What’s Happening in His Ministry
Upcoming Events
Now that the COVID crisis has receded, Gordon is once again accepting invitations for in-person teaching engagements. He is also happy to participate in ZOOM programs.
Past Events
April 16, 23, 30, May 14, 21: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon taught a new five-part series titled Bizarre Wisdom: The Apocalyptic Voice in Ancient Judaism, Early Christianity, and Modern America. This series explores the rise of the apocalyptic genre in ancient Judaism, its adoption and flourishing in early Christianity, and its strong revival in modern America, including both in Evangelical Protestantism and secular culture. The series discusses the characteristics of this genre and therefore the ways we need to approach reading and interpreting books like the Revelation of John in the New Testament. The series ends with Gordon’s personal thoughts on the strengths of this kind of bizarre wisdom and enduring concerns about its influence on individuals and cultures.
April 20, 2023: Charlottesville, Virginia
By popular request in response to his lecture on St. Patrick, Gordon launched a six-part series on the story of Celtic Christianity. The series is titled: The Cross in the Circle. This series offers a survey of the story of early medieval Christianity as practiced in Celtic lands, like Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The series will be given as one lecture each month for the next six months.
March 19, 2023: Charlottesville, Virginia
In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, Gordon gave his lecture on the life of St. Patrick to an audience at the Colonnades in Charlottesville. This lecture seeks to move behind the legends to tells the story of the real man who has been called the apostle of Ireland.
January 9-30, 2022: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon has taught a four-week series on Christian Hospitality as a spiritual discipline. The course, titled Christian Hospitality: Entertaining Angels Unaware, looked at the challenge of Christian hospitality as a means of grace in growing spiritually. The course explored hospitality given to family and friends, given to strangers, immigrants, and refugees, and given to enemies. We looked at how hospitality lies at the center of the Christian doctrine of God as Trinity and at the essence of the Lord’s Supper. The course was taught at First Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia.
February 2021: Charlottesville, Virginia
After taking a ten-month sabbatical, Gordon has re-activated his blog, The Bible’s in My Blood. He uses this blog to share reflections on the Bible. In this reactivation he is focusing his attention on only one book of the Bible: The Book of Exodus. Exodus is one of history’s most influential books and a personal favorite of Gordon. You are invited to explore it together with Gordon.
May 10, 2020: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon led a one-session presentation exploring the vision of the new Jerusalem that John gives in Revelation 21-22. It was titled: Heaven on Earth. The presentation explores the vision of human community that John sees coming when the Kingdom of God is established in its fulness. The presentation was given to an online adult Sunday school class for First Presbyterian Church.
February 25, 2020: Birmingham, Alabama
The Independent Presbyterian Church has chosen Gordon’s book on Galatians as the resource book for its small groups’ Lenten study. The church invited Gordon to address participants in preparation. Gordon gave one presentation on the background of the Epistle to the Galatians to an assembly of those participating in the small groups. Following that presentation, he led a smaller workshop giving guidance to teachers and others who would be leading the small groups.
January 19, 2020: Culpeper, Virginia
Gordon made a presentation on the topic of the spiritual challenges and opportunities facing people as they grow older, especially into their retirement years. The presentation was given to members of Culpeper Presbyterian Church as a part of their regular monthly Discipleship Night series. Some lively discussion followed.
October 20, November 3 and 17, 2019: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon made three presentations to an adult class at First Presbyterian Church exploring three English poets who wrote religious verse: Francis Thompson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and T. S. Eliot. He is co-teaching this course with a colleague. The course explores how Christian poets express their faith and religious experience in their poetry. Other poets included in the class were John Donne, George Herbert, and John Milton.
May 12, 19, 26, 2019: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon launched his new series “In the Beginning: The Creation Stories of Genesis 1-3” for an adult church school class at the First Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville. This three-session series opens up and explore the two Hebrew creation stories. The views of the world and of human beings expressed in them have set some foundational convictions for Jewish and Christian theologies.
April 14, 2019: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon gave his presentation on “Easter Traditions: Pagan and Christian” to an adult forum at the First Presbyterian Church of Charlottesville.
March 14, 2019: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon gave a presentation on the life and ministry of St. Patrick to residents of the Westminster-Canterbury retirement community.
October 20, 2018: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon gave a presentation on the practice of centering prayer among prison inmates. Gordon spoke from his two-year experience as a team leader of a centering prayer group among inmates in a medium security prison in Augusta County in Virginia.
June 3-July 22, 2018: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon led an adult study class for eight Sundays in June and July. The focus of study was the Book of Exodus. The story of the exodus lies not only at the heart of the Jewish identity and of Old Testament theology, but it also provides the paradigm of salvation that has governed the mindset of the New Testament and Christian spirituality through the centuries. The class explored this paradigm by working through the beginning stages of the journey as described in the Book of Exodus.
April 15, 2018: Keswick, Virginia
Gordon participated in an adult Sunday School class at South Plains Presbyterian Church. The class had been studying Galatians using Gordon’s new book as a study guide. They wanted to engage in some face-to-face discussion with the book’s author.
February 11 and 18, 2018: Palmyra, Virginia
Gordon taught a two-session introduction to the Gospel of John to a group of lay people at Grace and Glory Lutheran Church. The church is reading John as its Sunday morning lectionary gospel. The pastor asked Gordon to provide the congregation with some background on the gospel. Gordon’s two lectures provide information on the gospel’s authorship and community origins as well as major characteristics and themes.
February 1, 2018: Louisville, Kentucky
Gordon taught a class on the prophet Jonah to a Men’s Morning Bible Class at the Second Presbyterian Church. The need of this class for appropriate study materials was part of the inspiration behind Gordon’s writing of his study guide on Galatians, published in early 2017. The church’s pastor, Steve Jester, is also using the book in another class he is teaching. He comments on it: “… a solid piece of work and very helpful.”
January 31-February 3, 2018: Louisville, Kentucky
Gordon attended the national conference of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. This conference draws Christian educators from both the United States and Canada for a time of keynote sessions, workshops, and networking. Gordon has taught i the conference in past years, but did not this year.
October 30-November 13, 2017: Charlottesville, Virginia
In the fall semester offered by the Osher Institute of Lifelong Learning of the University of Virginia, Gordon taught his three-session series on the formation of the Christian Bible. The series included presentations on the textual transmission of the Bible, Bible translation, and the process of canonization of the Bible.
August 27-September 24, 2017: Charlottesville, Virginia
For five Sundays that began on August 27, Gordon taught an adult church school class at First Presbyterian Church, Charlottesville. The class was an introduction to the apostle Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. This class followed up the recent publication of his new book, Charter of Christian Freedom: A Layperson’s Study Guide to the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Galatians.
April 30, 2017: Palmyra, Virginia
Grace and Glory Lutheran Church invited Gordon to give a presentation on the canonization process of the Bible at its adult confirmation class this afternoon. The students were interested in knowing how Christians got their Bible.
April 30, 2017: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon made a presentation on the Letter to the Galatians to the high school church school class of First Presbyterian Church, Charlottesville. This supported the class’s study of the Letter of the Galatians that they have been undertaking for the last four weeks. He spoke in particular on how this letter of Paul had led to a revolution in his own spiritual life.
April 4, 2017: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon made a presentation on centering prayer and the contemplative prayer tradition at the Westminster Canterbury Retirement Community. His talk was a part of the community’s Lenten-time series on spiritual practices and disciplines.
December 6, 2016: Crozet, Virginia
Gordon conducted a class for newly elected elders of Tabor Presbyterian Church. The class provided them with an orientation to Presbyterian polity, discussing its theology and operating principles as laid out in the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A.
October 9, 16, 23, 30: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon presented his course “Who’s In, Who’s Out?” to an adult Sunday school class at First Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville. This course explored the challenge of defining a religious identity. We explore the subject through interaction with Ezra/Nehemiah, Ruth, Jonah, and Acts.
April 18, 25, and May 2, 2016: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon taught his lecture series “The Cross in the Circle: The Story of Celtic Christianity” to a class of 40 participants under the sponsorship of OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute), a continuing education program sponsored by the University of Virginia. This makes the third OLLI course Gordon has taught.
January 29, 2016: Chicago, Illinois
Gordon led a workshop on the elements of a robust, full-bodied Christian education program for adults in a local church. This workshop was one of the workshops offered to Christian educators attending the Association of Presbyterian Christian Educations (APCE) national conference that met in Chicago that week. The workshop offered an opportunity for Gordon to address a group of educators drawn from around the country and Canada.
November 29, December 6, 13, 2015: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon taught his four-session series “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” to an adult study class at the First Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville. The series explores the imagery and theology of Advent through the lens of four popular Advent hymns.
November 4, 11,18, 2015: Fluvanna County, Virginia
Gordon gave his three-session lecture series “Why Does My Bible Read the Way It Does” to the Wednesday night adult study class that meets at Beaverdam Baptist Church. This lecture delves into issues on the formation of the Christian Bible.
October 18, 25, 2015: Charlottesville, Virginia
For two Sundays, Gordon gave his presentation “The Spiritual Journey–Quest or Exodus?” to the adult forum of the Episcopal Church of Our Savior in Charlottesville.
October 7, 14, 21, 28, 2015: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon taught his four-session series “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling: The Christian Doctrine of the Trinity” to an evening adult class that met in the Olivet Presbyterian Church in Crozet, Virginia. He was invited to do so when a former attendee at one of his lecture series so raved about his teaching that the minister invited him to teach at his church.
September 20, 2015: Dallas, Texas
Gordon gave his lecture “A Cause for Laughter: The Christian Proclamation of Resurrection” to the Logos Class of the First Presbyterian Church of Dallas. This class is the class that Gordon taught for 13 years during the time he and his wife lived in Dallas. The presentation offered a wonderful reunion with the students who played such an important role in launching Gordon’s teaching ministry.
August 2, 9, 16, 2015: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon taught his three-session lecture series “Why Does My Bible Read the Way It Does?” to an adult church school class at First Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville.
April 30, 2015: Harrisonburg,Virginia
Gordon led a one-day retreat for adults at the Massanetta Springs Conference Center. The title: “Entertaining Angels Unawares–The Practice of Christian Hospitality.” After a general introduction to the theme of Christian hospitality as a spiritual discipline, Gordon led the retreat audience of 50 into an exploration of Christian hospitality as practiced with family and friends, with strangers and foreigners, and with enemies. The day ended with a Eucharist, which manifests God’s hospitality to us.
April 12, 19, 26, May 3, 10, 17, 2015: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon taught his six-session series on Celtic Christianity at the First Presbyterian Church of Charlottesville. He first assembled this series in 2005 and has since presented it in a number of different church and secular settings.
April 2, 9, 16, 23, 2015: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon taught a four-session course on the doctrine of the Trinity with OLLI. OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) is a continuing education program sponsored by the University of Virginia. The course was titled “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling: The Christian Doctrine of the Trinity.” This course seeks to make the doctrine of the Trinity accessible to people who do not have a professional theological education.
February 4, 2015: Baltimore, Maryland
Gordon made a presentation on adult education in local churches at the annual conference of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. His talk, titled “Feeding Christ’s Sheep, Not His Lambs,” discuss three elements that build a robust, full-bodied education ministry for adults. Those elements include evangelism, Christian formation, and opportunities for deeper theological reflection.
November 30, December 7, 14: Crozet, Virginia
Gordon taught a three-session series at Tabor Presbyterian Church. The series is titled “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” The series uses three well-known Advent hymns to discuss the multi-layered meanings of the Advent season. The three hymns give us a means to talk about the coming of Christ in the past, in the future, and in the present.
November 15, 2014: Columbia, Virginia
Gordon taught a one-day workshop on Christian prayer at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Columbia. The workshop gave special attention to prayer in the contemplative tradition, especially to lectio divina and centering prayer.
August 31, 2014
Gordon retired from his ministry as Pastor of Scottsville Presbyterian Church. He has redirected his energies to teaching and to writing. He is now available to teach in churches on Sunday mornings, something he could not do while he was an active pastor.
June 10, 17, 24, 2014: Scottsville, Virginia
Gordon launched a new lecture series to an ecumenical audience in Scottsville. The series was titled “The Formation of the Christian Bible.” The series seeks to answer a common question people ask in his Bible studies: Why does my Bible read the way it does? He develops a three-part answer to this question in which he looks at three processes in the formation of the Christian Bible: canonization, textual transmission, and translation.
April 12, 2014: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon delivered his lecture, “Easter Traditions Pagan and Christian: What They Share in Common and Where They Differ,” to an audience of the residents of the Westminster Canterbury community for senior citizens.
March 31, April 7, 14: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon delivered his lecture series on Celtic Christianity, “The Cross in the Circle,” under the sponsorship of the University of Virginia’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI). OLLI offers a variety of college-level lectures and workshops to the community of Charlottesville, Virginia. Registration in the course was completely full.
November 19-22, 2013: The Atlantic shore of North Carolina
The Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Church (USA) invited Gordon to be a part of a select group of 10 Presbyterian ministers invited to participate in a three-day pastor-theologian consultation on the Holy Spirit. This consultation reviewed recent scholarship on the Holy Spirit and developed proposals for nurturing a more lively consciousness of the Holy Spirit into Presbyterian congregations.
September 24, October 1,8,15,22,29: Scottsville, Virginia
Gordon presented his lecture series on the story of Celtic Christianity to an ecumenical audience from Scottsville. The series repeated the six lectures that compose his series “The Cross in the Circle.” He added an illustrated slide show to the lectures.
October 6, 2013: Charlottesville, Virginia
As a part of a training program for newly elected elders in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Gordon gave a lecture on the Directory for Worship of the Presbyterian Church’s Book of Order. The lecture outlined basic principles of Presbyterian worship as outlined in the Book of Order and discussed some of the duties of elders in overseeing worship in their local churches.
April 12, 2013: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon addressed the Graduate Christian Fellowship of the Center for Christian Studies at the University of Virginia. He spoke on the personal impact that the apostle Paul’s Letter to the Galatians has had on his life. He spoke in particular on the revolution that Galatians, Chapter 5, had on his theology several years ago.
March 8, 2013: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon addressed the Interreligious Discussion Group of the Senior Center of Charlottesville. His lecture topic was “A Cause for Laughter: The Christian Proclamation of Resurrection.” The lecture contrasted the New Testament’s proclamation of resurrection with ancient Greco-Roman and Jewish views of death and the afterlife.
February 27, 2013: Scottsville, Virginia
Gordon spoke at St. Anne’s Episcopal Parish as a part of their Wednesday night Lenten series on spiritual journeys. He delivered a new lecture on spiritual journeys in which he compared the model of the hero’s quest, popularized by the late Joseph Campbell, with the Old Testament model of the Exodus.
February 10, 2013: Greene County, Virginia
Blue Ridge Presbyterian Church chose John Ortberg’s Who Is This Man? The Unpredictable Impact of the Inescapable Jesus as the text for their adult Lenten study. The church invited Gordon to launch them in their study by giving an introduction to the book.
November 14, 2012: Palmyra, Virginia
Gordon delivered his lecture on the book of Jonah (“The Petulant Prophet”) to a gathering of the Faith and Glory Lutheran Church in Palmyra.
April 16, 2012: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon has launched a new blog devoted to conversation with and about the Bible. He invites you to visit it at The Bible’s in My Blood. If you like what you see, you can follow his postings by clicking on the sidebar button Follow This Blog by E-Mail. He welcomes your comments and reactions. Just click on the cartoon dialogue cloud to make a comment.
March 17, 2012: Scottsville, Virginia
Gordon entertained a congregational dinner at Scottsville’s St. George’s Roman Catholic Church with a presentation on the life of St. Patrick. The patron saint of Ireland is one of Gordon’s great heroes within Christian history. The story of Patrick, as revealed through his autobiographical writings, is a living testimonial to power of Jesus’ admonition to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. In Patrick’s case, that principle led to the evangelization of the Irish people.
March 9, 2012: Charlottesville, Virginia
Gordon addressed the Comparative Religions Study Group of Charlottesville’s Senior Citizens Center. His presentation was titled A Cause for Laughter: The Christian Proclamation of Resurrection.The lecture analyzed the New Testament proclamation of Jesus’ resurrection and the future resurrection of believers. He set this proclamation within its cultural context of 1st century Greek and Jewish beliefs about death and the afterlife
Gordon Lindsey 