Saturday March 4 Lecture & Workshop

(This training qualifies for Clergy Continuing Education Credit)

As part of the 125th Anniversary celebration of First Christian Church of Norman, Dr. Anna Carter Florence, the Peter Marshall Professor of Preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia will lead a lecture and a workshop on Saturday, March 4, 2017.

The lecture is entitled “Reading and Rehearsing the Script in the Scripture”, which will be followed by a workshop in which participants will have the opportunity to engage and interact with the script in the scripture.

The lecture and the workshop are based on Dr. Carter Florence’s new book Come Back When You’ve Found Something True: New Ways to Encounter Scripture. Eerdmans Publishing has written of the book, “How do we read scripture for moments of encounter? Is it possible to do more in a Bible study than fight over what the text means? Can groups really gather around scripture and speak to one another about what they see and hear there?”

Dr. Carter Florence offers a faithful proposal that this is possible. “Reading and rehearsing the verbs” in the text is a way to move through differences into experiences of deep encounter with the God we meet in scripture. Dr. Carter Florence offers practical guidelines to help groups and individuals including preachers implement reading strategies that are easy to learn and simple to adapt, documenting the process and showing the strategies at work through lively readings of the Biblical texts.

In addition, Dr. Carter Florence will offer a round table discussion with clergy over lunch on Saturday, addressing the challenges and issues of teaching, preaching, and leading in a politically charged and divisive time.

Sunday March 5th Worship Services:

Dr. Carter Florence will also preach at the 8:40 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. Sunday services on March 5th, preaching from Exodus 1: 8 – 14, 22 and 2: 1 – 10 with the sermon entitled “The Girls in the Reeds.”

The Saturday workshops and the Sunday worship are free and open to the public.

First Christian Church Norman • 220 South Webster Avenue • Norman

For more information or questions, please call Rev. David Spain at 405-329-2192 or email [email protected]