Sunday Adult Forum
Faith seeking understanding
Learning is never over, and "faith seeking understanding" (as St. Anselm said) is part and parcel of the Christian vocation. What do we have yet to learn, and how is the life of the spirit enriched by the discourse of the mind? As part of our commitment to formation - not just for children - St. Paul-Reformation presents a weekly Sunday Morning Adult Forum from 9:10 a.m. until 10:10 a.m. each Sunday during the academic year in Tidemann Hall. These presentations are free and open to the public, and all you need to do is bring an openness to learn and an inquiring mind. We seek to present on a variety of topics from the arts to current events to contemporary theological issues. You are welcome to ask questions...or just sit quietly and listen. And, wherever you are in these marvelous conversations...you are always welcome.
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September 15
Women in the Early Church
Jennifer Wojciechowski, Luther Seminary
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Jennifer Hornyak Wojciechowski is assistant professor of church history, and she has been teaching at Luther since 2019. Prior to this, she taught in the religion department at Augsburg University. She is author of the book “Women and the Christian Story: A Global History” (Fortress, 2022) and numerous articles in publications including Word & World and Minnesota History. Her research focuses on women’s history, American history, and the intersection of religion and social reform.
September 22
Interfaith Action: Project HOME
Sara Liegl, Interfaith Action
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Sara Liegl has worked at Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul since 1998. Since 2001, Sara has directed Interfaith Action’s Project Home program, which provides emergency shelter to hundreds of children and their parents/guardians each year in Ramsey County, MN. A graduate of the School of Social Work at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Sara has previously worked in child protection services in Wisconsin and at residential Girl Scout camps in Wisconsin and Maine. Sara has served on the Board of Directors of Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless, providing funding for agencies across the state of Minnesota. Currently, Sara serves as the Board Chair for the Federal Emergency Shelter and Food Program (ESFP) Local Advisory Board in Ramsey County. Additionally, she is a Heading Home Ramsey (HHR) Steering Committee member, and co-chairs the HHR Family Work Group.
September 29
African Economic Development Solutions
Gene Gulu, African Economic Development Solutions
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African Economic Development Solutions had a simple goal: we want our clients to build businesses that create jobs with livable wages. We want families to own homes and to break free of poverty. We strive to connect and build vibrant communities with creativity and social connection. Gene Gulu serves as founder and Executive Director.
October 6
Baked Into the Cake: Consumerism in America
Dr. Tracy Deutsch, University of Minnesota
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Tracey Deutsch is an associate professor of history at the University of Minnesota and a coeditor of the journal Gender and History. She teaches, researches, and writes in the areas of gender and women's history, consumption, critical food studies, and capitalism. She is the author of Building a Housewife's Paradise: Gender, Government, and American Grocery Stores, 1919–1968 (2010), winner of the Association for the Study of Food and Society's book prize. She has also published essays on the uses of women's history and women's labor in contemporary local food discourses. Her current research uses Julia Child's biography to study the emergence of food as a crucial object in middle-class life in the mid-twentieth-century United States. She is also pursuing research on the history of the abstraction of consumer demand in economic thought.
October 13
Ain Day Yung: Our Home
Sheri Riemers, Ain Dah Yung Center, Minneapolis
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Meaning "Our Home" in Ojibwe, Ain Dah Yung Center provides a healing place within the community for American Indian youth and families to thrive in safety and wholeness. Providing services from housing to afterschool programs, Ain Dah Yung is led by Sheri Riemers, Executive Director.
October 20
How Divided is America?
Dr. Howard Lavine, University of Minnesota
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Howard Lavine is Associate Dean of the Social Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Arleen C. Carlson Professor of Political Science and Psychology. His work centers on the psychological underpinnings of mass political behavior. He is the author of Open versus Closed: Personality, Identity and the Politics of Redistribution (Cambridge University Press, 2017), The Ambivalent Partisan: How Critical Loyalty Promotes Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2012), and the editor of The Feeling, Thinking Citizen (Routledge, 2017) and Political Psychology (Sage, 2010). He has published articles in The American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, Political Analysis, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and elsewhere. He is the past editor of the journal Political Psychology and current editor of the journal Advances in Political Psychology. His current work focuses on human rights, populism, partisan asymmetries, and the intersection of race and political context on public opinion.
October 27
The Church on Wheels!
Deacon Kari Olsen, Shobi's Table
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Kari Olsen is a Deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, serving with a specific eye towards food ministry. Kari discerned her call into the ministry while working in different kitchens, particularly while she was Food Service Coordinator at Holden Village – a remote Lutheran retreat center in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. There, she lived and grew in her understanding of the deep connection between the Communion Table and our own kitchen tables, revealing the love of God made edible in the food that nourishes our body and souls. Kari attended undergrad at Seattle Pacific University and received a Master of Arts in Ministry from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. Her first call was as the Kitchen Coordinator at Christ on Capitol Hill, where she helped guide a project to remodel their kitchen up to commercial standards, and connect the liturgical and service life of the congregation with food. She now serves as the Director and Mission Developer of Shobi’s Table, where her call to ministry means putting her faith and theology into daily practice.
November 3
The Body is Mentally Ill
Shannah Mulvihill, Mental Health America
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Shannah Mulvihill is the Executive Director and CEO of Mental Health Minnesota, a position she has held since 2015. Shannah has worked in the non-profit and public sectors for 20 years in the areas of communications, development, public policy and organizational leadership. Shannah holds a Masters Degree in counseling psychology from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota, and has served as a volunteer counselor for the Walk-In Counseling Clinic and Crisis Connection. She is a former board chair of Open Your Heart to the Hungry and Homeless and former disaster services volunteer and advisory committee member of the Twin Cities American Red Cross. She is also a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) and a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).
November 10
TSE: Supporting Our Communities
Lynne Megan, Executive Director, TSE
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TSE is a private, not-for-profit company that supports people with developmental and other intellectual disabilities. We have a proud tradition of excellence that dates to 1961. Our professional staff are here to provide you with the supports you need, from helping you to find and maintain employment to learning basic, day-to-day living skills.
November 17
Brain Fry? Social Media and Mental Health
Kit Breshears, University of Minnesota
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Kit Breshears is communications director for the University of Minnesota's Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing. He has worked in educational communications, advertising, and marketing for more than 20 years. He and his student team produce print and digital collateral, write media releases and feature stories, edit and manage the Center's academic websites. In this session, Kit will lead us in considering the degree to which Social Media has an influence on our mental health.
November 24
Emergency NARCAN Training
Alicia House, Rummler Foundation
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NARCAN can quickly end an opioid overdose, and communities are called to address this ever-increasing epidemic. Learn what you can do and when to do it! Alicia House has been working in the Opioid Use Disorder field since 2017. Prior to her current role as Executive Director for the Steve Rummler HOPE Network, she held a number of positions in Sober Living, Outreach, Intake Coordination and Overdose Prevention. Alicia has been on the MN Opioid Epidemic Response Council since 2020 and current Advocacy member for the FED UP! Coalition.
December 1
Danger Ahead: Emerging Christian Nationalism
Penny Edgell, University of Minnesota
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Dr. Penny Edgell is Professor of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, and a frequent speaker on the dangers of Christian nationalism. Edgell will explore the decline of religious commitment and the increase in nonreligion and spirituality since 1990. She will analyze data from the American Mosaic Project, Beyond Christian Nationalism survey, and Nonreligious Engagement and Well-being survey along with secondary sources to develop a new framework for understanding the transformed landscape of religion in the United States.
December 8
Welcome Home: Refugees in Minnesota
Noah Wilkerson, Minnesota Council of Churches
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Noah Wilkerson is a member of the Outreach team for the Minnesota Council of Churches' Refugee Services. Since 1984, MCC Refugee Services has welcomed more than 10,000 refugees from around the world to lives of freedom, hope and opportunity in Minnesota, helping them with everything from finding housing, accessing basic needs resources, to gaining citizenship and achieving their dreams in the U.S. Noah works with businesses and volunteers to source donations for refugee clients.