Forgiveness & Wholeness.
Dates: Wednesdays, March 1, 8, 15, 22, & 29
Experience Lent in Midtown Memphis. Enrich your Lenten spiritual formation journey by coming to GSL on Wednesdays. In addition to a service at Noon, afternoons and evenings in March include time to explore the role of forgiveness in our lives and how practicing forgiveness can make us healthier and more whole. Each week, there will be easy ways and spaces for folks to engage as much or as little as they wish: coffee and informal conversation, a simple meal, an opportunity for reflection and evening prayers, and formation programming for all ages, including presentations by guest speakers offering helpful and inspiring weekly topics.
NOTE: March 29, due to a GSL School fundraiser using the Circle Drive, enter the building through the Lemaster Street Trezevant Hall door and park on the adjacent streets or in the South Peabody lot, and note the revised schedule of events.
Noon - Holy Eucharist in the Chapel (30-minute service)
4–7 p.m. - GSL Café (Peete Room) with Coffee & WiFi
5:30–6 p.m. - Supper (Trezevant Hall) - If you might come, let us know.
6-6:45 p.m. - Program for All Ages (details below)
6:45-7:15 p.m - All-Ages Worship Service with Forgiveness & Reconciliation Prayers (Trezevant Hall)
Families and participants of all ages are invited to come! There is no cost for this program. To help us plan food, please register in advance at tinyurl.com/ExperienceLent. But drop-ins are always welcome.
March 1–Taking Account: Reflecting on Where Things Have Gone Wrong
Children: (Green Room) Through stories, games, and activities, we will learn about reflecting on mistakes from the past. There will be nursery available with adaptations of the activities for our littlest Christians!
Youth: (Red Room) We will be hearing from some of the former youth of GSL who are in school and early career fields in Memphis. Come hear how they are making a difference in our community, with time for questions and conversation.
Adults: (Trezevant Hall) Remembering the Trail of Tears and the Civil Rights Trail. Join special guest the Rev. Rob Wood, Rector of Good Shepherd, Cashiers, NC, who, during his sabbatical in the Fall of 2022, took a journey of lament and listening along select parts of both the Trail of Tears and the Civil Rights Trail. With us, he’ll reflect on how to march on to a beloved community in our day and become part of the solution. This will be a meaningful presentation by Fr. Wood, an Episcopal priest who has served for 26 years and shared a personal statement: “I identify as a son of God, a member of the baptized, a laborer in the Kingdom—redeemed and marching on. I also am a son of South who has pride and regret about that heritage. During my sabbatical in the Fall of 2022, I took a journey of lament and listening along select parts of both the Trail of Tears and the Civil Rights Trail. During those days I asked, “If loving neighbor as yourself is such a central part of the Christian faith, how could slavery and forced disposition of land from indigenous people have happened at the hands of Christian people?” And more importantly, marching on to a beloved community in our day and wanting to be part of the solution, what does loving our neighbor look like now? And what does grace, reconciliation, and repair look like now in the South and in the World. Yes, we have made much progress over the last 70 years, but what does progress look like for church, society and kingdom over the next 70 and beyond? I certainly don’t have many answers yet, but I do have observations and experiences to share, process, and pray over with you.”
March 8–God Is Forgiveness
Children: (Green Room) Through stories, games, and activities, we will learn about God’s mercy and love. There will be nursery available with adaptations of the activities for our littlest Christians!
Youth: (Red Room) Join a conversation about the connection between forgiveness and faith with Amzie Williams, GSL's Youth Director, and the Rev. Miranda Cully, Chaplain at St. Mary's School.
Adults: (Trezevant Hall) The Spirituality of Forgiveness. Join Father Jesse Abell and friends as we learn about the role of forgiveness in the teachings of Jesus and how it affects our lives of faith and experience of spirituality.
March 15–Leaving Our Mark
All Ages: (Trezevant Hall) Join Fr. Jesse Abell and Anthony Calzia in a fun and interactive project for all ages, as we reflect on our actions and choices and how they leave an impact on the world around us.
March 22–No Future without Forgiveness
Children: (Green Room) Through stories, games, and activities, we will learn about God’s mercy and love. There will be nursery available with adaptations of the activities for our littlest Christians!
Youth & Adults: (Trezevant Hall) Learning to Forgive with Alex Kor, son of Holocaust survivor Eva Kor. Join special guest Alex Kor, as he shares the life and legacy of his mother, Eva. Eva Mozes Kor was a survivor of Nazi Dr. Mengele’s twin experiments and became famous in her later life for her public forgiveness of her Nazi abusers. (Mickey Kor, Eva’s husband and Alex’s father, was also a survivor of the Holocaust.) Although Eva passed away in 2019, Alex has continued her work of testifying to the power of forgiveness for our own healing.
March 29–Beginning Anew
Children: (Green Room) Through stories, games, and activities, we will learn about God’s promise of forgiveness, and we will learn about asking for forgiveness. There will be nursery available with adaptations of the activities for our littlest Christians!
Youth: (Red Room) Join a conversation with Dahlia Townley-Bakewell of MICAH (Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope), as we reflect on where things have gone wrong in previous generations and how younger people can respond and work to repair the damage.
Adults: (Trezevant Hall) Forgiveness and Wellbeing with Fr. Ollie Rencher. Join Father Rencher to discuss the role that forgiveness and reconciliation play in our overall spiritual, emotional, and mental wellbeing. Due to a GSL School fundraiser using the Circle Drive, enter the building through the Lemaster Street Trezevant Hall door and park on the adjacent streets or in the South Peabody lot.