Adult Summer Learning: An Inheritance to Possess
How do we relate to the land on which we live? Many factors influence our response to that question, including our family background and personal path through life, the history of the land, whether we own the land or rent our space on it, our view of land as part of God’s creation, our place in the community around us, and more. Join in the study and exploration of these questions in a 4-week series with teaching pastor Peter A. Pettit.
There will be two opportunities to attend each of the four sessions, in order to accommodate people’s different schedules and to have discussion in smaller groups. Choose either Sundays from 4-5 p.m. or Mondays from 12-1 p.m., beginning July 11 and running weekly through August 2. Mix and match week by week if you wish, coming to whichever of the two sessions works best, Sunday or Monday.
July 11-12 | Place, Land, and Identity
What sort of personal background and experience in relation to land do we each bring to our conversation? How do we think about our land and the land of others? What biblical models of land possession might inform our perspectives? (The series title is drawn from Deuteronomy 26:1, New Revised Standard Version.)
July 18-19 | American Inheritance and Possession
How do the cultures of native Americans and of European Americans understand people’s relationship to land? What implications are there in each culture’s understanding of interactions among people? How have the two cultures encountered one another in relation to land possession?
July 25-26 | St. Paul Land Possession
In the context of the Quad Cities area and of Davenport, in particular, where has St. Paul Lutheran Church possessed land? What are the dynamics related to its choice of locations and its use of land? How does St. Paul’s location influence its ministries?
August 1-2 | Inheriting, Possessing, and Purpose
Is there a principle about land possession that we can draw from biblical sources? What does it mean to be responsible in possession of land? How does possession of land in one generation relate to the land and its possessors in generations prior and generations yet to come?
Child care and elementary-age children’s activities will be available during the Sunday afternoon sessions each week. Please sign up online at stpaulqc.org/sign- ups if you expect to bring your children to either one of those. Activities will be led by Maddy Carroll.
