Workshops: 2016

Winter Solstice: Hope is the Thing with Feathers

Come illumine the darkness by lighting candles, singing songs, celebrating, mourning, embracing. Deep in the dark and cold, we’ll wander inward, find a spark, and kindle hope for the season.

Praying the Advent Names of God

Join artist Ansgar Holmberg and prayer poet Joan Mitchell to reflect and meditate on the Advent names of God. A blend of words and images will invite us to transform the traditional O Antiphons from the Advent Liturgy of the Hours into the context of evolutionary cosmology, opening new space for us to anticipate Jesus’ birth in our busy lives and our planet in peril.

Dreams: Illuminations of Our Deepest Emerging Self

The intention of this retreat is to support the dreamer’s capacity for entering into a deeper relationship with the images, colors, sounds and stories given to us in our dreams. The interplay of poetry, symbols, focusing, and touch drawing will help us enter this relationship.

The Way of Our People: Conversation with D. Richard Wright, Ojibwe Elder

Join an evening of conversation with author Donald Richard Wright, who observed and studied the ancient ceremonies of the Aboriginal Ojibwe in Little Black River Reserve, Ontario, Canada. Its ceremony maker was a 94-year-old Ojibwe-Cree who lived in the mountains near Edmonton.

Wright wanted to experience and research the ceremonies in order to understand “the fundamental cultural strengths of the Indian who became copious drinkers of alcohol,” he says. “As an aspirant to the Archdiocese of St. Paul, Minneapolis Deaconate Program, if I was to counsel the drinker, then my ministry became to know a little about these beliefs.”

Marking the Days: Creating Our Way Through Life’s Changes

Come reflect on a major change in your life in a three-part series using guided writing, guided calendar making, and guided book making. Bring a chosen life event, a list of related dates and a willingness to let your own creativity lead you in cherishing, remembering and letting go. You’ll reflect in your own words on your turning point, create a prim stav (a centuries-old calendar system for marking significant days), and make a small hand-sized book to hold both the calendar and your event-inspired writing.

A Festival of Women’s Voices on Jesus | Fall Soul Conference | The Strength of Her Witness: Theology in Women’s Voices

In this globally interconnected, lopsided world—marked by disparities, discord and violence—what witness can the church bring to the many issues that divide us from one another and the shared ecology in which we live? We are in need of theologies that will lead us in new directions–from opposition and dominance to new community and mutual respect for one another and all living creatures of Earth.

The Ethic of Inclusion: Getting Un-Stuck

During this highly politicized election year when exclusionary rhetoric often “shuts down” genuine conversation and cynicism too often “passes” for wisdom, come explore what is meant by “the ethic of inclusion.”
What ethical principles drive our thoughts and interactions on current issues? Ethics comes in more than one stripe. Ken Wilber’s integral paradigm and principles from the Arbinger Institute’s Anatomy of Peace will help illuminate the subtle ways we all get trapped in boxes of our own making that undermine our best intentions to actually be inclusive. Over a 3-week period, we’ll reflect on not only how we get stuck but how we can get un-stuck so that we can engage in more authentic conversation with others who have very differing views.

Writing the Sacred Journey: The Art and Practice of Spiritual Memoir

Spiritual memoir is the practice of listening deeply to our life experiences through the creation of artful, true stories. We come more alive when we accept how our experiences have formed us and when we form something from what we’ve experienced. By writing memories with intention, we can find holiness in the details, patterns that unify our sense of self, and deep personal healing. By crafting our stories to engage the inner life of readers, we can participate in transforming our world.

The Emergence of Islamophobia and the Importance of White Allies

Waves of Islamophobia roiling the United States and Europe are unleashing fear and hate in our world. Cruel and inaccurate stereotypes are increasing while tolerance and civil liberties are threatened. As well, a new racial formation around “Islam” and the “West” seems to be emerging. Whereas in the past the notion of a Muslim Other informed a notion of a Western self among elites, today the fear of Muslims is deeply penetrating popular identity and giving rise to a fascist-like movement that threatens to tip us into a deep dive of racism that will be hard to overcome.

The Grace in Aging for Men

There is tremendous need and capacity for men to enter into their aging with deliberation and even grace, especially after having been grounded in spiritual awareness and practice. This fall series will explore men’s time of life related to aging guided by Kathleen Dowling Singh’s powerful guidebook, The Grace in Aging.