Tuesday Evening Lenten Series
“Mouthpieces of God: the Weird and Weighty Lives of Prophets”
LPC Pastor Jim Butler will lead a four-part series looking at the very special (and sometimes very weird) ministries of the Hebrew prophets. The word prophet means “one who speaks for and interprets God’s will.” Learn more about the series here.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“Allies for Justice – Part II”
After her impactful November series on recognizing racial injustice in American culture, we welcome back Patricia Wellborn to lead a four-part Sunday morning series on how each of us can support and work for racial justice in our ordinary lives. The series begins at 11:20 a.m. on Sunday, March 5 and continues the following three Sundays. Patricia is a graduate of John Carroll University and the president of Lakewood Black Caucus.
** Link to homework assignments **
NOTE: Weeks 1 and 3 of the class are unavailable for viewing.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“Bible Basics for Non-Thumpers”
Do you really have to believe that every word and sentence in the entire Bible is the “word of God” in order to be a faithful Christian? LPC Pastor Jim Butler will explore these and other questions regarding scripture and its role and authority in a three-part series beginning Sunday, February 12 and continuing on February 19 and 26. Learn more about the series here.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“I Was a Stranger, and You Took Me In…”
This three-part series beginning on January 8, 2023 will take a look at the “stranger in our midst.” Learn more about the series here.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“A Back Stage Look at the Christmas Characters“
Most everyone knows something about the main characters in the Christmas story — Mary, Joseph, and of course, the baby Jesus. On Sundays, December 4 and 11 at 11:15 a.m. in Wright Chapel, LPC Pastor Jim Butler will help us explore the lives and thoughts of the other figures sprinkled across the two Christmas stories in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Learn more about the series here.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“Becoming an Ally for Justice“
Patricia Wellborn, president of the Lakewood Black Caucus, will lead a four-part Sunday Faith Formation series on November 6, 13, 20 and 27. The series will help broaden our understanding of the complex challenges of racism in our culture, and how we can become allies with people of color in the struggle for equity and justice. Learn more about the series here.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“Opening Our Hearts to Those in Need“
As the weather turns cooler and long summer days turn to dark autumn evenings, let us turn our hearts and minds to those who may feel that chill a little more than others. In October, the Faith Formation Ministry invites you to learn how we can support those in poverty within our community. Four local organizations will share stories of faith and service to those who are most in need. Learn more about the speakers here.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“When I Was Thirsty: A Matthew 25 Mission in Malawi“
On September 25 our speaker was Karen Byrne, the Commissioned Pastor (C.P.) of Concord Presbyterian Church in Centerville, Ohio, a part of the Upper Ohio Valley Presbytery. This past summer she spent several weeks in Malawi visiting prisoners, local church groups, and seeing the well that she helped to fund in Domasi Prison.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“Becoming a Faith Community that Cares for Neighbors“
As LPC adopts the Matthew 25 model for mission, Pastor Jim Butler leads a presentation and discussion about the possibilities for LPC to become more intentional about responding to the emotional and spiritual needs of our neighbors.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“What is a Matthew 25 Congregation?“
This past January our church Session approved a plan to become a “Matthew 25” church. What does this mean? What are the implications? These questions will be explored during a four-part faith formation series following worship on May 1, 8, 15 and 22. The series will be led by our Matthew 25 exploratory task force — Brian Case, Cindy Dugan, Cinda Gorman, Jeff Ritter and Tedd Roos. (Please note: Sessions 1 and 2 are not available for online viewing.)
Adult Faith Formation Class
“What Happened?”
Dr. Jim Butler presents some of the common theories about the missing body of Jesus of Nazareth.
Tuesday Evening Lenten Series
“God’s Unifying Grace”
Beginning Tuesday evening, March 8, LPC Pastor Jim Butler will lead a four-part series looking chiefly at the Christian doctrine of grace and its implications for racism and other issues that continue to divide the church. The series will also introduce the Belhar Confession to our LPC family. The 222nd (2016) General Assembly approved the adoption of the Belhar Confession, and it now joins eleven other historic Reformed confessional statements in the Presbyterian Book of Confessions.
The United Reformed Church of South Africa offered this confession to the world-wide Reformed family of churches following its long confrontation with racial disunity, injustice and Apartheid. The confession has five short sections that repudiate all manner of disunity and injustice with references to scripture and the Christian doctrine of grace. Each section is followed by clear “rejections of false doctrines” that accommodate racism and division in the church and culture. Dr. Butler will cover each of the five sections and provide time for questions and discussion.
The in-person and Zoom hybrid series will be held at 7 p.m. in the Reed Room. The series will continue March 15, 22 and 29.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“Caring for Neighbors in Need”
As we begin our journey as a “Matthew 25 Church,” we will explore Jesus’ command to love our neighbors (Matthew 22:39) and to see him in people who are hungry, inadequately clothed and housed, imprisoned, and unwell in mind, body or spirit (Matthew 25). The four-part series will be held on Sundays, March 6, 13, 20 and 27 in Wright Chapel at 11:20 a.m.
The Rev. Dr. Cinda Gorman, a member of our Matthew 25 Taskforce, will begin on March 6 with a discussion of the biblical mandate to care for others. On March 13, Patty Napolitano, MSW, will speak on the growing problem of homelessness and how congregations can help. Our speaker on Sunday, March 20 will be Ken Harbaugh, a former US Navy Pilot and past president of Team Rubicon Global, a disaster relief organization that has helped retrain over 100,000 military veterans as emergency responders. He has served as a guest fellow at Yale University where he earned the JD degree, and written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Time Magazine. On March 27, Kathy Hartzell, an Elder at Rocky River Church and recent seminary graduate, will share her jail chaplaincy experience in Pittsburgh.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“From Eros to Agape: Søren Kierkegaard’s The Work of Love” led by Aliyah Kennedy
What is love? It’s not all Valentines and chocolates. Love is indescribable, yet many philosophers and theologians have attempted to capture its essence. In his book Works of Love, Søren Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher and father of existentialism, explores Agape, the Christian concept of unconditional love, Eros, preferential love, and phileo, love given to friends and family. Kierkegaard (1813-1855) is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher, but he was also a theologian, poet, social critic and religious author. His theological work often deals with Christian love. He compares and contrasts the infinite differences in the quality of mankind vs. that of God and the individual’s subjective relationship to Jesus through faith. Several biblical aspects of spiritual love are examined in relation to erotic love and friendship and moves from primal erotism to spiritual ecstasy. This study contemplates the unfathomable qualities of love, since “God is love.” The writing is also concerned with how love manifests itself in Christian life. Though he agrees with Luther that works do not earn us salvation, he proposes that works, grounded in love, are a necessary part of Christianity. Aliyah Kennedy will lead a study of these three types of love. Opportunity for discussion will take place in the chapel after worship on February 13, 20 and 27.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“A Very Brief but Incredibly Interesting Look at Christian Worship” led by Rev. Dr. James Butler
LPC Pastor Jim Butler will lead a three-part series looking at public worship as a primary venue for forming faith that inspires action. The series begins on Sunday, December 5 with the story of the Magi who traveled a great distance bearing expensive gifts to worship the baby Jesus after they “observed his star in the east…” The series continues on Sunday, December 12 with a brief look at the origins of Christian worship as it emerged from Jewish synagogues. The series concludes on Sunday, December 19 with a fascinating look at the seemingly endless variety of Christian worship from Appalachian snake handlers, Pentecostals, the sacramentally focused traditions, to our own Reformed styles.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“God’s Word/God’s Will” led by Rev. Dr. Steve Gorman
This year’s Faith and Action theme continues as LPC Parish Associate, the Rev. Dr. Steve Gorman, presents a four-part series, beginning November 7, that will help motivate participants to read the church’s ancient sacred library — The Bible — not just for intellectual curiosity, but to allow the scriptures to motivate us into actions of kindness and compassion, generosity and justice. We study the scriptures, but we must also allow them to speak and direct us into faithfully living — faith and action. The series will be both Bible study and discipleship study. Wherever you are on your journey, this series will challenge you to be “a good steward (manager) of God’s manifold grace” (I Peter 4:10). Adult Faith Formation convenes in Wright Chapel at 11:15 a.m. each Sunday. Come learn and then go forth to do! All are welcome.
Adult Faith Formation Class
“How to Love All as God’s Beloved Children” led by Dr. Sheryl Buckley
Our 2021 Faith Formation theme of “Faith and Action” continues with a four-part series led by Dr. Sheryl Buckley focused on how we can actively demonstrate the love of Christ to everyone, even those who might consider us an enemy. See No Stranger: A Memoir and Manifesto of Revolutionary Love by Valarie Kaur is an extraordinary work we will explore for four Sundays beginning October 10. She is a third generation American who is a Sikh and whose life has led her to conclude that the strongest force for redeeming the world is love. Although her religious tradition is not Christian, her vision of what “revolutionary love” means and her potentially life-changing map for facing problems stands squarely alongside the kind of love that Jesus commanded us, his followers, to practice.