Learning & Involvement

Adult Forum

The Adult Forum Committee of the Board of Deacons seeks to provide a thoughtful, stimulating and welcoming learning environment for members and friends of the Plymouth community.

Sunday morning Adult Forums are 9 to 10 a.m.
in the Jackman Room unless otherwise noted.

Adult Forum will resume in September. See Special Events for programs presented by the Global Connections Committee during the 9 a.m. Sunday morning hour during May and June.

Past programs this Winter/Spring

January 4

In Pursuit of a
Weapons-free World

Roger Hale

Long-time Plymouth member Roger Hale is a busy man, even though he retired as president and CEO of Tennant Company nearly 10 years ago. He’s served on the Metropolitan Airports Commission, chaired the governor’s Work Force Development Council and Public Radio International, and was president of the Walker Art Center board during its fundraising campaign for the museum’s recent expansion. Since 2005, he’s been chairman of the board of the Ploughshares Fund, a public grant-making foundation dedicated to preventing the spread and use of nuclear weapons.

As a so-called “venture funder,” the Ploughshares Fund specializes in giving start-up money – pooled from individuals, families and foundations – to support promising new endeavors, and then helps to leverage more substantial support from other sources. Its purpose is to prevent the spread and use of nuclear weapons and to promote regional stability, all in the pursuit of a safe, secure and nuclear weapon-free world.

Hale will talk about the history of nuclear weapons, where we are now, what we can expect under the new administration in Washington and our prospects for the future. Join us for a lively and important discussion on what can be done to reduce our reliance on weapons of mass destruction.

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January 11 in the Theater

Tales from “Tales of the Road:
Highway 61”

Cathy Wurzer

Everyone loves a road trip and Minnesota radio and television newswoman Cathy Wurzer is no exception. Recently she hit the road for a new documentary about historic Highway 61, produced for Twin Cities Public Television (TPT).

The idea for the trip – chronicled in the documentary and in a companion book by the same name, written by Wurzer for the Cathy Wurzer Minnesota Historical Society – grew out of a conversation Wurzer had with a former college journalism professor. They talked about a little-known book written in 1938, The WPA Road Guide to Minnesota. Wurzer decided to retrace Highway 61, a well-known route described in the book, spotlighting both famous and forgotten sites along the way. These include quaint tourist cabins, supper clubs and lodges that served travelers who began motoring along the road in the 1920s. With the help of historical societies and groups up and down the highway, Tales of the Road tells stories from the Outlaw Bridge at the Canadian Border – built in 1917 by residents because the two national governments took too long to agree – to La Crescent, the Apple Capital of Minnesota.

Wurzer, the host of Morning Edition on Minnesota Public Radio and co-host of Almanac on TPT, will share a number of her favorite stories from the project and offer us an exclusive behind-the-scenes view at the making of this charming and thoughtful documentary.

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January 18 in the Theater Foyer

Story Telling, Basket Weaving
and Experiencing Science

Dr. Eric J. Jolly

Science belongs in our lives and not on a pedestal, according to Dr. Eric Jolly, president of the Science Museum of Minnesota, who will use storytelling and basket weaving to demonstrate why science should be a natural and important focus for us all. In a simple demonstration of how we can experience science, Jolly will weave a traditional Cherokee double-walled basket, a craft taught to him at age four by his grandmother.

Basket weaving offers many connections to math and science. The patterns of woven reeds Eric Jolly display such mathematical concepts as parallelism, perpendicularity and the relationship of area to volume. Jolly has said that he owes his enthusiasm for science to his grandmother’s tireless efforts to explain the natural world and to his parents answering “Go figure it out!” in response to his frequent question, “Why?”

Jolly is known for his personal passion for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. He lectures throughout the world and is the author of numerous books, articles and curricula for students and teachers, including Bridging Homes and Schools (a resource for teachers of Limited Language Proficiency). Jolly also serves as an advisor to numerous organizations, including the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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January 25

Wisdom, A Gift of Aging

Larry and Connie Hickle

As many people are discovering, the aging process has important benefits – not only for those in their elder years but also for their families and the wider community. But how does the accumulation of life experience lead to elder wisdom? What steps can we take to enhance our wisdom potential? And how can we draw on our wisdom to help create a better world?

Connie & Larry Hickle These are a few of the questions that Plymouth members Larry and Connie Hickle will address in this forum. Larry is a retired Presbyterian minister and Connie is a retired counselor with the Saint Paul Public Schools. Together, they frequently present workshops highlighting the many benefits of aging, including the gift of wisdom.

The good news is that changes taking place in our aging brains tend to enhance our capacity for wisdom. Brain researchers document a mellowing as older people become less reactive, and better at making good judgments and nurturing positive relationships with families and colleagues.

Would you like to become a wise elder, someone who can enhance the quality of life of those around you who are younger? Please join us to find out how.

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February 1

Finding Our “Next Places”
in a Rapidly Changing World

Harvey Sarles

“Change, when it grows at the great pace we are presently experiencing, feels to many like chaos,” says anthropologist and author Harvey Sarles. “Thus we are tempted to try to stop the world and return to some idea of how it was … when things seemed good or just about right. Instead, we should reflect from within and decide what to do next.”

Harvey Sarles Sarles is a professor in the Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota. His specialties include science and religion, human nature and pragmatism. After a lifetime of teaching and studying, he considers himself a cultural critic. He’s a staunch proponent of critical thinking and a strong believer that democracy entails both internal and external awareness.

In a recent writing on where we are as a society, as seen from an historical context, Sarles wrote: “One seductive temptation in this moment of rapidly changing history is to look backward to the conceptual worlds of texts and time to tell us who we are, and are to be, rather than to look ‘inside’ and find the means and vision to go forward.”

Join us for an invigorating discussion on where we are as a society, and on how we – both as individuals and as members of a faith community – will decide where to go next.

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February 8

Gift Planning: Facing the Future
in Uncertain Times

Cameron Seybolt

With the economy in tumult and a new administration in Washington, there are many questions looming on the horizon for those concerned about wills and gift planning. Will we need to redo our wills? Can we continue to make charitable gifts despite possibly higher taxes to pay and a declining portfolio from which to give? How can we best provide for the future needs of our children or grandchildren while preserving our own income for today?

We welcome Cameron Seybolt back to Adult Forum to help us address these concerns.

Cameron Seybolt As a shareholder in the Trusts and Estates Group at Fredrikson & Byron in Minneapolis, Seybolt assists clients with a wide variety of trust and estate planning matters, including tax planning, family business succession, charitable giving, family partnerships, probate and trust administration.

Seybolt was well received last year when he discussed the general topic of philanthropy and estate planning. With recent developments on Wall Street and in Washington, we’ve experienced a sea change in those topics. Seybolt will offer his assessment of these changes as they relate to our wills, our gifting, and our legacies.

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February 15

Cultivating a Resilient Self
to Sustain a Normal Mood
and a Healthy Mind

Henry Emmons, M.D.

Every decade over the past 100 years, the rate of depression in the U.S. population has increased by ten percent. What’s happened to erode our natural ability to bounce back from adversity? Dr. Emmons will discuss the “enemies of joy” and how they affect brain health and function. We’ll explore the need for a healthy mind and how to incorporate natural therapies and mindfulness practices to support that goal.

Henry Emmons, M.D., is a consultant to seven Twin Cities-area college counseling centers and a popular workshop presenter. He’s created adult education programs through the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing, including “A Year of Living Mindfully” and “The Inner Life of Healers: Programs of Renewal for Health Professionals.” He also developed the “Resilience Training Program” for the Penny George Institute for Health and Healing.

His essay, “Insights on the Inner Life of Healers,” was included in the book, Living the Questions: Essays Inspired by the Work and Life of Parker J. Palmer. His first book, The Chemistry of Joy: A Three Step Program for Overcoming Depression through Western Science and Eastern Wisdom, was published in 2006.

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February 22

Ministering to the Movie Masses

Jeff Strickler

It’s taken a month of Sundays and then some, but Hollywood is finally coming to the realization Jeff Strickler that members of the clergy are just as varied as every other sector of society. For decades, any minister who appeared on screen was a stereotype. Sometimes it was a flattering stereotype (Going My Way with Bing Crosby in 1944), and sometimes it was less so (Elmer Gantry with Burt Lancaster in 1960). It’s only been recently that filmmakers have come to paint preachers as multi-faceted and complex characters.

Using a series of movie clips, journalist Jeff Strickler will track the evolution of the minister in the movies. Strickler, a popular previous Adult Forum speaker, has considerable experience reporting on both topics – ministers and movies. He works for the Star Tribune, where he spent 20 years reviewing movies before he became the newspaper’s Faith & Values reporter.

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March 1

Designing Ideas: Helping Developing Countries to Help Themselves Using
Compatible Technology

Roger A. Salway

Roger Salway is executive director of Compatible Technology International (CTI), a 27-year-old nonprofit organization based in St. Paul. He’s also vice president of Changepond Technologies Americas, an information technology and engineering services provider based in Chennai, India.

He’ll discuss the impact, at grass root levels, that basic technologies can make to achieve substantial yield gains from crops grown in developing countries. Some examples:

• Peanuts ground by hand might take a Ugandan woman 10 hours to produce sufficient food for her family. Using a simple CTI grinder, she can achieve the same output in one hour.

• Hand-processed pearl millet grown in Mali, on the edge of the Sahara, yields only 35 percent of the seeds for making flour; the balance is lost in the chaff. CTI-designed hullers achieve seed yields of 75 percent, effectively doubling the food supply.

Using a short video to highlight the widespread use of the company’s Minnesota-developed technologies to relieve hunger and poverty, Salway will discuss the challenges of collaborating with in-country organizations to identify needs and adopt widespread use of CTI technologies.

A native of England, Salway was formerly director of worldwide product support and marketing director for Europe, Africa and Asia for Deere & Co. He and his family moved to St. Paul when Salway was appointed executive vice president and chief operating officer of Paper Calmenson & Co.

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March 8

The Value of
Including Everyone

Greg Lais

Wilderness Inquiry is a local non-profit organization established 30 years ago to provide outdoor education and travel programs for people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities. Since 1987, Wilderness Inquiry has served more than 200,000 people on wilderness trips throughout the world, including thousands of people with disabilities such as quadriplegia, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis and traumatic brain injury. Trips have included kayaking in Costa Rica, British Columbia and Lake Superior; horseback trips in the Colorado Rockies; and canoeing in the Boundary Waters, the Everglades, Australia, Russia, Alaska and throughout Canada.

Greg Lais, the founder and executive director of Wilderness Inquiry, is a graduate of St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. He was honored with the college’s Alumni Achievement Award in 1990. He’s a pioneer of outdoor education programs and training curricula for persons of varied abilities, the creator of adaptive outdoor recreation equipment and the author of numerous books and articles in the field. He’s been recognized for his leadership by the White House and has received the Distinguished Service Award of the Minnesota State Council on Disability.

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March 15

Art of the Passion Cycle

Ruth Lull

Many of the greatest artists in history have portrayed themes from the central events of Christ’s life. In keeping with the Lenten season, artist and art historian Ruth Lull will present a slide-illustrated discussion that looks at some of the events of Passion Week depicted by a variety of artists, both anonymous and renowned.

In episodes ranging from Judas’ betrayal to images of the minor characters gathered at the cross, we’ll see the unique ways in which artists from different eras have interpreted the scriptural accounts of Christ’s last days. Attention will focus on Biblical as well as apocryphal versions of these stories.

Ruth Lull is an assistant professor in the Art Department of Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin. She received a master’s degree in studio arts from Villa Schifanoia, in Florence, Italy, and a master’s degree in art history from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She exhibits her work regularly in solo shows in New York and has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in New England, the Upper Midwest, Cuba, Italy, Germany and Japan. Lull has served more than a decade on the Wisconsin Arts Board and as a juror for the PortalWisconsin.org Online Gallery.

A collection of her work will be on display in Plymouth’s Fine Arts Gallery next fall.

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March 22

Creating Your Own Sacred,
Sustainable Landscape

Douglas Owens-Pike

Would you like to create your own sacred and sustainable landscape? Landscape designer Douglas Owens-Pike will use examples of his own work to show us how to create beautiful settings that are calming and nurture native plant communities. The focus will be on designing for less maintenance, while responding to what each of us regards as sacred or most special in our relationship to the land we live on. He’ll also discuss the implications of climate change and how a landscape properly designed with plants native to the region will prosper in spite of the new conditions. Following his talk, Owens-Pike will be available for questions and to discuss how to apply sustainable design principles to your own landscape.

Douglas Owens-Pike has 20 years of experience designing, installing and maintaining natural landscapes in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He serves on the board of directors of the Association of Professional Landscape Designers and is president of the Minnesota chapter. In 1989, he founded EnergyScapes, a full-service landscape firm, to promote the use of native plants for energy and water conservation, year-round natural beauty and to preserve Minnesota’s biodiversity.

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March 29
Guild Hall

Telling and Making History,
Stitch by Stitch

Plymouth Needlers

An appreciation for the arts is a defining feature of Plymouth Congregational Church and draws many individuals, both members and visitors, to the church. Unique to Plymouth is an exquisite collection of monumental embroideries and other needlework handcrafted over the past 35 years by a fellowship group known simply as “the Needlers.” Many local community groups visit Plymouth for special tours to learn about the Needlers’ work and art.

Embroidery The large embroideries – one of which is always on display on the west wall of Guild Hall – were designed on commission by Pauline Baynes, a renowned British artist and illustrator of books including those of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. The embroideries change with the seasons. “Churchmen of the New World,” completed in 1974, depicts the church and political history of the U.S. It took 39 Needlers three years to create. “Christmas Radiance” (1992) required 46 Needlers working for six years. “The Renewal of Life,” which graces Guild Hall in the spring, was unveiled in 2002. A profusion of flowers and animals, it took the Needlers more than seven years to complete.

Why do they do it? What inspires them? How tough is the audition to become a Needler? Please join us to learn the answers to these and other questions about the Plymouth Needlers and their extraordinary art. We’ll also get a sneak preview of their newest monumental work, “The Summer of the First Amendment,” already six years in the making.

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April 5

What is the Role of Faith
in Ending Homelessness?

Michael Dahl

When we see people living on the street or holding signs asking for money near freeway ramps, most of us wonder, “How can we help?”

Michael Dahl is executive director of the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to generate policies, community support and local resources to end homelessness in Minnesota. He’s worked with people experiencing homelessness for the past 20 years. Dahl will give an overview of the causes and effects of homelessness and our community’s recent inroads in ending homelessness in our city and state. He’ll be joined for this program by a number of Plymouth members who have been actively engaged in the challenge to end homelessness, as well as by a formerly homeless individual.

We’ll explore the role people of Plymouth can play in preventing homelessness from escalating during difficult economic times, helping people who are currently homeless and, ultimately, permanently ending homelessness in our lifetimes.

This will be a lively discussion about what it means to be a person of faith in a world that tolerates homelessness.

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April 19

Courage to Teach
and Courage to Lead

Kathleen Glaser

Helping people “to reconnect who you are with what you do” is the work of educator Kathleen Glaser, a facilitator for the Center for Courage & Renewal in Bainbridge, Washington. She conducts Courage to Teach and Courage to Lead retreats throughout the country.

The Courage to Teach program was started in the mid-1990s, inspired by the writings of Kathleen Glaser author, educator and activist Parker J. Palmer. With support from the Fetzer Institute, the Center today offers retreats for educators and others in the serving professions to provide personal and professional renewal. Retreat participants make use of poetry and stories, solitude, reflection and deep listening to reclaim vocational clarity and explore the vital connection between the inner life of the spirit and the outer life of service.

Glaser has more than 30 years experience as a teacher, elementary school principal, college professor and supervisor of student teachers. She’s a recipient of the Washington Post Distinguished Educational Leadership Award and a co-founder of the Chesapeake Public Charter School in southern Maryland.

Good work is done with heart as well as knowledge and skill. … But workplace culture can make it risky to reveal our hearts. So we hide them, and sometimes lose them. By supporting teachers, medical professionals, clergy and others who want to reclaim their hearts, we bring new life to them, their work, and the people they serve.
– Parker J. Palmer

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April 26

Celebrating the History
and Spirit of Earth Day

Jim Lenfesty

April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day, was the largest public demonstration in U.S. history. It mobilized an estimated 20 million people in massive rallies held coast-to-coast. Earth Day 1990 became the largest in the world, surpassed 10 years later by Earth Day 2000.

Where did this annual event come from? Why has it become a celebration almost as sacred to many people as religious and secular holidays, yet with little official recognition or support from government or religion?

Plymouth member Jim Lenfestey was there from the beginning, organizing in Wisconsin for the first Earth Day and for Earth Days from 1990 to 1995 around the country. He’s written often about the event, and will tell us about its roots – native, political, religious, secular and scientific – and why Earth Day continues to prosper both as a working holiday and as an energetic hybrid of the scientific, political, educational and pantheistic.

Author and activist Jim Lenfestey is a former editorial writer for the Star Tribune and chairs the Literary Witnesses reading series at Plymouth.

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May 3

Peace and Justice –
What’s Religion
Got to Do With It?

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer

“I confess that as a Christian living in the United States I sometimes feel like a political and religious outcast.” So wrote Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer in his book, Saving Christianity from the Empire. It’s his analysis of the impact of conservative Christianity on U.S. foreign policy during the Bush administration and the topic for this program.

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer Nelson-Pallmeyer is an associate professor of justice and peace studies at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. In 2008, he sought the endorsement of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party as a candidate for U.S. Senate. His work over the past 25 years has focused on addressing the political, economic, faith and foreign policy dimensions of hunger and poverty. He’s the author of a dozen books dealing with diverse topics, including U.S. foreign policy, religion, violence and the relationship between social policies and the well-being of families.

A graduate of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Nelson-Pallmeyer earned a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He’s a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, active in the faith-based Community of St. Martin and serves on the board of the National Peace and Justice Studies Association.

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May 10

In Search of Dr. Mary Baer

Paula Northwood

We search for meaning in many ways and many places, and most of us, at some point in our lives, seek insight into the present by looking to the past. This, in essence, is the appeal of genealogy – finding out who we are or where we came from by learning about our ancestors.

Dr. Mary Baer Paula Northwood, minister for education at Plymouth, is no exception. Recently, while on sabbatical in India, she went on an adventure to find a hospital named after her great, great aunt, Mary Baer, M.D. (pictured). Dr. Baer graduated from the Women’s Medical College of Philadelphia in 1894. Upon graduation, she was appointed as a medical missionary through the Lutheran Church to India.

She served as a physician until her death in 1942 and was buried in India. Northwood will tell us what she learned in her search for Dr. Baer, and also tell us about the work that Plymouth members Doug and Jane Koons are doing in Tamil Nadu, India. In addition, Northwood will share a few pictures from her travels in New Zealand where she and her partner spent the latter part of their sabbaticals.

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May 17

Apprenticed to Hope:
A Sourcebook
for Difficult Times

Julie Neraas

Julie will read from her compelling compilation of 32 essays exploring the nature of hope. Parker Palmer says: "Julie Neraas chose exactly the right title to her superb book. She writes … compellingly of how all of us, no matter what our collective obstacles … can keep hope alive…" Join us for this timely reading and discussion. Books will be available for purchase and signing.