Adult Formation Forums
Streams of Living Water at Bethany - Part 3
May 8, 2022 • Jeff Van Duzer, Margie Van Duzer
Drawing heavily on Richard Foster’s “Streams of Living Water,” this class will explore six “streams” of Christian traditions: the charismatic, contemplative, evangelical, social justice, incarnational and holiness traditions. For each such “stream,” the class will explore its roots and its related strengths and dangers. And in each case, we will look at examples of ways that the specific tradition has been expressed at Bethany and has helped shape Bethany’s history and identity.
Streams of Living Water at Bethany - Part 2
May 1, 2022 • Margie Van Duzer, Jeff Van Duzer
Drawing heavily on Richard Foster’s “Streams of Living Water,” this class will explore six “streams” of Christian traditions: the charismatic, contemplative, evangelical, social justice, incarnational and holiness traditions. For each such “stream,” the class will explore its roots and its related strengths and dangers. And in each case, we will look at examples of ways that the specific tradition has been expressed at Bethany and has helped shape Bethany’s history and identity.
Streams of Living Water at Bethany - Part 1
April 24, 2022 • Jeff Van Duzer, Margie Van Duzer
Drawing heavily on Richard Foster’s “Streams of Living Water,” this class will explore six “streams” of Christian traditions: the charismatic, contemplative, evangelical, social justice, incarnational and holiness traditions. For each such “stream,” the class will explore its roots and its related strengths and dangers. And in each case, we will look at examples of ways that the specific tradition has been expressed at Bethany and has helped shape Bethany’s history and identity. We apologize that the first few minutes of this class were cut off - we lost audio during the introduction.
Lessons from the Dying: Reflections from a Hospice Chaplain
April 3, 2022 • Kevin Henne
Kevin Henne was the presenter for our April gathering on "Lessons from the Dying: Reflections from a Hospice Chaplain." We heard from Kevin about lessons he's learned from the dying on life, coping, and God’s amazing faithfulness to our wellbeing in all circumstances. We also touched on the clinical role of chaplain in a hospice team, as well as some brief pastoral theology and psychology to set up a framework for understanding the lessons we can learn from the terminally ill. Mostly, however, we heard and reflected on lessons and stories about hope, transcendence, love & truth (genuineness and immediacy), inner and outer landscapes, control, and grace-filled responses. Kevin and his wife Deb live in South Seattle and have been blessed to be Bethany members since 1995. They are on a parenting odyssey with two high school-aged boys, William and Andrew. For the past 22 years, Kevin has served in ministry as Hospice Chaplain with Franciscan Hospice in King County.
Pastor's Forum: Bethany and Racial Justice Update
March 20, 2022 • Michelle McFarland, Gena Morgan, Marisa Gronholz
In this special forum, we heard a report about our Historical Audit on Bethany and Systemic Racism; Marisa Gronholz, our Director of Formation and Outreach, shared about her work with the Roadmap to Reconciliation Steering Committee, and we learned about our hopes for formulating the next steps in our racial justice and reconciliation journey at Bethany. You will find links below to the documents that were referenced during our time together.
Into the Belly of the Whale
September 12, 2021 • Peter Moe
In this class, participants will look at a handful of ways the story of Jonah and the Whale has been retold over the years (ranging from a Springsteen song to a Batman comic, as well as some accounts from 18th and 19th-century whalers swallowed by whales) then look at the story itself, paying particular attention to the chiasm within chapter one. Although most people remember Jonah for the whale, the chiasm in the story suggests the writer wants to call our attention to something else: Jonah’s prophetic confession: “I am a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord God of Heaven who made the sea and the dry land.” **Peter Wayne Moe is the author of Touching This Leviathan, a book that asks how we might come to know the unknowable––in this case, whales. He teaches writing at Seattle Pacific University, and he’s been a member of Bethany since 2016.
Theology, Science and Hopeful, Practical Responses to Address Global Warming
August 1, 2021 • Eric Long, Janette Plunkett, Emma Markwardt
Humans, and the Church in particular, have been uniquely called to care for the health and welfare of all creation, especially the most vulnerable. How does theology and science help us understand that call in the face of Global Warming? What are hopeful things the church is doing, particularly in our own denomination? What is Seattle doing? What’s the most helpful, impactful thing everyone can do? Emma Markwardt will also join us to give us input from a teenager's perspective. Eric has a PhD in Ecology and is a professor of Biology at Seattle Pacific University, where he has taught ecology, evolution, forest ecology, and conservation biology for 15 years. His wife (Carina), son (Torin – 5), and daughter (Bria – 3) have been worshipping at Bethany for approximately 3 years. Janette has been a Bethany member for 30+ years, a Green Team leader and advocate who feels a calling to address Global Warming. She is the Sustainability Lead at Expeditors, a Seattle based Fortune 500 company. Emma Markwardt is a junior at Shorecrest High School and an active member of Bethany and Lake Forest Park Presbyterian Youth Groups. She is passionate about climate justice and finding ways to combat global warming through youth empowerment, equitable and sustainable political action, and personal connection. She is a member of Sunrise, a national youth-led movement focused on promoting the Green New Deal and creating eco-conscious jobs for all.
What Should We Do?
May 2, 2021 • Bob Drovdahl • 1 Corinthians 11
This session will look at advice Paul gives the Corinthians on two “What should we do?” questions in I Corinthians 11. We will look at the arguments Paul provides to support his advice. We will also examine our own perspectives on the “shoulds” we face in life. **Bob and his wife, Joy, have been attending Bethany since 2012, joining their daughter, Kami, and grandchildren, Emma and Stan, in the balcony at the 9:00am service (pre-Covid!). Bob teaches at Seattle Pacific and has a number of colleagues and former students in the congregation.
Confronting Stereotypes and Social Hierarchies: George MacDonald’s Baptized Imagination
February 7, 2021 • Kerry Dearborn
George MacDonald, Victorian writer who inspired C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolken, challenged gender and racial stereotypes and social hierarchies of his own day. His heroes were women, people with dark skin, those who are poor, houseless, disabled, and uneducated. Because of his love of Jesus, he wrote stories to help us to imagine what it’s like for the last to be first, and the least to be the greatest of all. Our time together will focus primarily on one of his short stories to discuss the way these themes are evident and can help transform our own imaginations. Hopefully participants can come having read “Day Boy and Night Girl,” one of his most enchanting stories, available at this website with reflection questions by Kerry Dearborn appended at the end of the story: https://www.bethanypc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Photogen-and-Nycteris-Day-Boy-and-Night-Girl.pdf?mc_cid=69892e6128&mc_eid=9065ff0d83 Kerry Dearborn is married to Tim Dearborn, and they are deeply grateful for their 3 daughters and their delightful families. Kerry earned her PhD at the University of Aberdeen, focused on theology and Imagination, particularly via George MacDonald’s work. She taught theology at SPU for over 20 years, and has been a member of BPC for over 15 years.
The Vaccines for Covid-19 - Where We Are Now & What We Might Expect
December 13, 2020
This Bethany Forum features two of Bethany's own epidemiologists, Jay Wenger and Prince Bahati Ngongo. The session will include 20 minutes of brief presentations on (1) what is covid and how do vaccines work; (2) what is different about the new covid vaccines; (3) when might covid vaccines be available in the US; (4) what is the plan for vaccines globally; and (5) what does all that mean for the pandemic. We’ll follow that with a 20 minute Q and A session responding to questions that might have been sent in already, and things that come up during the session. Bahati Prince Ngongo is an advocate who works at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on a team focused on resource mobilization for Research and Development and equitable access to global health products. Jay Wenger is a board certified infectious disease physician who works at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in a team focused on eradicating polio globally.