St. John’s Book Club

ANNOUNCING THE FORMATION OF THE ST JOHN'S BOOK CLUB!!!

The St John's Book Club

The St John's Book Club is coming together after a long summer vacation. The club meets on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month from 4:00-5:30 PM in the library. Our first meeting will take place on October 8th.

For the fall, these books have been chosen for the group to read:

We begin with Slow Medicine by Victoria Sweet.

Over the years that Victoria Sweet has been a physician, "healthcare" has replaced medicine, "providers" look at their laptops more than at their patients, and costs keep soaring, all in the ruthless pursuit of efficiency. Yet the remedy that economists and policy makers continue to miss is also miraculously simple. Good medicine takes more than amazing technology; it takes time - time to respond to bodies as well as data, time to arrive at the right diagnosis and the right treatment.

Sweet knows this because she has learned and lived it over the course of her remarkable career. Here she relates unforgettable stories of the teachers, doctors, nurses, and patients through whom she discovered the practice of Slow Medicine, in which she has been both pioneer and inspiration. Medicine, she helps us to see, is a craft and an art as well as a science. It is relational, personal, even spiritual. To do it well requires a hard-won wisdom that no algorithm can replace-that brings together "fast" and "slow" in a truly effective, efficient, sustainable, and humane way of healing.

Following this we will read  The Widening of God's Mercy, Sexuality with the Biblical Story  by Christopher Hays and Richard Hays

 Discussions of the Bible and human sexuality often focus on a scattered handful of specific passages. But arguments about this same set of verses have reached an impasse, two leading biblical scholars believe; these debates are missing the forest for the trees. 

In this learned and beautifully written book, Richard and Christopher Hays explore a more expansive way of listening to the overarching story that scripture tells. They remind us of a dynamic and gracious God who is willing to change his mind, consistently broadening his grace to include more and more people. Those who were once outsiders find themselves surprisingly embraced within the people of God, while those who sought to enforce exclusive boundaries are challenged to rethink their understanding of God’s ways. 

The authors—a father and son—point out ongoing conversations within the Bible in which traditional rules, customs, and theologies are rethought. They argue that God has already gone on ahead of our debates and expanded his grace to people of different sexualities. If the Bible shows us a God who changes his mind, they say, perhaps today’s Christians should do the same. The book begins with the authors’ personal experiences of controversies over sexuality and closes with Richard Hays’s epilogue reflecting on his own change of heart and mind.

These books will be available through Copperfield's Bookstore or through your favorite bookseller.

Everyone is invited to participate in these lively conversations

The book club will meet on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month from 4:00-5:30.   Everyone is welcome to join the reading and lively conversation.

Bob Conover, Melanie Donahoe and Merritt Greenwood will facilitate this first conversation.