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SPECIAL EVENTS

Global Concerns hosting
speaker on East Africa and
East Africans in Minnesota

Hussein Samatar will speak on “East Africa and East Africans in Minnesota” on Sunday, May 11 at 9 a.m. in the Jackman Room, sponsored by the Global Concerns Committee. He’s a native of Somalia and has lived in the U.S. for the past 15 years.

Samatar is founder and executive director of the African Development Center, an entrepreneurial nonprofit organization working within the African communities in Minnesota to start and sustain businesses, build assets and promote community reinvestment. He’s created several culturally-targeted alternative finance products and is frequently engaged to address financial, governmental and other community institutions on building wealth in emerging markets.

Previously, he was a senior lender for the Neighborhood Development Center and a commercial lender with Wells Fargo and Norwest Banks.

Samatar serves on the boards of several development and civic organizations, including the Minneapolis Foundation, CommonBond Communities, the Citizens League and the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota.

A Humphrey Institute Policy Fellow in 2003-2004 and a German Marshall Memorial Fellow in 2007, Samatar holds an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas and speaks five languages.

 

Hussein Samatar

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Summer reading series to
experience Bible as literature

Jeff Sartain will again host Plymouth Summer Reading. The three books selected this summer are all contained in a
volume everyone has in their home – the Bible.

They’ll read three books of the Bible – Esther, Job and Luke – that read well as stories – not for the purpose of in-depth study, but as literature and to share impressions, experience and reactions. A one-page summary of each book will be available online to aid understanding.

All participants are asked to use the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the most standard text; if you don’t have this translation in your home, it’s a solid investment and available at every bookstore. Send an e-mail or phone Doug Freeman at the church office (dougf@plymouth.org, 612/977-1279) if you plan to attend, although walk-in participants are welcome.

All sessions will be at 7 p.m. in the Fireside Room.

Wednesday, June 11
Esther – The book of Esther tells the story of how two wise and courageous Jews, Mordecai and Queen Esther, aided by the hand of fate, foil the genocidal scheme of Haman, “the Enemy of the Jews.” The novella has been controversial throughout Christian history; Martin Luther declared that he wished it had never been written! The story it tells is the backdrop for the contemporary Jewish festival of Purim. Violence, deception, intrigue … all in the Bible.

Wednesday, July 9
Job – This book is named after its famous protagonist, who endured loss and pain through no fault of his own. The book is likely made up of stories or traditions that were familiar throughout the ancient Near East, but is unique as it appears in the Bible. The 42 chapters hold lengthy poetic dialogs, honest human emotion and a strange and somewhat unsatisfactory happy ending.

Wednesday, August 6
Luke – A Gospel, this book tells the story of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Luke is perhaps most familiar for his telling of the nativity of Christ, and it’s likely you’ve heard the first chapter read many times on Christmas Eve. Of course, it goes on, and even though this is a story we know well, it’s also one that’s seldom read from cover to cover and allowed to unfold as the author intended. Setting aside our belief or disbelief, we’ll discuss how this story speaks to us, what surprises us and why we suppose it’s changed so many lives.