Merry Christmas!

There's no live blogging this month but I hope to see everyone at the Women of Trinity luncheon on Saturday. We can try to sit together if you'd like to talk about the book! See you then.

No Live Blogging in December

We don't have a live blogging session scheduled in December but you're always welcome to post comments about something you've read or comment about something someone else has already posted.

I want to invite our bloggers to attend the Women of Trinity Luncheon on Dec. 5 at noon. We can always discuss the book while we're eating lunch! The luncheon is $6 and is being prepared by Trinity's fabulous Kitchen Crew. Please sign up in the Gathering Space if you'd like to attend. Come hear the presentation, "The Gift of Hope Around the World," by Judy and Ken Collins, who will share their personal faith experiences while teaching English in Russia, China and the Czech Republic.

The Epiphany Chapter was one of the most meaningful to me. On page 80, I liked her discussion about baptism. What did you think?

We'll discuss Epiphany next week

We'll be blogging live next Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. We'll be discussing the Chapter titled Epiphany (pages 77-116). Or let us know what you think about the book so far. You can blog anytime you want to comment about the book. I'm hearing great comments about it as I talk to women reading the book. Let us know what you think.

Add your comments

We had a great discussion about what struck us the most in the first three chapters of Lauren Winner's book on Tuesday evening. The beauty of a blog is that you can read the comments whenever you have time and add your comments as well. We'd love to hear from you and you don't have to wait until November to join in the conversation! If you're following the blog, just sign in to add you comments. If you aren't following us, you can still leave comments, you'll just be asked to verify that you're not leaving spam by typing in that wavy word at the end.

The First Three Chapters

I don't know about you, but from the moment I began reading Girl Meets God, I was hooked. Frankly, I think it's her intellectual search of her faith.

I've always been curious about the Jewish faith and traditions, so I'm finding that aspect of the book really interesting. For example, I didn't know that the faith is passed to the children maternally.

When she started thinking about believing in Jesus and her friend Pastor Mike said, "... you can't just divorce Judaism," I think that was insightful.

What struck me personally in my own faith is her comment from the Mitford books where they quote Philippians 4:13 "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." I think perhaps these books drew Lauren into the Christian faith more than she realized at the time. This particularly scripture is a reminder to me that God doesn't give us more than we can handle. And oftentimes, when I'm going through a particularly difficult time, it's for a reason. And sometimes, I never discover the reason. I often forget that my strength comes from Him, not me.

Did anything strike you personally as you read the first three chapters of this book?

Starting next week

Less than a week before we begin to blog about the book! I can't wait to hear what you all have to say about this woman's amazing journey. As long as I can figure everything out, we'll be blogging live on Tuesday, October 13 at 7:30 p.m.

Chapters to Read

You don't have to read the entire book before October. We're splitting it up so you only have to read a bit each month.
Here's the schedule:
OCTOBER - Chapters: Sukkot, Advent and Christmas (Pages 1-76)
NOVEMBER - Chapter: Epiphany (Pages 77-116)
DECEMBER - Meet your fellower bloggers at the WOT Luncheon on December 5
JANUARY - Chapter: Lent (Pages 117-156)
FEBRUARY - Chapter: Holy Week (Pages 157-196)
MARCH - Chapter: Eastertide (Pages 197-224)
APRIL - Chapter: Pentecost and Advent (Pages 225-296)

An Introduction to Girl Meets God by Lauren F. Winner

by Pastor Nancy R. Easton

For those of us who consider ourselves “born and bred Lutherans” and who have never strayed far from the faith of our fathers and mothers, Girl Meets God provides insight into a journey of faith we haven’t taken.

The author Lauren F. Winner tells her story of both her life in Orthodox Judaism as well as her conversion to Christianity, not to mention that lengthy period of time in transition from one faith to the other. What I find compelling is that Winner does not simply toss away Judaism, considering it false or unfaithful. As she grows in her Christian faith, the beauty and meaning of the Jewish religion lend richness to her Christianity. And her Christian beliefs and understandings add depth to her reflections on Judaism. (Maybe we would do well to study Judaism and its history and ritual more fully, so that we might better appreciate our Judeo-Christian identity.)

In a world of religious diversity, which can easily tend toward division, we witness in one person a coming together of two of the world’s major religions. This is not a smorgasbord faith, as if Lauren chose a little bit of this and a little bit of that from the buffet table of religion. For Lauren does indeed become a follower of Christ. But her years in Judaism, ironically, prepared her for that conversion, stoked the fires of wanting to know God more, and gave a shape to her Christianity for which she is very grateful.

While many vignettes within Girl Meets God are memorable, one of my favorite parts of the book is when Lauren first learns the Lord’s Prayer at a summer camp. One of the few Jewish girls at the camp, she was completely unfamiliar with the wording of that prayer our Lord taught us. Her camp counselor, having observed her unfamiliarity with it, decided to teach her that prayer. While you and I are used to figuring out whether to use “trespasses” or “debts” or “sins” and know Roman Catholics leave off the final doxology in the prayer until later in the Mass, just imagine our not knowing this prayer at all! And then, hearing it for the first time, mulling over the words, and coming up with not only an interesting but incredibly profound interpretation of “Thy will be done”! Winner, hearing the words “Thy will be done,” thought Thy was the subject, and will was the verb. So she prayed that Thy would be done. Winner then wrote: “Sometimes in church I think about that still, I think maybe that is what we should be praying for, not just that God’s will be done, but that everything that is God’s, everything that is His, everything that is Thy, will be done.”

Girl Meets God allows us to contemplate how far afield our faith journey may take us, and yet how close to home we really are. Because home is wherever God is present with us.

Girl Meets God: A Memoir by Lauren F. Winner

Our Women of Trinity group will be reading the book, Girl Meets God: A Memoir by Lauren F. Winner. This blog will allow you to meet to discuss the chapters, beginning in October. There will be copies of the book available in Trinity's library.