SAVE THE DATE!

The Reverend Dr. Labberton will present “The Wonder and Tyranny of Fear”.

Fear can lead us into life. It can also strip us of life and drive us towards death. And, it can both liberate and imprison us in-between.

Our lives and cultures are besieged by fears of many kinds—sometimes by an array of circumstances or threats, sometimes by the curated intentions of influencers, sometimes by inner voices creating and escalating anxiety.

We will explore some of the biblical, psychological, cultural, and spiritual dimensions of how we experience fear, why, and the hopeful impact of wonder and worship in our fear-shaped lives.

Admission: General $25 / "Living Lightly" $15 / Students Free

Location: First Presbyterian Church Bekeley

The April Faith & Film screening of Wit is a collaboration with the 2024 Berkeley Palmer Lecture.*  Mike Nichols directs this mesmerizing adaptation of Margaret Edson's 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about dying and death that will soften the heart of anyone who sees it. Rev. Dr. Labberton will join us for the screening and will help lead the discussion afterwards. This month the film screening will start at 7:30pm.

"Made for HBO, Wit is a drama both intelligent and heartbreaking, starring Emma Thompson as a woman dying of cancer. She is an English professor who filters her own suffering through the disciplines of the poetry she loves. She was always a proud, independent woman who stood apart from others--and now, at the end, she is alone. The movie is merciless in showing how hospital routine robs her of her dignity. And awesome in the way she struggles with every ounce of her humanity to keep her self-respect.” - Roger Ebert

*On Saturday, April 13, 2024, the Reverend Dr. Mark Labberton will speak on “The Wonder and Tyranny of Fear” for the annual Berkeley Palmer Lecture.  More information and registration is available here: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/newcollegeberkeley/1095174

Free admission for Film Series.

Location: First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, 94704

with Michael Barram, PhD

Given the individualistic, divisive, revenge-oriented environment in which we find ourselves, Jesus’s blessing upon “the peacemakers” at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:9) may sound unrealistic and out of touch. Are Jesus’s disciples to be tangibly involved in peacemaking, or is Jesus articulating a theoretical and aspirational ideal? In short, is peacemaking central to the missional calling of Jesus’s followers? Join us as we explore the Sermon afresh during these fraught and challenging times.

LOCATION: First Presbyterian Church Berkeley

Fee: $35 general admission, or a "living lightly" rate of $15. Students are free.

with Marilyn McEntyre, PhD

Even if you don't address your "Dear Reader" directly, you forge a social contract with your reader as soon as you embark on a story. In this session we'll consider the relational dimension of writing--how we "keep it real," stay close to the reality that we are inviting other human beings, one by one, into the intimate spaces of mind and heart we create for them, seeking to be hospitable as well as challenging, opening a conversation that may continue after they finish the last page.

Each online workshop in this series will address a particular topic in writing, especially for those interested in personal essays and/or responses to public life. We will talk about language, faith, form, and what a lively, committed writing life entails.

Location: Online zoom

Fee: General $25/ Reduced $10/ Student Free

oin this roundtable discussion, among Asian American academics and church leaders, about the history and present-day impact of religious nationalism in the United States. Event will begin with a presentation by Brad Onishi, author of Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism - and What Comes Next.  A response will then be given by Ray Chang, President, Asian American Christian Collaborative, followed by conversation with a panel of Bay Area Asian American leaders (see below).  Craig Wong, executive director of NCB, and Grace Kaori Suzuki, Christ United Presbyterian Church, will serve as co-moderators. There will be time for audience Q&A, and roundtable conversation among the attendees. All are welcome.

Location: Grace Community Covenant Church, Los Altos, CA / free parking

NOTE: This program will also be livestreamed via Zoom for those who cannot attend in person.

Fee: General $40 / “Living Lightly” $15 / Student free / Livestream $20

Led by Susan Phillips, PhD

The word “Lent” is related to Latin cognates meaning long and slow (“lente,” “lento”). Like Advent, Lent is a speed bump in the year, inviting us into reflection, confession, and prayer as we approach Holy Week and Easter, remembering God’s costly love for us. We enter the retreat seeking God’s Light in the darkness of war in the Holy Land and elsewhere, mounting political tensions, social turmoil around the globe, and the private movements of our own hearts. Together (via Zoom) we will contemplate God's great love for us and our aching world.

Co-sponsored by New College Berkeley and First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley

Registration Fee: General $25/ Reduced $10/ Students free

Location: Online/zoom

Selected and facilitated by Doug Dunderdale / Filmmaker & Co-Director of Series

“The most essential film yet made about the pandemic era is David Siev’s moving and triumphant “Bad Axe”. I have thought about this movie more than any other this year. It’s not an understatement to say that it inspired me through some tough times in 2022 because it’s a portrait of family resilience against adversity. So many non-fiction films to come about in 2020 and 2021 will suffer by trying to tell every story at once—“Bad Axe” tells only one story and yet somehow tells so many more.” Brian Tallerico, www.rogerebert.com

Free Admission.

Location: First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley / 2407 Dana St. / Room G 220

What Non-western Cultural Orientations and Wisdom Traditions Teach Us About a Holistic Collective Spirituality.

with Cindy S. Lee

Christian spiritual formation resources and teachings have primarily come from Western spiritual traditions. Our current approach to formation comes out of that way of thinking and being, communicating that the white experience of God is the norm and authority. This workshop facilitates a communal listening and imagination for what non-western cultural orientations and wisdom traditions teach us about a holistic collective spirituality.  It will combine instruction, conversation and guided spiritual exercises in a contemplative-friendly space. 

LOCATION: A Bay Area location TBD

FEE: $40 general admission.  There is a "living lightly" option of $15, and all students are free.

Selected and facilitated by Sam Choi, MD / Co-Director of Series

“What we have here is the story of a very cool nun from a thousand years ago.” - S.F. Chronicle 

“A gorgeously filmed, surprisingly tough-minded portrait of the 12th-century Benedictine nun, scholar, mystic, and composer.” - Boston Globe

Who was Hildegard von Bingen?

Why do we know so little about this Da Vinci like polymath? A visionary, a poet, playwright, the most recorded composer of her century, philosopher, theologian, Christian mystic, scientist, preacher and a doctor or medicine.  

Come and see why so many interest groups claim this unique person and why. 

Free admission

Location: First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley / 2407 Dana St. / Room G 220

With Marilyn McEntyre, PhD
Archetypes are powerful. They are patterns--familiar character types, situations, structures--we work with as we find ways to tell unique stories. In this session we'll explore a number of archetypes to see how they shape the expectations and values we bring to our stories, and how they inform and enliven our inventions.

Each online workshop in this series will address a particular topic in writing, especially for those interested in personal essays and/or responses to public life. We will talk about language, faith, form, and what a lively, committed writing life entails.

Registration: General $25/ Reduced $10/ Student Free

Location: Online/Zoom

Instructor: Chris Corwin, PhD

Psalm 31 is masterful work of poetic art, weaving together a complex of concerns, beliefs, and misgivings, of the psalmist. The 31st Psalm is replete with quick shifts, competing thoughts and emotions, conflicts, along with tensions between an interior sense of failure and outside hostilities. Paying attention to such rich texture elevates its potency as a psalm of spirituality and guidance, and makes it particularly relevant to our present situation as a nation and world.  Dr. Christopher Corwin will lead us through Psalm 31 through an interactive lecture and discussion.

Location:  First Presbyterian Church Bekeley

Cost: $35, $15 or free (for students)

with Ted Lewis

In this series recap session, Ted Lewis will review the material of his series on "Restorative Practices for Congregations: Balancing Truth-telling with Trust-building" (see description below) including the following topics:

• A Genesis Journey from Rivalry to Reconciliation

• The First Half of Acts from Clash to Coexistence

• Matthew 18 Conversations from Fear to Forgiveness

• Philemon and Facilitation from the Head to the Heart

Participants do NOT have to have attended all of the sessions to participate in this recap. You are invited to join even if you have only attended one of the series' sessions.

LOCATION: Online on Zoom

FEE: Free

Selected and facilitated by Doug Dunderdale, Filmmaker

A documentary film about our Bay Area community: “Sprawling, immediate, and complex, Peter Nicks’ vérité documentary moves like a pulsing, timely thriller. In 2014, after over a decade of federal monitoring for misconduct and civil rights abuses, the Oakland Police Department hires Chief Sean Whent—a young, clear-eyed idealist—in hopes of bridging an historically tense divide between its officers and the community they serve. With fly-on-the-wall intimacy, we see a department trapped in transition, desperate to shed its corrupt image but also challenged by an increasingly organized and urgent Black Lives Matter movement erupting right outside its doorstep.

Location: First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, 94704

Free admission

With Marilyn McEntyre, PhD

Sometimes a prompt provides just the little nudge we need to get started, or to pick up and keep going. Some prompts are better than others. In this session we'll experiment with prompts--try them out, make them up, consider ways they can help trick us into writing just when we think we've reached a dead end.

Each online workshop in this series will address a particular topic in writing, especially for those interested in personal essays and/or responses to public life. We will talk about language, faith, form, and what a lively, committed writing life entails.

Registration: General $25/ Reduced $10/ Student Free

Location: Online/Zoom

Church communities are increasingly being challenged by polarizing issues. Meanwhile, new stresses and strains are causing micro-harms and conflicts between church members, resulting in atmospheres of avoidance and mistrust. This workshop is one of four (each can be attended as a standalone) that tap into biblical narratives to offer rich wisdom for how people in church settings can hold space for hard but healing conversations. The power of people telling their own stories and being heard well by others is vital, but this work often requires the help of third-party facilitators. Participants receive an introductory foundation for facilitating processes that help people move from a defensive “head-zone” to an open “heart-zone” so that new life can rise up.

Registration: General $25/ Living Lightly $10/ Student Free 

Location: Online/zoom

Led by Susan Phillips, PhD

Christians are called people of the Way (Acts 9:2): We follow the Way, live with the Way, and prepare the Way. Advent is an opportunity to reflect on this adventure into which God invites us. Carve out time in the press toward Christmas to prepare your hearts for walking the Way in the year ahead. Join us for a morning of prayer, reflection, and readying ourselves to continue our great pilgrimage with Christ.

Co-sponsored by New College Berkeley and First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley

Registration Fee: General $25/ Reduced $10/ Student Free

Location: Online/zoom

Selected and facilitated by Mitali Perkins, Bay Area Author

What would you do to save your family?

Daring and determined, teenaged girl Naima longs to earn money for her poor Bangladeshi family, but her unrivaled artistic talent is of little use. When her father grows gravely ill, Naima feels she has no choice but to leave her small village for the bright lights of Dhaka. In the big city, Naima finds the same economic, societal, and gender pressures faced by most young girls in Bangladesh. She cleverly disguises herself as a boy and takes the difficult job of a rickshaw puller. When her gender is revealed and her livelihood vanishes, Naima finds an unconventional solution to her problems.

Free Admission.

Location: First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, 94704

Instructor: Marilyn McEntyre, PhD

This workshop (the last of a six-part series) will be an opportunity to reinvigorate our own language habits and to equip each other with words that will help us navigate the confusions and challenges of this historical moment.

“Our times are in God’s hands.” And also in ours—the rich, wild internet, the water crisis, widespread warfare, climate change, a polarized economy—these are the conditions in which we are to work out our salvation together. We need to learn new ways to speak peace. We need to find words that comfort and sustain courage in the face of large and looming threats.

Registration Fee: General $25/ Reduced $10/ Student Free

Location: Online/zoom

Church communities are increasingly being challenged by polarizing issues. Meanwhile, new stresses and strains are causing micro-harms and conflicts between church members, resulting in atmospheres of avoidance and mistrust. This workshop is one of four (each can be attended as a standalone) that tap into biblical narratives to offer rich wisdom for how people in church settings can hold space for hard but healing conversations. The power of people telling their own stories and being heard well by others is vital, but this work often requires the help of third-party facilitators. Participants receive an introductory foundation for facilitating processes that help people move from a defensive “head-zone” to an open “heart-zone” so that new life can rise up.

Registration: General $25/ Living Lightly $10/ Student Free 

Location: Online/zoom

Instructor: Marilyn McEntyre, PhD

This workshop (the fifth of a six-part series) will be an opportunity to reinvigorate our own language habits and to equip each other with words that will help us navigate the confusions and challenges of this historical moment.

“Our times are in God’s hands.” And also in ours—the rich, wild internet, the water crisis, widespread warfare, climate change, a polarized economy—these are the conditions in which we are to work out our salvation together. We need to learn new ways to speak peace. We need to find words that comfort and sustain courage in the face of large and looming threats.

Registration Fee: General $25/ Reduced $10/ Student Free

Location: Online/zoom

Selected and facilitated by Doug Dunderdale

"Based on an actual lie," THE FAREWELL follows Billi (Awkwafina), a young Chinese American woman who learns that her beloved grandmother, Nai Nai (Shuzhen Zhao), has cancer -- and only a few weeks left to live. Billi is further shocked to find out that her extended family has vowed to keep Nai Nai in the dark about her diagnosis, creating the ruse of a wedding as an excuse for them to gather to see her one last time. As the family comes together in Changchun, Billi struggles with Eastern vs. Western philosophies of how to live life.

Free Admission.

Location: First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, 94704

Dr. Braden Molhoek and Dr. Ted Peters will equip pastors and lay leaders with an overview of ethical questions being raised by rapidly emerging AI technologies in all aspects of society.

The buzz about AI has been dizzying, hasn’t it? This seminar will help provide handles, particularly for pastors, campus ministers and lay leaders, for how to think Christianly about these emerging technologies and associated ethical challenges. What are the prospects, for better or worse, of AI, and what are some of the implications for the Church’s life and mission? Braden Molhoek & Ted Peters will give a presentation followed by engagement with a panel of faith leaders and audience Q&A.

Registration: General $35/ Reduced $15/ Student Free. There is free, available parking. Light refreshments provided.

Location: Palo Alto Christian Reformed Church, 94306

Instructor: Marilyn McEntyre, PhD

This workshop (the fourth of a six-part series) will be an opportunity to reinvigorate our own language habits and to equip each other with words that will help us navigate the confusions and challenges of this historical moment.

“Our times are in God’s hands.” And also in ours—the rich, wild internet, the water crisis, widespread warfare, climate change, a polarized economy—these are the conditions in which we are to work out our salvation together. We need to learn new ways to speak peace. We need to find words that comfort and sustain courage in the face of large and looming threats.

Registration Fee: General $25/ Reduced $10/ Student Free

Location: Online/zoom

With Marilyn McEntyre, PhD

Humor is a mark of trust, flexibility, openness to possibility, willingness to play. Even if you aren't someone who is "naturally funny," you can develop an eye for amusing possibilities in a scene, dialogue, character, or stanza. In this session we'll look at examples of writing whose humor gives us new access to wisdom and awareness, and offers healthy critical distance on what we've too hastily normalized. And we'll try out some of their moves!

Each online workshop in this series will address a particular topic in writing, especially for those interested in personal essays and/or responses to public life. We will talk about language, faith, form, and what a lively, committed writing life entails.

Registration: General $25/ Reduced $10/ Student Free

Location: Online/Zoom

Instructor: Marilyn McEntyre, PhD

This workshop (the third of a six-part series) will be an opportunity to reinvigorate our own language habits and to equip each other with words that will help us navigate the confusions and challenges of this historical moment.

“Our times are in God’s hands.” And also in ours—the rich, wild internet, the water crisis, widespread warfare, climate change, a polarized economy—these are the conditions in which we are to work out our salvation together. We need to learn new ways to speak peace. We need to find words that comfort and sustain courage in the face of large and looming threats.

Registration Fee: General $25/ Reduced $10/ Student Free

Location: Online/zoom

Instructor: Marilyn McEntyre, PhD

Description: This workshop (the first of a six-part series) will be an opportunity to reinvigorate our own language habits and to equip each other with words that will help us navigate the confusions and challenges of this historical moment.

“Our times are in God’s hands.” And also in ours—the rich, wild internet, the water crisis, widespread warfare, climate change, a polarized economy—these are the conditions in which we are to work out our salvation together. We need to learn new ways to speak peace. We need to find words that comfort and sustain courage in the face of large and looming threats.

General Tuition $25 / “Living Lightly” Tuition $10 / Student Tuition $0

Church communities are increasingly being challenged by polarizing issues. Meanwhile, new stresses and strains are causing micro-harms and conflicts between church members, resulting in atmospheres of avoidance and mistrust. This workshop is one of four (each can be attended as a standalone) that tap into biblical narratives to offer rich wisdom for how people in church settings can hold space for hard but healing conversations. The power of people telling their own stories and being heard well by others is vital, but this work often requires the help of third-party facilitators. Participants receive an introductory foundation for facilitating processes that help people move from a defensive “head-zone” to an open “heart-zone” so that new life can rise up.

Registration: General $25/ Living Lightly $10/ Student Free

Location: Online/zoom

Instructor: Marilyn McEntyre, PhD

Description: This workshop (the first of a six-part series) will be an opportunity to reinvigorate our own language habits and to equip each other with words that will help us navigate the confusions and challenges of this historical moment.

General tuition $25 / “Living Lightly Tuition” $10 / Student Tuition $0

Location: Online/zoom

This Evening's Film - THE DAY AFTER TRINITY: J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER AND THE ATOMIC BOMB

Selected and facilitated by Sam Choi, MD
Columbian film director and writer Ciro Guerra has created a cross-cultural masterpiece that embraces important spiritual and philosophical themes such as shamanism, science, religion, colonialism, "the other," and the magical world of the Amazon. It is based on the travel journals of German Theodor Koch-Grünberg and the American explorer Richard Evans Schultes. This engaging and thought-provoking drama swings between the parallel stories of two Western scientists who are on a quest to locate a potent sacred flower — the Yakruna — which contains healing powers.

Guerra spent five years making Embrace of the Serpent which won the Directors' Fortnight prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. 

Free Admission.

Location: First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, 94704