2022 Koinonia Lecture
The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Ayres
Becoming Inhabitants: Christian Life and the Art of Living Well
The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Ayres, Associate Professor at Candler School of Theology at Emory University and author of Inhabitance: Ecological Religious Education, will be at St. Paul's on Saturday, March 19 and Sunday, March 20 to explore the topic of Becoming Inhabitants: Christian Life and the Art of Living Well, helping us re-envision the ways in which we form our faith as adults and children by seeing ourselves in an ecological context.
Living out an environmentally connected spirituality requires more than an occasional excursion to wilderness or other limited experiences – it requires the long, invigorating work of building community and the discipline of cultivating wonder.
See below for a detailed list of the weekend’s events.
schedule of events
Public Lecture (no preregistration required)
Saturday, March 19, 10 a.m. - noon
Living Well: Inhabitance as Christian Vocation
What if Christians re-imagined the life of faith as a life of inhabitance in God’s world? An inhabitant desires and cultivates the wisdom necessary to live in God’s world well. This work requires our theological, ecological, and educational imagination. A faith community that nurtures inhabitance as a way of life connects in a deep way to the creating, redeeming, and reviving power of God. Its members perpetually open themselves to the hard and wondrous work of loving and seeking the healing of a beautiful and hurting world.
Free and open to all; no preregistration required.
View a video preview of Ayres describing the lecture .
Lunch & Workshop (preregistration required – register here)
Saturday, March 19, noon - 2 p.m.
Living Well: Places That Shape Us
Inhabitance begins with paying attention to the particular places in which we live and that, in turn, shape us. In this workshop, participants will be invited to reflect upon places that are significant to them, and to explore together how the stories that we carry about those places can connect us as a community. Participants are invited to bring a few photographs of places that have meant something to them.
Preregistration required. $15 fee to cover the cost of lunch.
Register here.
Sermon
Sunday, March 20, at the 10 a.m. service
Repent and… Feast?
Lectionary references: Isaiah 55:1-9 / 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 / Luke 13:1-9 / Psalm 63:1-8
Common Hour Presentation
Sunday, March 20, following the 10 a.m. service
Friends in Wonder
An intergenerational gathering to include an experiential learning activity and discussion of Rachel Carson’s Help Your Child to Wonder.