Updates, Events, and Publications
ASBURY ALUMNI NAMED THIRD DEAN AT HOLY TRINITY CATHEDRAL ANGLICAN CHURCH
Larry Barnhill, M.Div. ’18, is relocating to the Berlin, MD area where he will become the third dean at Holy Trinity Cathedral Anglican Church. As the dean of the Cathedral, he will be the chief operating officer of the church and will be assisting the bishop in the pastoral care and ministry to the church and to the community.
On Tuesday, October 19, 2021, Asbury Theological Seminary will welcome Dr. Matthew Sigler as the guest speaker for the biennial Freitas Lecture Series. Dr. Sigler graduated from Asbury in 2007 and holds a PhD in liturgical studies from Boston University, where his work focused on Methodist identity and liturgical praxis. He currently serves as the Associate Professor of Worship and Historical Theology at Seattle Pacific University (SPU) in Seattle, Washington. At SPU, Dr. Sigler teaches Wesleyan theology and history, liturgical studies, and University Foundations courses in Christian doctrine and Christian formation.
Prior to becoming a professor, Dr. Sigler served for 12 years as a music minister in the church, and has written on contemporary worship as well as lyrical theology. He is the author of Methodist Worship: Mediating the Wesleyan Liturgical Heritage published in 2019 by Routledge as well as many chapters and articles, including material featured on Seedbed. Dr. Sigler is an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church and is particularly interested in how the faith practices of communities of the past can serve as resources for renewal in the church today.
In the summer of 2020, Dr. Sigler launched the Leitourgia Project, a 7-month-long, intergenerational, mentorship opportunity for churches seeking new ways to incorporate youth into the worship life of their congregations. The project helps high schoolers develop their own talents in liturgical leadership through hands-on training from seasoned leaders and professors.
This project speaks to Dr. Sigler’s heart for training future leaders of the church through both substantive study and praxis.
Dr. Sigler will speak in the Estes Chapel service at 11:00 AM on October 19 and will provide a following lecture.
The George and Elizabeth Freitas Lectureship was established in 1954 by Mrs. Freitas of Modesto, California. This lectureship honors the Freitas’s concern for training and educating ministers, and serves as a memorial to them.
PREPARING FOR ADVENT 2021
As we look ahead to Advent 2021, the Preaching and Worship Department of Asbury Theological Seminary is pleased to recommend some resources that you may find helpful for personal reflection and corporate worship planning.
This first portion of this list offers general resources that will help set the season of Advent within the wider context of the Christian calendar.
- Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross
- The New Handbook for the Christian Year by Hoyt L. Hickman, Don E. Saliers, Laurence Hull Stookey, and James F. White
- Ancient-Future Time by Robert Webber
- “Practicing the Christian Year” by Teddy Ray https://www.seedbed.com/practicing-the-christian-year/
The following resources focus specifically on Advent.
- “What is Advent” by Michael Pasquarello III https://www.seedbed.com/what-is-advent/
- Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge
- Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, assorted resources, https://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource-library/listing.html?search=advent&type=tag
- Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship: Year C, Volume 1, Advent through Epiphany, editors Joel B. Green, Thomas G. Long, Luke A. Powery, and Cynthia L. Rigby
- The Revised Common Lectionary https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts.php?id=95 (with artwork, photography and slides)
- Visio Divina: Lent and Advent Projects, Biola University Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts, https://ccca.biola.edu/resources/collection/devotions/
UPDATE: BETHANY MISSION SOCIETY’S SEPTEMBER 2021 REPORT
Greetings from Andhra Pradesh, India. As life here in India begins to return to normal, we are confronted with new challenges to be the hands and feet of Christ in our community.
This month we added 5 new children to Bethany Home for Children. Due to an increase in deaths during the pandemic in the rural areas that we minister in, we felt compelled to care for some of the children most affected by this tragedy. This we did as a step of faith that God will provide for these new additions to our home in spite of the setbacks to the ministry this past year.
Our focus for 2021 has been to construct new facilities for the children of Bethany that we care for. With the new additions, this need only becomes greater. We ask for your prayers and support in helping us accomplish this vision. We are excited to announce that we’ve raised nearly 50% of funds for the first phase.
These new facilities will help us more adequately care for the kids and to separate out the boys and girls, for safety reasons and to conform with government regulations. We have the land, but we need to begin construction of these new facilities to adequately provide for them. This expansion will also enable us to accommodate up to 100 children.
The total needed for the project is $45,000; however, $20,000 will help us rough in the structure. All donations go directly for construction materials, as we are blessed with a Bethany church family which volunteers their time, talents, and labor, enabling us to maximize God’s provision.
Thank you, friends, for your continued prayers and support for the work of the Kingdom in India.
Paul
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