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This is the monthly newsletter of the Spiritual Life & Learning Center.
We are a life-long learning community nurturing mind, heart, and body. The Center engages individuals through programs, conversations, and practices for people of all faiths and none.
SLLC is the Adult Learning Ministry of First Community, where all are welcome.
Included are our current offerings and gatherings. Please click on the image of the event that interests you for more information and to register.
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Featured Events
Summer Salon Series
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If God invited you to a party and said, “Everyone in the ballroom will be my special guest...” How would you treat them when you arrived?
This is the question posed by Hafez in a famous poem.
We will explore this question in a three-part inquiry into experience this July.
We will use pointers from various wise beings to help us explore more deeply:
- What is a human being—what is a conscious living being?
- What is God’s cosmic dance floor?
- What is real, what is appearance, and how do we know?
- What is this dance-journey about?
Join us for a thought-provoking, insightful, and meaningful conversation with Dr. Avery Solomon; teacher, researcher, and good friend of First Community Church.
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Join us as we explore American democracy, culture, and music through changing times in our nation. We will focus primarily on the sixties while utilizing songs, books, videos, and other online sources as we reflect on the culture of this era and make connections that are still meaningful today. It is always helpful to understand our history and our shared cultural values as we try to find our way (hope, courage, purpose, and connection in the world today).
Presentations will include audio and video clips, followed by a guided and inclusive discussion. Participants will feel engaged and empowered toward sharing, understanding, and caring.
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Save the Date:
SLLC Ice Cream Social
Sunday, August 10
3-4:30 pm
FC North
Registration coming soon!
| | A Note from Rev. Seth Stearns | | |
Dear Beloved Community,
I hope you are having a wonderful summer. Our Summer Salon sessions are well underway. A big thank you to Trudy Krisher for leading a six-week “Writing as a Spiritual Experience” series. The other two sessions coming this summer include “Meet Me on God’s Dance Floor” with Avery Solomon and “American Democracy, Culture, & Music in Changing Times” led by Sam Schaadt. I hope you will consider participating in some of the Salon series this summer.
I wish you all a fantastic 4th of July celebration this weekend. I am reminded of the difference between “freedom from” and “freedom to”. Being free from an oppressive government does not necessarily guarantee freedom. To be truly free we must have a vision of what we are free to do and the agency to create the life of our vision. I recently read Timothy Snyder’s book, On Freedom. I would encourage those who take the notion of freedom seriously to read his thoughts on the topic. This is a critical time for all of us to have serious and thoughtful conversations about freedom.
I’d like to remind everyone that this Sunday we will only have one service and that will be at 10:00 am at First Community South. I hope you will join us. I look forward to seeing you there!
Many blessings to you,
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Rev. Seth Stearns
Minister of Spiritual Life & Learning
| | Community Members Receive Prestigious Award | | On June 14, our community members, Jennie and Dave Nickel were recently recognized with an Alumni Loyalty Award from Berea College. We at the Spiritual Life & Learning Center are proud of this acknowledgement for them and are proud to call them friends. Read more about Jennie and Dave and their award HERE. | |
Continuing Center Gatherings
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| | SLLC, What are you reading? | | We received several great recommendations after last month's request for book suggestions. Thank you to our community!! | |
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Kay Helman recommended: Theo of Golden by Allen Levi. She says, "A lovely inspiring novel that warmed my heart."
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Richard Porter recommended: On the Brink of Everything (Grace, Gravity & Getting Old) by Parker J. Palmer. He says, "A wonderful and insightful collection of related essays. Written with truth at the core, humor, spirituality and the perspective of a searcher in the later stages of his journey."
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Ellen Stevens recommended: The Serviceberry by Robin Wall Kimmerer. She says, "I am a retired small business owner and economics teacher, and this book, really nicely narrated by the author, caused a paradigm shift in how I view life. And it’s very short, less than 2 hours."
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Creator's Campfire
With Rainbow Eagle
SLLC community member, Rainbow Eagle, will lead a discussion entitled: A Personal Journey to Look at the "Actual" Teachings of Yeshua. Here is a video of this upcoming topic. The first session was Tuesday, July 1 at 8 pm, and it will meet every other Tuesday, continuing on Tuesday, July 15. Reach out to Rainbow Eagle at RainbowEagle72@gmail.com in order to receive the Zoom invitation.
Recordings of last month's conversation, "Why Do We Pray When the Creator is ALL Knowing?" is also available from Rainbow Eagle.
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A NIGHT TO INSPIRE
Join us for the Stars of Hope event
Get ready for a night of celebration, connection, and community to help raise $50,000 to support The Hope Dealer Community’s 2025 priorities, including transportation, client care packages, and increased peer and recovery support. We can’t do what we do without you!
Visit their event page to learn more.
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How to Ask Better Questions
Join us on July 12th!
When arguments push us apart, curiosity can pull us back together.
Inspired by Monica Guzman’s TED Talk, this Braver Angels session explores how asking better questions leads to real understanding person to person, and across political lines.
Come and learn the kinds of questions that help us understand others - and to be understood ourselves.
New to Braver Angels? We want to hear your voice! Come learn more about the organization and meet Braver peers in your area.
For additional information contact: Lee Evans at LEvans@BraverAngels.org
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July 19, 2025 : Join Us In Person
8:45 am- 1:30pm
St. Josephine Bakhita Church
6077 Sharon Woods Blvd
Columbus, OH 43229
Contemplative Outreach of Columbus is hosting an In-Person morning of "Immersion in Centering Prayer", followed by a social potluck lunch. Join your CP friends for prayer and fellowship!
This immersion into Centering Prayer will be led by Katy Kram, and will have 3 back-to-back sessions of centering prayer with interspersed slow meditative walks, reflective of an intensive retreat. We will meet at 8:45am in classrooms 6,7 and 8 on Saturday, July 19 at St Josephine Bakhita Church for a morning of silent "being".
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Call for nominations:
Living Faith Awards
The Living Faith Awards is our chance to recognize those in our lives who are living out their faith in an inspiring way.
The Spirituality Network, The Interfaith Association of Central Ohio and The Spiritual Life & Learning Center are hosting this year’s ceremony on Sunday, October 19, 2025.
Nominations can be submitted here and
are due by July 31, 2025.
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A Note from Nadia:
"Because first and foremost, this is not the moment to concede the Christian faith to nationalists. Nor is it the moment to double down on things that don't work.
I'm not willing to keep having my ideas about myself, other people and the world be more informed by shit I read on the internet than on what I experience in my actual life.
So I want to gather with you, laugh with you, and sing with you."
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First Community News
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