Our guest speaker this week is Judy Hoffhein. She's an active member in the Mennonite Church of Houston and on the Board of Ten Thousand Villages, a non-profit sponsored by her church. Additionally, she's working on The Decade for Non-Violence and is also on the Board of The Houston Peace & Justice Center. Judy is a member of WILPF (Women's International League for Peace & Freedom) and was the Program Director of the annual Peace Camp for Children held in Houston for the ninth year this summer.
She will be speaking to us about "The Mennonite Church & Its Work in the
World."
Many thanks to Debbie Antoon for coordinating this opportunity for us!
Be Well,
Susanna Hooper
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Dear Folks-
This Sunday Dr. Bill Kerley arranged for us to hear from one of the
associate pastors at St. Paul's UMC. Rev. Emily Chapman will speaking
about the prophet Jonah and "the offensive mercy of God". Emily
currently works with Outreach Ministries and Young Adults at St. Paul's.
Be Well,
Susanna
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Dear Folks -
This week class member, Tom Oldham brought Dr. Harvey Aronson to
class. Dr. Aronson has a Ph.D. in Buddhist Studies from the University
of Wisconsin (1975). He has taught at both the University of Virginia
and Stanford. He completed his clinical education at Boston
University's School of Social Work (1984). Dr. Aronson is author of
Buddhist Practice on Western Ground (2004) with the research being
supported by a Ford Foundation grant. He is also the founding
Co-Director of Dawn Mountain - Tibetan Temple, Community Center, and
Research Institute (since 1996) right here in Houston.
Here's a link to the website: http://www.dawnmountain.org
This week he discussed meditation, the present moment, in
the context of our spiritual and relational life. He draws
from the Judeo-Christian tradition of dialogue, as embodied by Martin
Buber, some of the recent work by psychoanalyst Daniel Stern, and his
own background as a psychotherapist and teacher of Buddhist meditation.
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Dear Folks -
Here is a summary of the talk I gave in Ordinary Life this week.
I have given myself the task of attempting to describe what it means "to be happy" by looking at the Beatitudes given by Jesus. This talk focuses on this beatitude: Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.
Learning to practice loving-kindness and compassion is what leads us to grow more into the persons we are intended to be. Taking as a starting point a new book I am reading, "Younger Next Year," I suggest that exercise, nutrition and commitment(s) can cause us to grow spiritually. That is to say, we must engage in spiritual practices, pay attention to what we feed on, and increase the circle of our caring and concern.
Much love,
Bill Kerley
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