Covenant & Community • Generations of Faith

Explore the covenants God made with God's people and then create a family covenant.

The Responding Community • FIRE

Creation

Participants will develop an understanding of how the Scriptures were written and an insight into the nature of the creation stories. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

The Responding Community • FIRE

The Fall Guy: The Stories of the Fall

Participants will have clearer insight into the stories of the origin of sin and a sense of sin's communal nature. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

The Responding Community • FIRE

Mission Impossible: The Call of Abraham

Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, we are met time and again with the idea of call. Someone is “called” to do a special work for God. This call is given the name of “election.” This experience examines one of the first families to experience themselves as called, and tries to offer insight and understanding into what it must have felt like to be Abraham and Sarah. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

The Responding Community • FIRE

The Family Feud: The Story of Jacob

This session is meant to foster communication around the difficult problem of family fighting. The Jacob and Esau story is used to point out what a common thing feuding is between siblings, and the fact that God can use anything—even family fights—to fulfill the divine promises. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

The Responding Community • FIRE

The Favored Son: The Story of Joseph

This experience focuses primarily on the need for affirmation and communication in our lives. The story of Joseph is used to highlight the development of these essential skills. This session required reading the story of Joseph ahead of time. Suggested scripture verses can be found on the Take Home sheet from "The Responding Community: The Story of Jacob." • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

The Responding Community • FIRE

Slavery & the Exodus

The purpose of this lesson is to help the group understand what it means to be enslaved. To understand the Exodus and Passover, it is necessary to first understand oppression. This lesson is designed to be used in conjunction with "The Responding Community: Passover Celebration." • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

The Responding Community • FIRE

Passover Celebration

This lesson is meant to give an appreciation of the historic event of the Exodus and some insight into the present Jewish celebration, while calling us to take an active role in the liberation of all people. It is best if used in conjunction with "The Responding Community: Slavery & the Exodus." It requires the use of "The Passover Celebration" by Leon Klenicki. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

The Responding Community • FIRE

The Desert Experience

The desert can be a place where we meet God. This meeting introduces the group to the “desert experience” of contemplative prayer. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto

The Responding Community • FIRE

The Covenant

Participants will see the necessity for basic moral guidelines in developing a just society. • By Kathleen O'Connell Chesto