Evenings of Enrichment, Desserts Offered

AVALON – The New Avalon Assembly will be, for some, like a rediscovery of mythical Camelot, or more historically correct, a Chatauqua-like experience by the sea.
For five evenings through July and August, a series of lectures with dialogue and – yes, dessert – will take place at First United Methodist Church of Avalon, 3344 Dune Dr.
During a wine-and-cheese reception at Avalon Historical Museum, Dr. Dave Montanye said he “came across this Avalon Summer Assembly, and was intrigued that they (a Chatauqua-like assembly) were in existence about the same time the church was formed.”
His interest sparked, the pastor recalled a friend who was on the board of the New York Chatauqua, and he began investigating.
Armed with what he found at the local museum and researching on his own, he found it was part of a nationwide movement in 1893.
The idea was a renewal of things educational as well as spiritual, and, looking back, drew many, including a famed artist Robert Henri, whose work inspired local artist.
“We were thinking what would it be like to create a few events life that?” Montanye said.
He linked with Rev. Wayne Conrad who “uncovered a number of people who had an interest in giving a presentation.”
Then, as if the necessary third prong became evident, a church member commented to the pastor there were very few places in Avalon where someone could go simply for dessert.
Thus was born the notion to have a Chatauqua-like lecture and discussion, and end the evening with a refreshing dessert.
Among those lectures will be:
Health and Wellness at every age
The Theology of Charles Schultz
The Spiritual Legacy of Carl Jung
Listening to the Heartbeat of God: A Primer of Celtic Spirituality
Thomas Merton and the Seven Story Mountain
Art through the Creator’s Eye
A Guided Inquiry: Designing Schools for the 21st Century.
Building a Better Shoreline after Sandy.
Lectures will conclude with an outdoor concert, and will take place July 9, 16, 23, 30, and Aug. 6. All begin at 7 p.m.
The New Avalon Assembly is funded by “Between the Times” program of the Southern New Jersey Council on Health Ministries. Congregational Support Programs will provide a $1,000 grant to support the program’s development. Others in the business and private community will be asked to be program co-sponsors.
The assembly is also seeking organizational membership in the Chautauqua Network, a non-profit organization whose members are committed to the idea of building community by supporting all persons in the development of their full potential intellectually, spiritually emotionally and physically.
Montanye said the Chatauqua movement was “Primarily an American thing based on the idea of self-improvement.”
Supporters of that early movement, he noted, included William Jennings Bryant and Theodore Roosevelt. They were “Talking in a populist sense what was spiritual in nature and was all about its outworking,” he added.
“Chatauqua was the most American of institutions, and that was really true,” Montanye continued. “We still see it a little bit on the Fourth of July in Ocean Grove. You see that kind of patriotism and Americanism.”
He said the idea is to expand to such an audience.
“One of the things we hear a lot of in religion circles is about the Pew Charitable Trust,” Montanye said. “The largest group (of Americans) is not of any denomination. They say they are spiritual but not religious. I don’t quite know what that means, but we are exploring that. Can we, together, find what spiritual and not religious means in this series of lectures?” he asked.
The aim of the series is to “be ecumenical” that is why they have included a Thomas Merton lecture.
“We are trying to make it more appealing to the nominally religious who are not really connected to the church,” Montanye said.
“There are a lot of kids whose generation was raised in the church, who, for one reason or another were drawn away by the lure of the world. They are still deeply spiritual people and they are exploring to affirm where they are,” said Conrad.
“The church, at best, is a community of seekers trying to come into common spirituality… to reengage. They have wonderful gifts, but are also floundering,” he concluded.
The 1893 Avalon Summer Assembly program came after the 1876 founding of the Chatauqua Institution by an inventor and Methodist minister, according to a church release.
Located along Lake Chatauqua, in western New York, the original institution provided a series of lectures, concerts, religious speakers and afforded an opportunity to “recreate one’s self” in “beautiful natural surroundings.”
That gave birth to the movement that was made popular by such resorts as Ocean Grove Camp Meeting and Colorado Chatauqua.
Avalon’s own experience started in 1893, also the years Avalon’s Methodist church was incorporated.
For a $15 fee, at that time, the course provided lectures, accommodations with meals in private cottages and the Avalon Hotel.
The evenings will include question and answer times, as well as “gourmet desserts and coffee or tea and opportunity to make one’s own ice cream sundae.