Our adult after-church theology discussions resume late in January, as we turn to Bill Moyers' recent Faith and Reason series on PBS as a discussion starter. Each of Moyers' hour-long programs features two guests, so we'll watch one of the interviews and then dig into the issues it raises. The Singer room sessions will begin shortly after our Sunday service concludes, and we will wrap up by noon.

Jeannette Winterson was raised by Pentecostal parents and by age 12 was preaching sermons on street corners. Four years later, she was a church outcast—having fallen in love with another teenage girl and left home. Winterson, now an acclaimed novelist (of Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, among many more), is Bill Moyer's guest on the next Faith and Reason DVD we review and discuss in our monthly series. Join us after church in the Singer room on March 9. 

Winterson claims she's not religious, but she is spiritual—"It's because I am convinced of the invisible world beyond the material that I write the way I do." Among the topics up for discussion:  an invisible world and what that might mean, myths and how they matter, and what Winterson calls the false choices that limited thinking offers us.  It promises to be a very lively discussion, and if you wish you can check out materials online beforehand at http://www.pbs.org/moyers/faithandreason         

Faith and Reason, Sunday, April 6, after worship in the Singer room.  Are we ruled by determinism and fate, or can we reimagine ourselves as individuals and nations to avoid the follies of our forefathers? Award-winning actor, rapper and playwright Will Power examines 21st century problems through the lens of an ancient Greek tragedy, and finds cause for hope, in our next after-service discussion of Bill Moyers' "Faith and Reason" series April 6. With our nations and faiths in conflict, and all sides claiming to have God on their side—as did Oedipus' sons, fulfilling the curse of their father in Aeschylus' "Seven Against Thebes"—Power challenges us to look beyond past failures to find new, more constructive paths. "I think it's a metaphor for the bigger problem, what's going on," he says. "There's a lack of faith. We have a lack of faith in our brothers, you know, in our sisters, whether that means one country to another... And I think that lack of faith is really destroying us. That doesn't mean blind hope. That doesn't mean, 'I'll let you do anything you want to me.' But it's like we don't have faith in each other."  After viewing the DVD, the discussion will be led by Maria Marsala; review the materials beforehand at www.pbs.org/moyers/faithandreason. The discussion continues in May with another entry the "Faith and Reason" series; watch the church bulletin for details.

—Reed Price