Faith 250 – The Four Texts

Faith 250, The Four Texts – A Lenten Soup and Study

Join us for 4 weeks during Lent where we will center on reading, reflecting on, and responding to Scripture as a community using the Faith 250 Scripture Project as a starting point.  At its core, the project frames faith as a scripture‑shaped trust rooted in God’s ongoing work across history and within God’s people.

Within the conversations around the project, faith is portrayed not as abstract belief but as participation—a living engagement with God’s story. Faith is explicitly tied to being a community of faith moving “into a better future,” emphasizing that faith shapes how people live together, reflect on history, and respond to God’s call.

The project draws from the American Scripture Project, which encourages reading foundational texts with honesty and depth. This approach suggests faith involves hearing scripture anew, allowing it to question, challenge, guide, and form us. It implies that faith is not passive acceptance, but disciplined attention—seeing our lives, our nation’s history, and our future through the lens of God’s Word.

We invite you into a shared journey of reflection for Lent. This reinforces that faith is communal, shaped by worship, study, and collective discernment.

Week 1, February 25:  The New Colossus, Emma Lazarus 1883. Values of shared humanity, freedom and opportunity

Week 2, March 4: The Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson 1776. Values of equality, liberty, right to challenge injustice, the ability to live with American’s unfulfilled ideals

Week 3, March 11: America the Beautiful, Katherine Lee Bates, 1895, 1911. Values of physical beauty, brotherhood, moral aspiration

Week 4: March 18 What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? Frederick Douglass, 1852. Values of freedom, equality, honesty.

Our evening will start with a Soup and Salad dinner followed by our study. If you’d like to help with dinner, please sign up here.