The Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields is an Episcopal parish in the Diocese of Pennsylvania that is centered on the worship of God, the ministry of all baptized persons, and the call to be agents of Christ’s love in the world.
Contact
Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields
8000 St. Martin’s Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19118
215.247.7466

The Reverend Robert L. Tate, Rector

THE SUNDAY FORUM

Sept. 16 Rector’s Forum
Join The Reverend Bob Tate, Rector, for a lively conversation in this open forum. Please bring your questions
regarding St Martin’s, the wider Episcopal Church, or other topics of interest.

Sept. 23 - Oct. 7 Pastor Poets: Reflections on the Lives and Poems of George Herbert and R. S. Thomas (with a little of Fred Borsch)
R.S. Thomas once commented on George Herbert: ‘Yeats saw that out of his quarrel with others man makes rhetoric, but out of his quarrel with himself, poetry. Herbert surely had no quarrel with others, nor with himself primarily… but with God, and God always won’ (quoted from the Right Reverend Frederick Borsch’s book The Spirit Searches
Everything: Keeping Life’s Questions). In this three part series, Bishop Borsch introduces us to the poetry of two Angli- can priests: seventeenth century George Herbert and twentieth century R. S. Thomas: how their faith informed their poetry and how through their poetry they explored questions of God, belief, and life.

Oct. 14 In the Footsteps of Martin
In June, the J2A group traveled to Tours, France on their pilgrimage, to walk in the footsteps of Saint Martin. Join us as they share stories of their trip and questions they probed. Who was Martin and what does his story have to do with contemporary Christian life? Perhaps this may inspire an adult pilgrimage to Tours…

Oct. 21—28 Beyond Bishop White
Many Philadelphia Episcopalians are aware that Bishop White was the first bishop of Pennsylvania and may even know that he served as the first Presiding Bishop and was instrumental in the formation of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. But have you ever wondered about our story beyond Bishop White?
Historians David Contasta and Ann Greene, both of whom have been working on writing the history of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, will share with us not only the more interesting parts of the Diocese’s story but also the process that they as historians use to research the past.

Nov. 4 & 11 No Forum on All Saints’ Sunday or St. Martin’s Sunday

Nov. 18 Diocesan Update
A lot is happening in the life of the Episcopal Church these days. This hour will provide an opportunity to learn the latest regarding the Episcopal Church’s relationships with its sister provinces in the Anglican Communion, where we stand in relation with Canterbury, as well as what is currently happening in the Diocese of Pennsylvania.

Nov. 25 Reflections from the Center
Join us as the Right Reverend Frank T. Griswold, III and Phoebe Griswold share their reflections on life, leadership, and ministry in the Episcopal Church over the past decade.


Dec. 2 - Dec. 16 Sacred Space
The Spanish essayist Jose Ortega y Gasset once said, ‘Tell me the place you live, and I will tell you who you are.’ Place matters. But what, exactly, is sacred space? What determines the sanctity of a specific place? This series, led by The Reverend Doctor Pamela Cooper-White, Professor of Pastoral Theology, Doctor Jon Pahl, Professor of History of Christianity in North America - both on faculty of the Philadelphia Lutheran Theological Seminary - and Robert
Jaeger, Executive Director of Partners for Sacred Places, will explore the power of place in forming and nurturing individuals and societies.

Dec. 23 No Forum - Carol Sing

Dec. 30 No Forum on 1 Christmas - Lessons and Carols

Jan. 6 St. Martin’s Outreach Partnerships
We begin the winter term with an opportunity to learn more about our outreach partnership organizations and ways you can be involved.

Jan. 13 - 27 Aging: It’s Not for the Faint of Heart
When Paul McCartney wrote ‘When I’m Sixty-four’ at the age of sixteen, sixty-four probably seemed old! However, with the average life span increasing, many of us will live well into our eighties and nineties. What does it mean to age these days? This series will explore a number of issues, including spirituality and ministry, quality of life, and loss and grief as we move into the twilight of life.

Feb. 3 Living the Vision: An Update
Budgets are important public theological documents: they articulate the values, beliefs, and priorities of a community. How is St Martin's ‘being the Church’ here and now? Where are we going next? Are we staying true to our mission and vision? These questions can be answered in part through an examination of our budget, facilitated by the
Wardens and Vestry.

Feb. 10 - Mar. 9 The Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel is considered to be the clearest expression of the ethical teaching of
Jesus in the gospels. In this series we will examine in detail chapters 5-7 of Matthew. What is the relationship between these sayings of Jesus and earlier material in both ancient Judaism and early Christianity? How do we hear these teachings today? This series is led by The Reverend Bob Tate and Patricia Pregmon.

Mar. 16, 23 & 30 No Forum on Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, or Easter 2

Apr. 6 - May 11 Easter People in a Culture of Violence
We live in a culture that is increasingly violent, one that is focused on revenge and retribution. Yet as Christians we are called to model repentance and reconciliation. This series will focus specifically on the rise of violence in the city of Philadelphia, including the problems of gangs and gun violence, and various initiatives in both the faith and secular communities to alleviate the situation.