Deans' Note June 13, 2021
Summer at St. John's has meant time for Adult Vacation Bible School and this year's program starts this Sunday at 10:30 am (See more specifics in this update). As you may know, last year the program was entirely on Zoom. This year we will have a hybrid Zoom/in-person mix.
The Zoom platform last year helped us learn that we could gather scholars to present from across the country and Canada. This year, we are continuing that format to include presentations from four outstanding Biblical scholars addressing this year's biblical book and theme, The Man God Exalted: Reading David in II Samuel.
This Sunday, Fr. Mark will provide an orientation to the Books of Samuel and the David story. The authors of these stories write in stirring prose that have inspired authors, sculptors, artists, and musician from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes to William Faulkner; From Leonard Cohen to opera. Of course perhaps the most famous, the sculpture of David by Michaelangelo.
This epic story reveals a man who is chosen and anointed by God yet deeply flawed. We learn of a young man who was least favored to amount to anything, a youngest son and shepherd boy who became the greatest king of Israel and the ancestor of Jesus in the New Testament. Yet the power in these stories is the conflict and intrigue they present, the deep moral problems, as well as moments of literary power.
Please join us either in person or online this Sunday. It will be another way we can all come back together to connect as God's people here at St. John's and begin this summer transition into our new post-covid future.
