The Ten Commandments: Laws of the Heart
Led by Peter Bankson
Are the Ten Commandments just a set of rules or are they a way of life? How does each one call us to reflect on out life and values? What does it mean to love God and our neighbor in a world where violence, greed, and fear threaten our lives, our values, our hearts? Using a DVD course by Joan Chittister, Peter Bankson will facilitate discussion of the Ten Commandments, ending with the two Great Commandments of the New Testament, “Love God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself.”
Lila by Marilyn Robinson
Led by Brenda Seat
Lila, homeless, abandoned, but still proud walked into a small church in Gilead, Iowa one wretched rainy night. There she met a man, Reverend Ames, who reached out to her and with whom she felt safe, something she rarely felt with anyone. For her this was the beginning of a new chapter in her life, one where she didn’t need to wonder when her next meal would come from, or if someone would beat her. Instead she had to learn how to belong in a world that she had little preparation for and with little understanding of it ways. Her story is a story of strength and courage and taking a risk to find love and to hold on to it even when it was unfamiliar and uncomfortable.
Lila is Lila’s story told in her own words, from her childhood until she reaches Gilead. Although we have heard parts this story from Reverend Ames’ perspective in Gilead, in Lila we hear it from the beginning and from Lila’s perspective, from her hard scrabble beginnings and Doll’s love and companionship, until she reaches and decides to stay in Gilead.
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