Contemplating the Contemplative Practices group?

(See what we did there?)

Perhaps you've heard about the Contemplative Practices small groups that met in 2013 and wondered what the group is like?  

This group explores the centuries-old tradition of listening to God, resting in God, and experiencing God through prayer and a variety of contemplative practices.  Some writing exercises are involved, but guidance is provided -- you do not have to be a writer!  Implementing some new rhythms for the duration of the group may help you to establish some new habits. 

Several rounds of this group will be offered in the new year! More details will be provided in January at our En Route gathering.  Consider making an investment in your own soul and spirit over a six-week period in 2014. Because it lasts just 6 weeks, we ask that you make the commitment to attend each meeting (unless you are sick) and:

• Commit to do the daily work for 6 weeks
• Commit to participate with all of who you are
• Expect transformation

Contemplation is very far from being just one kind of thing that Christians do: it is the key to prayer, liturgy, art and ethics, the key to the essence of a renewed humanity that is capable of seeing the world and other subjects in the world with freedom - freedom from self-oriented, acquisitive habits and the distorted understanding that comes from them. To put it boldly, contemplation is the only ultimate answer to the unreal and insane world that our financial systems and our advertising culture and our chaotic and unexamined emotions encourage us to inhabit. To learn contemplative practice is to learn what we need so as to live truthfully and honestly and lovingly. It is a deeply revolutionary matter.     - Rowan Williams, retired Archbishop of Canterbury

Some writings from the most recent Contemplative Practices group, written (beautifully) by Danielle Hughes & Ande Truman:

when it came - acrostic by Danielle

   waiting

   hearing

   every day and

   night

   i

   try

   casting

   arms out but

   my God comes to 

me

believer - cinquain by Danielle

believer

faithful, scared

believing, forgetting, believing

trying to track Him

follower

house - acrostic by Danielle

  hues of comfort

  offer me peace, rest

  use me

  says

He

7 line poem by Danielle

everything you need i offer you

just approach the door and knock

when it comes, you will know

and you will not be alone

i will fill you with joy

believe me

i love you

7 line poem by Ande

In the calm of the nighttime as the dew settles in,

I take your fingers and place them on the pulse of my hand,

Be still my heart, be still yours too,

Will you trust me when I say it's I that loves you?

Your story is just the beginning, it has only just begun,

So will you wait for me to sing the songs I've already sung?

Time is a trivial number, 

           so sleep, rest, be still and slumber.

We are the Advent people

The word "Advent" has its origin in the Medieval Latin word adventus, meaning "arrival." The season offers the opportunity for us to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah. Is it even possible for us, in the year 2013, to understand and fully appreciate the terrible suffering and agony that generations and generations of the ancient Hebrew people experienced? Is it possible to put ourselves in the place of knowing how desolate parents would have felt thinking that their children and their grandchildren were destined for the same life of sadness, disappointment, and suffering that their ancestors before them experienced?

And then to be promised by the ancient Hebrew Prophets that a different time was ahead for them -- that the time was drawing near for the coming of a Messiah -- a great leader who would provide for them an escape from the lives their predecessors had undergone. What excitement, hope, and joy they must have felt to believe that the time was near for theadventus -- for the anticipated "arrival" or "advent" of this Messiah. That is the feeling that the season of Advent is all about!

-from the Huff Post Religion section last weekend

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Join Ann Voskamp for a journey through Advent as she unwraps the full love story of Christmas…week one and week two are out so far.

A great Advent story from Anne Lamott from the late nineties, never published in any of her books.

Making Advent Real: Are we focused on the elements of celebration or the deliverer of our salvation?

Planning a night out? I've heard amazing things about this show.

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Are you exhausted?  Overwhelmed?  Feeling cynical, bitter or hard?  Perhaps you're drowning in dullness and the low-grade despair we feel when our days all run together?  We all wait with an ache.  All is not right, but hope is real and something is coming.  Someone is coming.  Our Rescuer is coming!

Hope you are enjoying the Advent readings & your lovely wreaths.  I looked around the night we gathered to assemble our wreaths and felt so grateful for our amazing community of women.  What a privilege to wait and ache and hope and soften together during this Advent season.



written by: Libba Armenta