“Am I That Bad? Reflections on the Sinner Identity” will be the theme of a Lenten retreat at St. Luke Orthodox Christian Church, March 22-24.

Dr. Peter Bouteneff will lead the retreat at the church, 501 Sunset Drive, consisting of three sessions. The public is invited to all the sessions and services that accompany them. Bouteneff will draw on his book How to Be a Sinner to address how to recognize ourselves as sinners in a way that opens us to receive God’s forgiveness and enables us to forgive ourselves.

Sessions will take place in St. Luke’s parish hall at 7 p.m. on both Friday, March 22, and Saturday, March 23. A final session will begin at noon on Sunday, March 24.  The sessions will follow evening prayer services that begin at 6 p.m. on March 22 and 5:30 pm on March 23, and also after the Divine Liturgy at 10 a.m. on March 24.  A light meal will be provided in conjunction with the presentations.

For more information on the retreat, contact Father Philip LeMasters, the pastor of St. Luke, at frphiliplemasters@gmail.com.  The parish’s website is:  www.stlukeorthodox.net.

Dr. Peter Bouteneff

Dr. Bouteneff is Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York, where he has taught for the past 23 years.  He is also the founding director of the Seminary’s Institute for Sacred Arts and the author of Arvo Pärt: Out of Silence, Sweeter than Honey: Orthodox Thinking on Dogma and Truth, and many other publications.