Festival of Faith This Weekend At Lexington Presbyterian Church

Lexington Presbyterian Church (120 S. Main St.) welcomes renowned theologian and author Dr. Norman Wirzba for the church’s biennial Festival of Faith the weekend of Feb. 15 and 16.

A professor of theology at Duke Divinity School, Wirzba has authored numerous books about the intersections of faith, the landscape, and the sacred act of eating, including “Food and Faith,” “This Sacred Life,” “Agrarian Spirit,” “Living the Sabbath,” and the brandnew “Love’s Braided Dance.”

He will anchor a special panel discussion on Saturday, Feb. 15. Saturday’s event begins at 5 p.m. at Dunlap Auditorium with a free supper, prepared by the church’s culinary ministry team, featuring many locally-grown foods. Following the meal, the panel discussion will focus on the theology of the ways we eat, how our eating reflects our attachment to places and how our eating relates to God’s call for justice and mercy.

Wirzba will be joined on the panel by Leah Naomi Green, professor of English and environmental studies at Washington and Lee University and author of “The More Extravagant Feast,” a nationally-acclaimed poetry collection; Ben Eland, Rockbridge farmer/homesteader and chaplain for Connections Plus Hospice Care; and Daniel Shear, owner of Season’s Yield Farm and Bakery.

Saturday’s supper and panel discussion requires free tickets, available through the church website (www.lexpres.org).

On Sunday, Feb. 16, from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m., the church will hold an art show focusing on representations of our local landscape, as well as hands-on arts workshops for all ages that invite creative responses to a question central to Wirzba’s writing and thought: what does it mean to belong to a place? Dr. Wirzba will preach during the 11 a.m. worship service, with a sermon titled “Sabbath Eating.”

All Festival of Faith events are free and open to the community, and child care is provided at the church.