new wineskins

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

Leave a comment

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

Advertisements

Sept. 23 Gathering: Who is God?

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

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

Leave a comment

rtalogo

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”

Leave a comment

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

July 1 Gathering: Circles of Grace

Leave a comment

Group therapy

In a time so dominated by disagreement and divisiveness, it seems more difficult than ever to find common ground. Whether it’s politics or theology, we live in an argumentative age.

But what if we could rediscover ways to have constructive dialogue? What if we could discover the motivations behind our positions, and use those as means of finding common ground?

This Sunday at New Wineskins, we’ll engage in one such means of creating space for constructive dialogue called “Circles of Grace.” We’ll be led by trained and experienced facilitators Barbara and Russell Rogerson, who run a spiritual retreat center in their hometown of Harrisville, WV.

Join us this Sunday, July 1, in the 167 Side Room of the Marietta Brewing Company to learn more about Circles of Grace and see how you might use this technique in your own contexts to create space for grace-filled conversations.

Happy Half-Hour: 6:30pm

Conversation Begins: 7:00pm