Trinity Cathedral Advent Retreat: Who is This Stupendous Stranger?

Reverend Martin Smith. Photo courtesy of www.trinitycleveland.org.

The Reverend Martin L. Smith will lead an advent retreat Saturday, December 7 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cost of the event is $35, which includes lunch.

The retreat will focus on the question: Who is this Stupendous Stranger? This challenging question is inspired by the opening line of a great Anglican hymn celebrating the Incarnation. In this quiet time for reflection and prayer we will open the question for ourselves. Let’s be amazed all over again by the good news of God’s plunge into human embodiment in the person of Jesus and appreciate again why the Incarnation is at the heart of Anglican Spirituality.

Martin L. Smith is well known throughout the Episcopal Church and beyond as an interpreter of contemporary spirituality through books such as A Season for the Spirit, The Word is Very Near You, Reconciliation, Love Set Free, Compass and Stars, and as a preacher and leader of retreats and workshops. He has recently co-written with Dr. Julia Gatta Go in Peace: the Art of Hearing Confessions. His recent retirement from the staff of St. Columba’s, Washington, enables him to continue his wide-ranging ministry of teaching and writing.

On Sunday, December 8, the Rev. Martin L. Smith guest preaches at both the 9 and 11:15 a.m. services at Trinity and joins the Dean as her forum guest to discuss: What’s so Great about Being Human? If the gospel is about being saved, then does it offer salvation from the dead end of cynicism and from the temptation and despair about the human condition? Can the secret of falling back in love with the human vocation lie in the central Christian proclamation that “God all bounteous, all creative, who from good no ills dissuade, is incarnate, and a native of the very world he made”? These are words of the Anglican poet Christopher Smart, and in our forum we will draw on the poetry that draws us best into the mystery of the Incarnation as the key to a hope-filled life.

For more information about this retreat, call 216-774-0418 or email krackley@dohio.org.

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Volume 3, Issue 11, Posted 1:32 PM, 11.05.2013