Sunday Adult Formation | St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral

2021 Sunday Adult Formation: A Year With the Book of Common Prayer

Each month will bring installments for A Year with The Book of Common Prayer. We will be exploring in 2021 the big questions of faith and life and God through the lense of the Book of Common Prayer.

We will learn more about the Book of Common Prayer over the course of the year and use it to explore topics central to our faith and life together as community.

Join our Adult Forums in person or by Zoom at 10:30 am on Sunday mornings.

April 11 - The St. Paul’s Verger team will present the Seasons of the Church Year

April 18 -The Book of Common Prayer includes many prayers for our major saints and our supplemental text, Holy Men Holy Women provide prayers for our lesser known saints. We begin this sub-series on how we can learn about spiritual practices from our saints, beginning with Canon Susan Joplin and Jim McPhee on St. Hilda of Whitby and St. Benedict of Nursia giving us examples of different forms of monasticism: an early influence in the Book of Common Prayer.

April 25 - Collects for the Saints in the Book of Common Prayer continues with St. Francis and others. On this Sunday, learn why St. Francis revered the ministry of a Deacon but refused to become a Priest.

May 2 - Deacon Gerald Butcher will lead us through the practices of Ordination of a Deacon and how being a Deacon has changed his life.

May 9 - Although the Catechism of the Book of Common Prayer outlines the Ministry of the Church having both Lay and Ordained Leaders, it is the Laity who come first.

May 16 - Continuing with our discussion of Leadership in the Church & the section on Ministry in the Catechism: Some leaders are ordained; some not: St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross and St. Ignatius are saints from whom we can glean many good practices.

Past forums are available for viewing on YouTube (see link below):

February 7 – Part 1: Jim McPhee will guide us as we look at our period of church history beginning with the times of Jesus’ birth through 1549. How did the culture and the secular world influence the development of Christianity that led to our Book of Common Prayer?
Watch here on YouTube

February 14 – Part 2: Jim McPhee will pick up from the time of the birth of our Book of Common Prayer – 1549 – and take us through to the present day. How has the thinking and culture through the centuries informed the development of Christianity?
Watch here on YouTube

February 21 – Part 3: Gary Derrick will share his knowledge as he leads us through the Enlightenment and how that period of time has shaped the ongoing evaluation of our Book of Common Prayer. Materials
Watch here on YouTube

Presentation - BCP - St. Pauls' 2-21-21

February 28 – Part 4: Come and join Miles Tolbert as we focus on the Renaissance and how that period of our history shaped the Book of Common Prayer into existence.
Watch here on YouTube

March 7
As Episcopalians we are accustomed to praying our General Confession on Sunday mornings. In the General Confession we corporately remember our sins and ask for forgiveness. Our Book of Common Prayer also provides for Confession of a more intentional and specific nature. Generally, these private Confessions are arranged by appointment with one of our Parish Priests. On March 7, join Canon Susan as we delve into a study of all our confessions and learn about how each is used appropriately.
Watch here on YouTube

March 14
We are fortunate within our congregation to have many parishioners with a multitude of gifts and talents. The Rev Janie Kirt Morris, an Episcopal priest and former History teacher will provide us with an orientation of the St. John’s Bible. She will also talk about the role of Holy Scripture in the Book of Common Prayer.
Watch here on YouTube

March 21

Our Book of Common Prayer is steeped in Holy Scripture throughout. Our Collects, our Baptismal and Ordination Rites, our Daily Offices and Lectionary continually bring us face to face with our treasure chest of Holy Scripture. The Rev. Janie Kirt Morris will continue her teaching on the interfacing of Scripture and Book of Common Prayer on this Sunday.
Watch here on YouTube

March 28
Dean Churchwell walks us through Holy Week liturgies, exploring the language, the history, and the theology we express when we worship in Holy Week.
Watch here on YouTube

Tags: Adult Formation