Welcome to Wood Hath Hope!
We are a small group discovering the message of Jesus as peace and hope for our world. We believe Jesus’ life and teaching are shifting the human landscape toward nonviolence and forgiveness, even as the crisis of our times continues to build.
We come from different church backgrounds, and none. We are united by a study and understanding of the bible which shows God’s plan was always to overcome violence and death in the world. This belief brings us together as community. We meet for prayer and celebration, and do simple service for others.
Although mainline churches are in decline, and fundamentalism promotes a violent theology, the message of Jesus is creating new communities and opportunities of peace all over the world. We seek to be a faithful part of this movement of the gentle divine Spirit, contributing to an emerging phenomenon.
Why Wood Hath Hope?
We chose Wood Hath Hope as a name because our small community came to birth in the aftermath of a freak tornado that hit Syracuse in September of 1998.
It upended trees, pulled down power lines and left stumps and splintered branches all over the city. This suggested to us the verse from Job quoted above, which refers to more than just trees --rather the way God can work to regenerate a broken world.
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Tony Bartlett seeks to respond to 9/11. See Theology&Peace for full blog, Ritual In Perpetuam "All of 9/11 represented a coding, a dense set of signs whereby some of the things most dear to Americans, to their self-image--got replayed in real time and history as real catastrophe. How could this fiercely cinematic ritual not embed itself like a multiple barb in the national psyche? How could it not infect us like some devilishly designed mental virus loaded with fear, pain and anger? And how could it not provoke the re-ordering of everything in unhesitating retaliatory violence?" |
Our Story & Vision...
More about us.
Calendar of Events
Current and upcoming courses, community
gatherings, and events of interest.
Archive
Previous studies archived on this page. We begin with the Parallel Study of Mark and John which we completed December '08.
News...
Have to confess our regular blogs on the Friday night studies have slipped behind a little. All the reports on the course Christian Origins, Earliest Christianity in Paul & Acts have yet to be posted. One totally excusable reason is that Linda who normally takes notes during the meeting and then posts, has been under the gun with her studies, completing qualification as a nurse practitioner. Now she is in the clear and will return to her faithful recording. The missing posts will eventually turn up on the Present Study page. An added excuse to plead is the beginners' course in WHH Bible Study which ran at Erwin Methodist Church and which we are happy to say was an outstanding success. Looking forward to welcoming visitors from that group to the Friday night meetings! Our new course begins tomorrow, a four week study on The Lord's Prayer.
Usual place of meeting (Health Pathways). See Place Page
For news of a terrific Theology & Peace conference coming up shortly, see Facebook page or T&P Conference.
The study on (Re)Reading the Bible, is available on the Present Study page, followed by the one on Tony's book, Virtually Christian. The later studies, on Parables and Beatitudes, will also be posted there. The older study, Sacred Space, has been transferred to the Archive page.
A lot of stuff has been developed in the blogs over time, so we've added these key themes. They're not so much a systematic treatment but a series of camera-phone images which present an immediate picture. The content is part of who we are and how we understand ourselves as emerging Christians in the 21st century.
Theology of Desire
Transforming Violence
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Visit our continually updated blogs with summary of studies.
Study
Wood Hath Hope offers non-traditional bible study, historically based, with an anthropology of non-violence. Look inside for details...