Everyone is invited to participate in a Lenten study, based on the book Taste and See:  Discovering God Among Butchers, Bakers, & Fresh Food Makers by Margaret Feinberg, beginning Sunday, February22nd. The study, led by Rev. Dr. AnnaKate Rawles, will meet on Sundays, February 22nd through March 29th, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. in room F145, located on the 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center.

Taste and See will be a different type of Lenten study – it will be one about feasting and “discovering God among butchers, bakers, and fresh food makers.” We will discuss where we can find God and that we are all invited to “Taste and See” that God is good. We will also sample some of the dishes that the author discusses!

The cost of the class is $20 is per person to cover the cost of the book and food samples. Childcare will be available by request. To register and for more information, please contact Rev. Dr. AnnaKate Rawles by e-mail at arawles@duluthumc.org, or call 770-476-3776, ext. 128.

Join us for a new small group class opportunity that will discuss the first five hundred years of Christianity.  This class meets twice each week for 20 weeks and participants may attend either class. Classes are held on:

• Tuesdays from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.
• Wednesdays from 5:45 to 7:15 p.m.
  

The subject matter will be based on Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years, a series of 20 lectures by Paula Fredriksen, Professor of Scripture Emerita at Boston University and Professor Emerita of Comparative Religion at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.  Dr. Fredriksen, and author of numerous books and a widely sought-after speaker, is a worldwide recognized scholar of early Christianity.  A former Catholic, Fredriksen converted to Judaism several years ago.

The class, led by Pete Fleming, will consist of 20 fifty-minute lectures by Dr. Fredriksen which will follow her latest book. Participants are not required to purchase the book, but they may wish to. Classes will be augmented with weekly summaries of the material plus optional additional readings and bibliographies.

If you would like to participate in this new study or have questions, please contact Pete Fleming by e-mail at lfleming3832@att.net or Rev. Dr. AnnaKate Rawles by e-mail at arawles@duluthumc.org. Please let them know which day of the week you will most likely be attending the class so that classroom space can be planned for.

The Library Book Club will meet on Monday, April 13th, at 10:00 a.m. in room F145, located on the 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center, to discuss Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is set in 1986. Henry Lee joins a crowd outside the Panama Hotel, once the gateway to Seattle’s Japantown. It has been boarded up for decades, but now the new owner has discovered the belongings of Japanese families who were sent to internment camps during World War II.

As the owner displays and unfurls a Japanese parasol, Henry, a Chinese American, remembers a young Japanese American girl from his childhood in the 1940s—Keiko Okabe, with whom he forged a bond of friendship and innocent love that transcended the prejudices of their Old World ancestors. After Keiko and her family were evacuated to the internment camps, she and Henry could only hope that their promise to each other would be kept.

Now, forty years later, Henry explores the hotel’s basement for the Okabe family’s belongings and for a long-lost object whose value he cannot even begin to measure. His search will take him on a journey to revisit the sacrifices he has made for family, for love, for country.

The Thursday morning Bible study group of Women Studying Together are currently studying the book of Ecclesiastes. The author, who calls himself Teacher, has examined everything 'under the sun' in a search for the meaning of life. We experience his frustration as he explains his quest in an often skeptical, disillusioned rhetoric. Along the way he examines many modern attempts to find life's meaning and offers a conclusion worthy of our exploration.

There is no book to buy, just bring your Bible and join us. We meet from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. in room F145, located on the 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center. Discussion is led by Jenny Masterson. As we study, we ask questions, search for answers, share our stories, laugh and pray together. We welcome all women.

If you would like additional information, please contact Jenny Masterson by e-mail at

jennybobm@comcast.net or call 678-591-0800.

The Men Studying Together group meets for Bible/book studies on Thursday mornings from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in room F145, located on the 1st floor of the Sheldon Family Life Center. This study is led by Rev. Terry Tippens. The group is currently studying the Gospel of Matthew.

All are welcome to join us, any time, and every class time will allow for individual input and group discussion. Please contact Tracy Brinker by e-mail at tbrinker@duluthumc.org or at 770-476-3776 for more information.