life central to worship and being church?
Traditionally, we Presbyterians have understood ourselves as people of the Book. But we are also people of the Table. How does communion shape us as disciples? What does it mean to be people who gather around the table of the Word and the table of the Meal? How does receiving bread at the Lord's table make us bread for a hungry world? Come and share in an exploration of why our sacramental life is central to being church in the 21st century.

Kimberly B. Long, Leader