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Dec. 30 Gathering: Watch Night

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In the early days of the Methodist movement, John Wesley gathered people together on New Year’s Eve to reflect and pray, and to give them an alternative to the drunken revelry that, even in the 18th Century, predominated the culture. The Watch Night service was also a time for people to renew their commitment to God, and many Methodist and Wesleyan churches today still hold Covenant Renewal Services at the turning of the year.

Watch Night took on special significance for the African American community on Dec. 31, 1862, as people anxiously awaited Lincoln’s enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation. Historians say that many slaves gathered in churches to pray together as they anticipated freedom from bondage. The Watch Night tradition remains strong in black churches as the struggle for equality continues more than 150 years later.

This Sunday at New Wineskins, we’ll close out 2018 with our own Watch Night observation as we take some time to reflect together on the past year and look ahead to 2019. Please join us this Sunday, Dec. 30, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company as we look back and look ahead together!

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

*PLEASE NOTE: New Wineskins will be on hiatus during January 2019. We will resume our gatherings in February. Please watch here and our Facebook page for dates and details!

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Oct. 21 Gathering: Miracles (do they matter?)

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Jesus Toast

We love a good miracle story. Jesus feeding the 5,000. Healing the sick.Walking on water. Raising the dead. Giving sight to the blind. Or our personal favorite, turning water into wine.

Maybe it’s because we need to know miracles are real. We need to hope that the impossible can happen.

So why is it that so often in biblical post-miracle dialogues, Jesus tells people to keep it quiet? To not tell what they have seen or experienced?

It begs the question…do the miracles really matter?

This week at New Wineskins we’re going to talk about miracles, what they are (and aren’t!), and whether or not we view them the way Jesus intends them to be viewed. Come on out and be part of the conversation this Sunday, Oct. 21, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company!

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

Sept. 23 Gathering: Who is God?

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God in Heaven Set

It’s maybe the deepest question there is: Who (or what) is God?

What do we think about when we think and talk about God? A bearded old man in the sky? A “life force” or energy field of some kind? How can God be both personal and universal?

Since questions are more interesting than answers, we’ll tackle this big conversation this Sunday at New Wineskins. Come with an open imagination, and let’s see what we can learn about God from one another!

Join us this Sunday, Sept. 23, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company!

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

Sept. 9 Gathering: This is water

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this is water

In his 2005 commencement address at Kenyon College, the late author David Foster Wallace challenged graduates to see beyond their own self-centered assumptions and choose a higher awareness of the people and world around them.

What would it look like for us to recognize more deeply the world outside of our own heads? How might our assumptions of what is “right” and “good” and “true” change if we considered more fully the perspectives of others, especially when those perspectives are radically different from our own?

This Sunday at New Wineskins, we’ll view a short video of excerpts of Wallace’s now-famous “This is Water” talk, and discuss the ways we can be more aware of the reality beyond us.

Join us for the conversation this Sunday, Sept. 9, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company as we seek to become more aware of the water we’re all swimming in together!

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

Aug. 26 Gathering: Dialogue beyond division

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listen and speak icon, voice or sound symbol

“The opposite of hate is not love.  You don’t have to love people to stop hating them. You don’t even have to like them. You also don’t have to concede the validity of their views.  You can have beliefs that are in strong opposition to the beliefs of other people, and still treat those others with civility and mutual respect.  Ultimately, the opposite of hate is the beautiful and powerful reality of our how we are all fundamentally linked and equal as human beings. The opposite of hate is connection.” –Sally Kohn, The Opposite of Hate: A Field Guide to Repairing Our Humanity

Do you ever feel discouraged by the negative and hateful discourse in our society today? Does it seem like getting past our differences is a hopeless pipe dream?

But do we have to live in a right/wrong dichotomy that forces us into opposing camps? Or are there ways we can move beyond our disagreements without the burden of changing each other’s minds?

This Sunday at New Wineskins we’re going to engage in some exercises to help us develop strategies for creating constructive dialogue that gets beyond what divides us and finds ways to create deeper connection.

Join us this Sunday, Aug. 26, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company and join what promises to be a fun and productive discussion!

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

RTA Festival Gathering: Spiritual & Physical Fitness

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This Sunday is our second annual Rivers, Trails & Ales Festival edition and you’re invited into a conversation about spiritual and physical fitness. Is our spirituality separate from our physicality, or does fitness in one area impact the other?

Join us this Sunday, Aug. 12, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company to share your experiences and learn from those of others as we celebrate Marietta’s Rivers, Trails and Ales!

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm

July 29 Gathering: “Burn Down the Mission”

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food donations

“Burn down the mission Lord
If we’re gonna stay alive
It’s our only chance of living
Take all you need to live inside”

-Elton John, “Burn Down the Mission”
Tumbleweed Connection, 1970

Sir Elton John’s performance of songwriter Bernie Taupin’s brilliant lyrics notwithstanding, “mission” has always been at the heart of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

But what exactly is “mission?” Is it something we do, or someone we are? Is it something we do across the world or across the street? Has Christian mission always been a positive influence in the world? Or is there a dark side, one we need to figuratively burn down, in order to recapture our call to the missio dei, God’s mission for God’s world?

This week at New Wineskins we’ll pick up where we left off in our last conversation about worship and how worship and mission can–or must–coexist.

Join us this Sunday, July 29, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company to share your experiences with mission, whether local or international, and explore what a theology of mission looks like as we reimagine church.

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm