The Third Sunday of Advent | Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 | Psalm 126 | 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
 | John 1:6-8, 19-28 | December 17th, 2023 | Rev. Flo Oakes | St. Mary of Bethany Parish (Nashville, TN) 

Readings and Resources: "The Cure for Sorrow" - Jan Richardson

This is a recording of a recent Order of Bethany Info Meeting. 

St. Mary’s offers a way of membership in the community called the Order of Bethany and is open to anyone who desires to live this way of life together. The vows for the order are vows of fidelity, hospitality, solidarity, and levity, and grow from the lives of the saints in Bethany: Mary, Martha, Simon the Leper, and Lazarus. The vows are simple ways of committing to God, one another, and the world with a posture of joy for one year. 

Last year, St. Mary's hosted a Common Conversation on Advent, Soul Care, and Economic Justice with Dr. Bruce Rogers-Vaughn and Fr. Bruce Morrill.

This follow up discussion centers on neoliberalism and theology, and how, through community, we might resist the systems that create myriad inequalities. You can watch the video here.

The Second Sunday of Advent | Isaiah 40:1-11 | Psalm 85 | 2 Peter 3:8-15a | Mark 1:1-8 | December 10th, 2023 | Rev. Kelley Doyle | St. Mary of Bethany Parish (Nashville, TN) 

Readings and Resources: "Commentary on Isaiah 40:11" from Working Preacher - Dr. Anathea Portier-Young | Feasting on the Word: Year B, Volume 1 - ed. David Bartlett, Barbara Brown Taylor  | "Quite Early Morning" - Pete Seeger

Common Conversation: BMHCR
Thursday, December 7th at Glendale Baptist Church 

This conversation features Dr. Layla Bonner, Dr. DeAndrea Witherspoon Nash, and Rev. Dr. Danny Bryant, founders of the Black Mental Health Counselor Reparations Foundation (BMHCR). They discuss the vision and mission of the foundation, the future work we hope to do, and how this foundation can be an example of the fruit of ecclesial reparation work. BMHCR is currently paying loan debt for a Black mental health counselor in Nashville.

This was recorded live in a recent Common Conversation, a series of talks on theology & practice hosted by St. Mary's.