Contemplation in Action: Five Week Series

Starting Wednesday, October 12, everyone is invited and encouraged to join in a five week faith formation series of experiential Gospel based meditations led by Trinity member Mary Denny (see bio below).

These meditations use a method for contemplating the Scriptures based in the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola. They invite a personal engagement with some foundational mysteries of our faith, such as Martin Luther’s prayerful personal encounter with the Scriptural mysteries which helped prepare him for his own conversion to fundamental trust in God’s grace in his own life.

Over five weeks, these shared experiences will guide participants in a process of personal encounter with mysteries such as God’s creative love, personal sinfulness and God’s forgiveness, the call to discipleship, vigilance with Jesus in his Passion and Death, and inclusion in Christ’s Risen Life. These prayerful meditative engagements are distinct from bible study discussions but complementary to them. While biblical exegesis is highly valuable for informing how one approaches a text, such study is preliminary to one’s own personal encounter, out of one’s own history and present reality, with the call of the Gospels. That personal encounter by each Christian can then become a graced witness and blessing for upbuilding the whole community.

The Contemplation in Action series is five Wednesday evenings—October 12 through November 9—from 7:00 to 8:30 PM at Trinity. Preregistration is required so that adequate preparation can be made for participants. The first session is open to all who are preregistered. Participation in all five sessions is strongly encouraged, as each session builds on the former. Consequently, new participants will not be permitted to join after the first week. Participants might prefer to have their Bibles with them. To register email or call David Greenlee david@tlcs.church.

Mary Denny has recently retired as a psychologist after over forty years of clinical practice, with specialties in the management of chronic pain and the treatment of complex trauma. Throughout her years of professional practice, she has also served as a spiritual director, retreat facilitator and adult educator focusing on Biblical Studies and Christian Spirituality.

She completed a PhD in counseling psychology from Catholic University of America in Washington, DC and an MA in Systematic Theology (Christian Spirituality) from The Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. She also completed a postgraduate fellowship in the psychological management of chronic pain at UW School of Medicine where she then served on the clinical faculty for fifteen years. Her graduate studies focused on how emotions influence the personal experience of religious conversion.

Raised Roman Catholic, she joined the Lutheran Church on Easter, 1993. She and her husband Van Hutton joined Trinity Lutheran Church on Easter 2022.