Sophia's Circle

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 height="100%"><tr> <td valign="top" width=180 BGCOLOR="#003399" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <IMG SRC="b77506d0.jpg" border=0 width="80" height="109" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B>St. John's UCC</B></div> <div> 606 N. 5th St.</div> <div> Vincennes, IN 47591</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="St. Johns United Church of Christ"><U>Home Page</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="meet_our_pastor.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Meet Our Pastor"><U>Meet Our Pastor</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="calendar.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Monthly Calendar"><U>Calendar</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="newsletter.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Newsletter"><U>Newsletter</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="about_our_church.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Our Church"><U>About Our Church</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="mission_outreach.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mission/Outreach"><U>Mission/Outreach</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="music.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Music Ministry"><U>Music</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="education.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Education"><U>Education</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="fellowship.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fellowship"><U>Fellowship</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="committees.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Committees Specific information"><U>Committees</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="what_we_believe.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What We Believe"><U>What We Believe</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="church_history.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church History"><U>Church History</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="contact_staff.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact/Staff"><U>Contact/Staff</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="photo_albums.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" St. Johns UCC Photo Gallery"><U>Photo Albums</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="links.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U>Links</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="preschool.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Preschool"><U>Preschool</U></A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#A6CAF0" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I><B>Sophia's Circle Reading Group</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="4" CELLPADDING="8" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="365" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#003399" BORDERCOLORDARK="#003333" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" BGCOLOR=#A6CAF0 > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 183 WIDTH="337"><div> <B>2007/2008 Reading List</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Nov: </B>Sara Groen, <I>Water for Elephants</I></div> <div> <B>Dec:</B> Al Gore, <I>An Inconvenient Truth</I></div> <div> <B>Jan:</B> Jeffrey Eugenides, <I>Middlesex</I></div> <div> <B>Feb: </B>Ishmael Beah, <I>A Long Way Gone: Memories of a Boy Soldier</I></div> <div> <B>Mar:</B> Marilynn Robinson, <I>Gilead</I></div> <div> <B>Apr</B>: Khaled Hosseini, <I>A Thousand Splendid Suns</I></div> <div> <B>May: </B>Barbara Kingsolver, <I>The Poisonwood Bible</I></div> <div> <B>June: </B>Anita Diamant, <I>The Red Tent</I></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <IMG SRC="123b5a5a0.jpg" border=0 width="90" height="90" ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="8" VSPACE="0">Sophia," an Old Testament name for God's Wisdom, is the inspiration for this informal reading group and book study to explore a current book using the insight of our faith to shape our discussions. </div> <bR> <div> Everyone is welcome! We usually meet the third Wednesday of every month at 7 PM. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Anita Diamant: </B><I><B>The Red Tent </B></I><B>(June 18, 7 PM)</B></div> <div> The red tent is the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and even illness. Like the conversations and mysteries held within this feminine tent, this sweeping piece of fiction offers an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers and wives and their one and only daughter, Dinah. Told in the voice of Jacob's daughter Dinah (who only received a glimpse of recognition in the Book of Genesis), we are privy to the fascinating feminine characters who bled within the red tent. In a confiding and poetic voice, Dinah whispers stories of her four mothers, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah--all wives to Jacob, and each one embodying unique feminine traits. As she reveals these sensual and emotionally charged stories we learn of birthing miracles, slaves, artisans, household gods, and sisterhood secrets. Eventually Dinah delves into her own saga of betrayals, grief, and a call to midwifery.  "Like any sisters who live together and share a husband, my mother and aunties spun a sticky web of loyalties and grudges," Anita Diamant writes in the voice of Dinah. "They traded secrets like bracelets, and these were handed down to me the only surviving girl. They told me things I was too young to hear. They held my face between their hands and made me swear to remember." Remembering women's earthy stories and passionate history is indeed the theme of this magnificent book. In fact, it's been said that <I>The Red Tent</I> is what the Bible might have been had it been written by God's daughters, instead of her sons. <I>--Gail Hudson (Amazon)</I></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>