1) Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
Six Sessions

In Falling Upward, Fr. Richard Rohr seeks to help readers understand the tasks of the two halves of life and to show them that those who have fallen, failed, or "gone down" are the only ones who understand "up." Most of us tend to think of the second half of life as largely about getting old, dealing with health issues, and letting go of life, but the whole thesis of this book is exactly the opposite. What looks like falling down can largely be experienced as "falling upward." This important book explores the counterintuitive message that we grow spiritually much more by doing wrong than by doing right--a fresh way of thinking about spirituality that grows throughout life.


2) Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved
Two Sessions

Kate Bowler is a professor at Duke Divinity School with a modest Christian upbringing, but she specializes in the study of the prosperity gospel, a creed that sees fortune as a blessing from God and misfortune as a mark of God’s disapproval. At thirty-five, everything in her life seems to point toward “blessing.” She is thriving in her job, married to her high school sweetheart, and loves life with her newborn son.

Then she is diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. Frank and funny, dark and wise, Kate Bowler pulls the reader deeply into her life in an account she populates affectionately with a colorful, often hilarious retinue of friends, mega-church preachers, relatives, and doctors. Everything Happens for a Reason tells her story, offering up her irreverent, hard-won observations on dying and the ways it has taught her to live.


3) Parables of Jesus
7 Sessions
Jesus is a master story teller who weaves sophisticated topics into every-day tales. What does it mean to judge another person by their character without playing God? Why does a good word sometimes “stick” in a person and sometimes fall on deaf ears? Can you teach an old dog a new trick and is there a time we should give up waiting for a person to change? If a person doesn’t change or doesn’t care if they’ve hurt you, then what does forgiveness look like? Is there something more to being a Good Samaritan than just helping?  We will think critically and creatively about these topics in the parables of Jesus.