March 25 Topic:

.Fourth Thursdays from 3-4pm
Free Lecture and Q&A with Deep Thinkers

What is Finished?
The Possibility of an Anti-Institutional Church

As we reflect on the seven last sayings of Christ one of the central statements is found in John 19:30 "When he had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is finished.' With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." If we look at this text simply we can ascertain that Jesus is referring to his suffering, the brutality of the cross is now over, his earthly struggle to reconcile us to God has ended and new life is springing anew.

However, we are wrestling with that exactly is new? What exactly ended and what were we welcomed into in this new era that Christ was welcoming us toward? What if Jesus was saying institutionalized religion is finished? Sects and Denominations are finished? Or labels like "Jews" and ultimately our invested term "Christian" were finished? We will explore the possibilities of what he might have been encouraging us toward that maybe we aren't quite finished maintaining.