Showing posts with label Welcome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Welcome. Show all posts

Friday, September 7, 2007

Welcome Back!

It’s a little hard to believe that we are starting the seventh year of our Women’s Bible Study. We’ve learned a lot in the last six years, and I think we’re getting better every year. Our first meeting is designated for our group discussion on C.S. Lewis’ classic, Mere Christianity. The original study guide is available below in a previous post. In this entry I am including a link to the same document, but this one includes my personal notes (my answers to the questions)—in case anyone is interested. Click here.

As usual, we’ll have to cover some business items. If you are not able to attend the meeting, take a moment to look over the information below.

  1. Please make sure that I have your current phone number and email (if applicable).
  2. Last spring I had asked that everyone fill out a survey. Most everyone seems fairly content with the way things are going—an all women study, catechism lessons following our regular lesson, and summer book study. I aim to please, but some suggestions simply cannot be accommodated. I’m working on satisfying the request of some to be able to get the study guide before our meeting by developing this blog. Now we just have to get everyone on board.
  3. Please spend some time reviewing the group rules on our schedule--we get lazy about some of them as the year progresses--and re-read the essay as well—it’s inspiring. Here are a few changes for this year…
    1. This is not really a change, just a request. Our study group is scheduled to meet from 9-11. I would appreciate it everyone would make a real effort this year to be on time and stay for the entire meeting. I know that it can’t always be avoided, but it’s disruptive to the group when people are coming in and out, and it demonstrates a lack of priority for what we do here. I’m not saying this because I think I’m so fascinating, but I think you owe it to yourself to set aside just two hours every few weeks to learn and share your faith. When you spend the time to do your homework, don’t short-change the other important component of the study—group discussion. Everything else shouldn't be more important than your responsibility to participate in our group.
    2. We will continue to share the responsibility for the opening prayer. I will let you know the schedule at our next meeting when I have the class list finalized. However, this year, instead of having individual prayer intentions, I am going to make a request that we share in one common prayer intention for our parish and our pastor. This link will take you to a suggested prayer that I hope you will consider including in your devotions. Click here.
    3. Finally, I am asking that each member who is able to preprint their own copy of the study guide for the lesson prior to our meetings. I will try to have the study guide available online by the Tuesday evening before our Thursday meeting. If you do print your guide, leave a comment on the blog indicating that you have done so. I usually print out the guides on Wednesday and will consult this site before I do so to get a count. If I plan to have extra materials—articles, catechism topics, etc.—I will provide those to the group and add them to the site after the meeting.

Comments or questions are welcome. Let's have a good year!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Women's Bible Study

Welcome. You've found the right place!

I hope this experiment will prove to be a useful resource for our group and an easy way for all of us to stay connected even, and maybe most importantly, especially during the times when we can't all be together. If this site works the way that I think it will, I should be able to publish all of our study guides, our calendar, notices, links to extra materials... and whatever else we may need to this location. Once published, you will be able to access and print any of the documents on any computer with Internet service. You can even subscribe to the site so that you would be automatically alerted when the site has been updated. Best of all, you would also be able to communicate with me and any of the other members of the group by leaving comments on the site.

Because I also intend to use this site for the adult catechism group I hope to start this fall, you will have to look for the icon of St. Paul the Apostle in any posts that would be of concern to our study of Paul's Letter to the Romans. In this first post, I have included a link to a test study guide. It would help me if you could try and print the document on your own computer and then leave a comment to let me know if you're successful. You can find this test document by clicking on the highlighted blue text.

Once we get rolling this fall, I hope you will make the most of this addition to our Bible Study.

New! Available beginning July 24:
Study guide for September 13 book discussion of C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. Click here to print.
Also, Women's Bible Study Calendar 2007/08. Click here to print.