Via Media: What it means to be an Episcopalian in today’s world
Via Media invites those seeking spiritual community to explore our Christian faith from a uniquely Episcopal point of view. Through an engaging course of study, prayer, conversation and questions, we will discuss topics such as the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and Jesus Christ. This exploration with others includes friendship, worship and sharing a simple meal. Participants discover a church that values reason and science along with prayer and scripture; a church where everyone is included; a church that tells the truth about its strengths and points out its challenges. Via Media, along with the Inquirers/Seekers class, fulfills a requirement for confirmation or reception into the Episcopal Church.
For more information, please email viamedia@incarnation-sr.org.
Via Media Schedule for 2012
June 10 to July 22 — 11:30 to 1:30 (following the 10:00 am service) Room 3
These series of classes are required for Confirmation or Reception.
via media: An Anglican Way of Being Christian (Session One)
Discussion Questions:
What has been your experience of church community? What have you had to "leave at the door" in past experiences?
Are you afraid to share the Good News with others? Why?
How do you find answers to your spiritual questions?
How do you decide what you believe?
Why go to church?
Can you go to church if you're not perfect?
Session 1 Guides: Participant Guide • Worship Guide
God and Creation: The Abundance of God's Goodness (Session Two)
Discussion Questions
What was your childhood image of God? What is your image now? What is your understanding of God? How has it changed in your life?
How has God changed through history, or has our understanding of God changed?
What is the difference between being stewards of creation vs. being consumers of creation?
Is God in Nature? If so, how? If not, why not?
The traditional language for the Trinity is "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit." Do these words describe God for you? How do you describe the Trinity?
How do Anglicans reconcile science and faith? How do you?
How does God hear you?
How do you hear God?
Is the image of God really in everybody?
If we are made in the image of God, what is the image of God's self in you?
Session 2 Guides: Participant Guide • Worship Guide
God in Jesus: An Incarnational Faith (Session Three)
Discussion Questions:
What do you think when you hear: "Jesus is the Son of God"?
You heard Phyllis talk about Atonement, and Diana talk about Jesus saving us from death. What do you think about the statement: "Jesus saves"?
At the Eucharist we say: "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." Does it matter if different people mean different things when they say this? What does it mean to you?
What does it mean to be the "body of Christ"?
What is different about Jesus from other moral teachers or prophets?
Is Jesus the only way to God?
What does Jesus teach us about being human?
What does Jesus teach us about God?
What does Jesus teach us about the life of faith?
Is God in us as God was in Jesus?
What did Jesus do? Is that what we are called to do?
"Jesus doesn't call us to worship him, he calls us to follow him." What does this statement mean to you?
Session 3 Guides: Participant Guide • Worship Guide
God the Holy Spirit: The Breath of New Life (Session Four)
Discussion Questions
How does the Holy Spirit call us into community?
One speaker in the video said, "The Holy Spirit is knowing that there is a group of people who are believing and praying and having faith when I cannot believe, pray, or have faith." Discuss this aspect of community, and how it may be formed by the Holy Spirit.
When have you felt comforted by the Holy Spirit?
When have you felt challenged by the Holy Spirit?
How do you know when it is the Holy Spirit at work in your life, and when it is some other spirit / ego / motivation?
How does the person of the Holy Spirit relate to the two other persons in the Trinity?
What does it mean to be the body of Christ in the world?
Describe, in your words, the relationship between the act of creation and the Holy Spirit.
How do we receive the Holy Spirit today, since Jesus can no longer physically breathe his holy breath onto us?
How does the Holy Spirit guide our understanding of Baptism?
Session 4 Guides: Participant Guide • Worship Guide
The Bible: The Word of God for the People of God (Session Five)
Discussion Questions:
Is the Bible the only way you know and experience God? If not, what are other ways?
What difference does it make if the Bible is divinely inspired, or not?
Who is your favorite Bible character? Why do you identify with him or her?
How does learning more about the history of the Bible inform your faith?
Do we just pick and choose what we believe in the Bible?
If we don't read the Bible literally word-for-word, how do we read it?
Are you afraid of the Bible? Do you avoid reading for what you might discover it says about you?
Was there a Bible story that a relative or adult in your childhood told you from oral tradition, rather than reading it to you?
Why are there so many interpretations of the Bible?
Phyllis Tickle, a presenter in this session's video, ends her comments by saying: "read stem-to-stern, the Bible is a record of how humanity's understanding of God has changed, not how God has changed." Relate this to what you know of God revealed in the Hebrew Scriptures and God revealed in the person of Jesus.
Session 5 Guides: Participant Guide • Worship Guide
Sin: Roadblocks to Abundant Life (Session Six)
Discussion Questions:
In the video, the Rev. Michael Hopkins says, "The whole sin business in Biblical tradition is more complex than broken rules; it’s about broken relationships." How is sin more complex when it is about relationships rather than rules?
What is the difference between a sin of commission, and a sin of omission?
Bishop Stephen Charleston reminds us that there are two ways to talk about sin: using justice language, and using judgment language. How does our understanding of sin change with a shift in language? How does our understanding of our Christian responsibility change with a shift in language?
Describe a time when you have felt forgiven for something.
In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray that our sins be forgiven as we forgive the sins of others. Is our forgiveness related to our openness to forgiving others? To being forgiven by others?
What is the difference between sin and sins?
How does Jesus save us from our sins? Did Jesus have to die? What do the cross and the resurrection have to do with sin and salvation?
What does it mean to forgive and to be forgiven?
What is grace? What is the relationship between grace and sin?
What is the difference between personal and corporate sin?
How is personal sin forgiven? How is corporate sin forgiven?
Are you accountable for sin committed on your behalf?
Session 6 Guides: Participant Guide • Worship Guide
Thy Kingdom Come: The Promise of Christian Hope (Session Seven)
Discussion Questions:
In your opinion, is the Kingdom something that is in the future, or is it here already?
How do your daily work and your overall ministry relate to the Kingdom?
What is your answer to despair and discouragement?
How is your trust in God reflected in your ideas of the Kingdom?
What is the difference between optimism and hope?
How does hope guide your sense of joy? Where do you see the Kingdom already?
Session 7 Guides: Participant Guide • Worship Guide
From the Rector
Worship Services
We offer 3 Sunday Services:
- 8 am - Traditional
- 9:15 am - More informal and family-oriented
- 11:15 am - More formal with classical chior