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Hello Friends,

Registrants from as far as Omaha and Denver are heading this way for the conference starting Friday night the 21^st at 7pm. We would love to have you join the fun!

The original invitation is below. The majority of the registrants are attending all five sessions, but you’ll also see on the RSVP link the new opportunity to check the box for just the first two sessions (if you’re not sure you can do more).

If you do wish to attend all five sessions, please sign up as soon as possible so that we
can include you in our dinner preparations for Saturday night.

If you are coming from out of town, we can suggest accommodations if you don’t have a
plan.

I’m excited to announce “The Glen in August!” Here’s the vision – The Glen in August will be a theology symposium with an organizing theme. Each year I will invite a friend to join me for a weekend series which will include open lecture, group discussion, time for solitude and reflection, and lively community-building in Christ.

I’m thrilled that my dear friend Chris Tilling, Senior Lecturer in New Testament at St. Mellitus College, London, has agreed to join me for this inaugural event. Our theme will be Embracing Human Duality in Christ: A Second Look at Second Corinthians.

Perhaps no verse is more misunderstood than 2 Corinthians 5:17. At first glance “the old has gone, the new has come” seems to communicate that in Christ we have left our old way of life in the rearview mirror—brokenness, sins, struggles, temptations, addictions, etc. These things are gone now that we are new creations! But then again, why are they still here? What are we missing? A deeper consideration of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians helps us to understand and embrace a different, healthier perspective, one of human duality. The more we understand grace, the more we can recognize evil, and the less likely we are to be surprised by our enemy’s ploys.

Our understanding of ourselves starts with a fresh understanding of the humanity of God. As the Second Adam, Jesus Christ is the One human being in whom all human beings are included; he is simultaneously the Righteous One of God and the One who was “made sin.” Through Jesus’ incarnate identification with me, I learn that I exist simultaneously as the new, true self and the old, false self.  In light of Christ’s resurrection, I discover that this is not an eternal tug-of-war, and that the old has no future. In Karl Barth's words, "I was and still am the old man...I am and will be the new man." Life is deeper than death, joy deeper than sorrow, light deeper than darkness, and as a beloved child of God in the Spirit I can live on that basis in spite of worldly contradiction.

Are you interested in how embracing human duality promotes a life-giving, Spirit-filled approach to sanctification, one motivated by God’s grace and love? Are you curious about how embracing our duality might produce genuineness and transparency, an actual antidote against phony duplicity and the “double life?” Or about how this outlook on God and the world might spur us on to gospel practices of justice and peace? Our study of Second Corinthians will explore such a framework.

There is no cost for the event but space is limited. For this reason, please register soon, and only if you plan to attend all five sessions.

Basic Schedule (Saturday dinner is provided):

Generous time between sessions is built-in for people to hang out at The Glen together or alone with God. Take advantage of the three hour break Saturday to feed your soul. Make lunch plans in town with new and old friends; take a gentle kayaking journey on the nearby Eno river, or simply bring a bag lunch and stay on site all day. Pull together some chairs for a chat, bring a book, enjoy a bench with your journal, roam the thirty acres of land and trails around the lodge and vicinity.

You’ll receive more information (and recommendations for overnight accommodations for those coming from out of town) upon registration.

The first twenty-five registrants will receive complimentary copies of my companion volumes on a systematic theology for systemic change.

I hope to see you at The Glen in August!

In the meantime, if you’re looking for an appetizer, check out the following: