Dr. Crystal Hall
Rising from “The Fall”: Creation Care in Genesis 1-4
Saturday, October 1, 2022, 9:00 am – 12:30 pm
Genesis 1-4 presents three stories—a beautifully expansive liturgy of the creation of the world in seven days, one about the relationships among God, Earth and humanity in the Garden, and another about the first murder that leads to the founding of the first city. In four short chapters the biblical story moves from God’s intention for intimate inter-relationship to brokenness and alienation. This workshop will take a classically Lutheran “both/and” approach, exploring both how Creation and humanity are gifted with the grace of relationship from God and how humanity continually falls short in those relationships. These texts will be read with an eye toward how they might serve as theological resources for enlivening Creation care today.
Dr. Crystal Hall is the Kraft Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at United Lutheran Seminary (ULS). She has taught at ULS since 2018 and co-directs the Guatemala Immersion Semester Program. Her research and teaching address God’s call into right relationship with the human Other and with Earth. She is a frequent speaker in congregational and synodical settings on women’s leadership, LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and immigration. Before coming to ULS, Dr. Hall worked as a community organizer and political educator with organizations advocating for human rights, environmental justice and ending poverty. She served on staff with the Poverty Initiative (now the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice), United Workers and the Sierra Club. Dr. Hall is a lay leader in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). She resides in Philadelphia, and enjoys hiking and bringing friends together around a meal.
REGISTRATION
- Registration is $10 per person and must be received by September 15.
- Payment can be made online through a secure link. The link will appear on the confirmation page after your registration form is submitted or can be accessed below.
- Or you can pay by check. Make checks payable to Reformation Lutheran Church; write “S.I.R. 2022″ on the memo line. Drop into the offering plate, or mail to Reformation Lutheran Church, 102 W. Rose Tree Road, Media, PA, 19063
- Free child care is provided, but all children must be registered by using this link below.
Sunday – Dr. Hall will join us…
During the Education Hour (9:45 AM) – Reading The Book of Revelation Ecologically
The Book of Revelation is perhaps one of the most misunderstood texts in the Bible. It features prominently in the lectionary readings appointed for the Easter season. While often associated in popular culture with apocalyptic end times and used to brush away Christian concerns for the Earth, Revelation is a book of hope and can be a theological resource for Creation care. This adult education forum will situate Revelation in its historical context in which it was written in the first century CE, and closely reread Revelation 12 in which Earth herself features prominently as a character.
And her Sunday Sermon is titled: Increase Our Faith