Mortal Life Hurts

The Church of St. John the Divine

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Mortal Life Hurts

The Gospel Truth about Death in Children's Literature

February 21, 2024 • Dr. Kira Moolman Pettit

Little Women. Peter Pan. Charlotte’s Web. Harry Potter. What do all of these stories have in common? If you stop and think about it, they are all stories about mortal life – the lives and deaths of a family, the undying life of a boy who would not grow up, the life and death of a beloved spider, and the life and death (and spoiler: life again!) of a wizarding boy. None shy away from the pain and grief of loss, but rather tell the truth: mortal life hurts.

In this first of our Lenten lecture series, join Dr. Kira Moolman Pettit as we focus on the stories we tell our children, what they teach us about the gift of mortal life, and how death, grief, and mortality witness to the claims and comforts of Christianity.

Mortally Wounded

March 20, 2024 • Dr. Rachel Toombs

Sometimes style gets lost in translation. An example of this loss can be found in the narrative of Jacob’s wrestling on the banks of the Jabbok River in Gen 32:22–32. In this close reading, we will peer behind the English translation of a familiar story to explore its spare quality. We will find that, like Jacob, we are often reading in the “dark”—navigating the paradox of wounds that bless, within our limits as mortals who encounter an infinite God.

Mortality as a Divine Conjunction of Dust and Spirit

March 13, 2024 • The Rev. Dr. Annette Brownlee

Life Has Its Own Mortal Loveliness

March 6, 2024 • The Rev. Dr. Paul Wheatley

In Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel, Gilead, the aging Congregationalist minister John Ames grapples with his approaching death from heart disease through a series of letters written to his seven-year old son. As Ames revisits old homilies and the stories of the people to whom he delivered them, he provides poignant reflections on the nature of ministry among mortals, our human flaws, and the limits of one human life, no matter how well lived. In this talk, Rev. Wheatley compares Ames's reflections on ministry and the Bible with St. Paul's portrayal of the corruption of humanity and the hope of transformation in Christ through the Spirit.