In honor of Claude H. Moore, Mary Virginia Moore gave the church a gift in order to provide an opportunity to invite scholars and leaders in the church to come and speak at Auburn First Baptist. Claude and Mary Virginia cared deeply for Auburn First Baptist, serving it in so many ways. These lectures continue to serve the congregation, furthering its study and lifting its soul, as we widen and deepen our understanding of the life of the gospel and the calling of the church.
This year, we welcome Kathleen A. Cahalan as our speaker on Sunday, February 23, 2020, as we continue to give thanks and honor the memories of Claude and Mary Virginia Moore.
We often speak of vocation in the form of a noun: some one thing we possess, as in “What’s your vocation?” In her presentation, “The Grammar of Vocation: Changing the Way we Talk about our Callings”, Cahalan shifts the grammar of vocation to prepositions, the smallest words in our vocabulary that express relationship. This shift helps us see God’s callings are in our lives that are discerned and lived out in dynamic ways, in and through relationship with God and others. Cahalan will explore a contemporary theology of calling through eight prepositions: by, to, as, from, for, through, in, and within.
Her sermon is entitled “Called to be Forgiven and be a Forgiver” (Luke 7:36-50).
Kathleen A. Cahalan is professor of practical theology at Saint John’s University School of Theology and Seminary and director of the Collegeville Institute Seminars, a collaborative research project focusing on vocation, practical wisdom, and theological education. She serves as the project director of the Called to Lives of Meaning and Purpose Initiative, funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc. She is co-editor of Calling in Today’s World: Voices from Eight Faith Perspectives (Eerdmans, 2016) and Calling All Years Good: Vocation across the Lifespan (Eerdmans, 2016). She has also authored books for a broad audience, including Stories We Live: Finding God’s Calling All Around Us (Eerdmans, 2017) and Living Your Discipleship: Seven Ways to Express Your Deepest Calling, co-authored with Laura Kelly Fanucci (Twenty-Third, 2015).
We will have a brunch at 9:15 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall, and then all our youth, college, and adult classes are invited to stay for her lecture. Please bring your favorite brunch dish to share as we gather.