What's Tony Thinking

Grace in Practice

We’ve got a new webinar coming up, “Grace in Practice,” based upon the book by Paul Zahl of the same title.

I’ll be back with my friends from the “Crackers and Grape Juice” podcast, Jason Micheli, Teer Hardy and Josh Munnikuysen to explore Zahl’s book.

There’s been a lot of focus in recent years on “discipleship.” I’ve written, as have others, that churches became “cultures of membership” rather than “cultures of discipleship.” More about belonging to an institution than living a particular way of life.

But the word “discipleship” sounds so . . . what? . . . “churchy”? It certainly isn’t a word used in everyday conversation. Strictly speaking it means “being a student of a teacher,” or “a follower of a teacher.”

Often when we hear the word discipleship (if we do) we tend to associate it with heroes and martyrs, people like Dietrich Bonhoeffer (who wrote “The Cost of Discipleship”) or Mother Teresa. We may admire such people, but it seems quite a stretch from our lives to theirs.

Paul Zahl thinks about discipleship not as the exceptional and heroic, but as the practice of grace in everyday life. Which is to say, he thinks and writes about discipleship in a way that is relevant to ordinary people, like you, like me.

So I invite you to register for this webinar using the link at right. There’s no cost. What registering does mean is that you will get a weekly reminder of the webinar in your email box, a link to join in, and a follow-up email with a recording of the session, if you have missed it.

All for free. That’s grace! A gift.

The webinar is at 7:00 Eastern time, but 4:00 p.m. Pacific time. Hope to see/ hear you in our upcoming seven sessions on “Grace in Practice.”

Let me also mention the upcoming “Sawitski Memorial Lecture” put on by my friends at Desert Garden UCC in Arizona. Two years ago I had the honor of inaugurating this lecture series in memory of their former pastor, Sam Sawitski.

This year’s information:

Desert Garden United Church of Christ invites you to a Zoom webinar. 
When: Oct 8, 2022 10:00 AM Arizona 
Topic: Sorrows Like Sea Billows Roll: Mental Health Challenges and Our Journeys of Faith

The speaker is David Finnegan-Hosey who is the author of “Christ on the Psych Ward.”

Register in advance for this webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XU7QjLtsRYGXFtkXsZTzHw