All About Matthew

This past Sunday (September 13) we began our series on the Gospel of Matthew by laying some of the groundwork and goals for the series. In case you missed it, you can hear it on the podcast here.

MATTHEW MANUSCRIPT BINDERS

If you would like binder of the Matthew manuscript for this series, please email presence.london@gmail.com with the number of binders requested. (Email us by Wednesday at the latest!) The cost is $10/binder. Alternatively, you can download the manuscript and print it off yourself if you would like.

Having a copy of the manuscript is not required for Sunday mornings, but it is pretty much essential for the Thursday night group...

PRESENCE THURSDAYS

This Thursday (September 17) is the launch of "Presence Thursdays", hosted by Kate and Fiona. Note from Kate...

Fiona and I are really excited to have you (and any of your friends) over for soup this Thursday. We will start at 6pm and will eat and will socialize. Next week we will start discussing and studying Matthew... As we are just getting this up and going it would be great if you know that you are definitely coming if you can respond. That way we'll have a rough calculation as to whether to prepare soup for 4 people or for 40 :) That said - if you or someone you know is free on Thursday and would like to come last minute please just come along. We'll make sure there is a bit more food than RSVP's.

RSVP: If you are planning on going this Thursday, please call 519-281-0206 or email kate.pettigrew@hotmail.com - thanks!

NEW WEBSITE COMING...

We're in the process of completely overhauling the website; it should be up and running later this week. Stay tuned for details.

This Week at Presence

There's some new, exciting things happening with the Presence community these days.

Sunday (September 13) we're starting a brand new series on the Gospel of Matthew. For those who remember our series on Colossians last year, this series will be similar, but with a few new tweaks. This Sunday morning we'll be laying the road map for this new exploration, and hopefully you'll come away as equally intrigued and inspired by what we'll learn in the upcoming months! Also this Sunday: our very own Jan Evans will be sharing some thoughts and perspectives from her recent work in Uganda.

On Thursday (September 17) Kate and Fiona will be launching "Presence Thursday" at their apartment. This is a weekly gathering to share a meal together and to really dig in to the material presented from the previous Sunday. If you are looking to connect with some more people, build on your understanding of the Bible, and enjoy some yummy soup, this is a great point to jump in. To find out more details on the Thursday gathering (location, time, etc), please email Fiona (fiona_is_here@hotmail.com) or Kate (kate.pettigrew@hotmail.com).

Sunday, September 6

This coming Sunday is an 'extended discussion time' following up on our series over the last few weeks on the Holy Spirit. If there is an area of clarification you would like to pursue, or a specific question arising from the last few weeks, please send me (James) an email by Thursday and I'll do my best to address it on Sunday. The discussion the last few weeks has been great--thanks to everyone for your involvement and eagerness to both share and learn. This topic, the Holy Spirit, is obviously a huge exploration to take on in only six weeks, so I hope that this coming Sunday will be a great chance to focus in on any outstanding questions or areas of interest we might have. It's such a joy to be part of such a unique, diverse and energetic group. Have a great week, everyone.

August at Presence

Greetings,

I hope everyone is enjoying the summer weather now that it has finally arrived! (Remember: we waited patiently all winter for this!)

Here is a brief overview of the next few weeks at Presence, we are currently half-way through a series called "Breathality" in which we are studying the history and mystery of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday, August 16
Breathality IV: Fire - we're looking at the story of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2.

Sunday, August 23
Breathality V: Holy - we're looking at the history and doctrine of the Trinity as understood and developed over the centuries.

Sunday, August 30
Breathality VI: Myst - wrap up to the Breathality series.

I hope you can join us on Sundays for the rest of this August. For those far afield... vacationers, students gone home for the summer, people trekking around the globe, people working at camp, etc ... we miss you! (And we're looking forward to all reconvening again in September!)

Breathality III: Gift (August 9/09)

Greetings Everyone,

I hope your post-longweekend week is going well so far. Just wanted to give a brief overview for Sunday.

Where we've been so far: we've looked at the origin the word we use for "Spirit" in the ancient's understanding of the wind and the breath of God (listen here - this is pivotal for this series). Last week we looked at the story of Jesus' baptism and the descending God's Spirit in "dove"-like form (listen here).

This coming Sunday, building on where we've come so far, we'll explore what the Apostle Paul writes about the Spirit. As we've discussed before, the letters of Paul form the very earliest writings of Christianity--so our objective this week is to encounter this mysterious spirit in a second-century frame of reference as best as we can. Some people think of Paul as the first classic, Jesus mystic--they may very well have a point! Hope to see you on Sunday for another great discussion.

Peace,
James

Sistine Chapel on Talbot Street

Be sure to leave a few extra minutes of free time on Sunday (August 2) afternoon and head over to the intersection of Talbot and King after Presence to checkout the chalk rendition of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel replicated on the pavement. Our good friend and artist Axl is involved in this project as well! This is probably the next best thing to actually going all the way to Vatican City!

Breathality II: Dove (August 2)

Last week we began our series on the Holy Spirit. In case you missed it, you can listen to the podcast here -- it provides some very foundational material for the this series. We will be continuing this week by looking at the story of Jesus' anointing by John the Baptist as recorded in the Gospels. Looking forward to seeing you on Sunday at 11am... and if you can't make it, here's hoping you have a great holiday weekend all the same!