Piety Hill Musings

The ramblings of the Rector of St. John's Church in the city of Detroit. Piety Hill refers to the old name for our neighborhood. The neighborhood has changed a great deal in the over 165 years we have been on this corner (but not our traditional biblical theology) and it is now known for the neighboring theatres, the professional baseball and football stadiums and new hockey/basketball arena.

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Location: Detroit, Michigan, United States

Monday, October 07, 2024

Dante, Alpha, and the neighborhood - Rector's Rambling for October 6, 2024

Last week we started our Adult Education Class on Dante’s Inferno.  Elizabeth Savage is leading this class, and on the first week we had 17 people in attendance, with a few more people planning on joining us this week.  Last week we did an introduction to Dante, and Canto 1.  Today we plan on discussing Cantos 2 through 4.  We are using two translations, by Mark Musa, and Robert and Jean Hollander, to help us look at not only the small translations differences, but the differing notes that the authors feel are pertinent about the text.  Just as Virgil is guiding Dante on his way through this epic poetic journey, Elizabeth is guiding us through the class!  Interested?  Come sit in on the class after the 10 AM Service to give it a try. 

Note - with the Tigers Playoff Schedule now announced, we have pushed back the start of ALPHA to November 7th.

On Thursday we begin The Alpha Course.  HOWEVER...as of the writing of this article which we have to send to the printer Wednesday morning, so therefore we do not know if the Detroit Tigers will be hosting a home playoff game that evening at Comerica Park.  For the good of the community I hope that they win the wildcard series and at least one of the first two games of the American League Divisional Series so that they will have game scheduled at home on Wednesday and Thursday.

If this turns out to be true then we will have to pivot on when/where the class will start because of traffic issues in the neighborhood.  This would be a great problem to have (or may not be a problem at all—we will have to see).

All that above being said, let me encourage you to sign up for the Alpha Course.  The evening begins with dinner at 6:30 PM, followed by an entertaining video teaching and then a discussion.  We are generally finished by 8 PM.  And the course is FREE. 

Alpha is not only for those of us in the Church who would like a refresher course on The Faith, but also a class for those discerning a relationship with Jesus Christ, or even those who are just curious about Christianity. Know anyone like that?  Invite them to join us for this free meal, class, and discussion.