Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
This 5-week e-course will be available for registration on demand beginning in winter 2011
Forest and field, sun and wind and sky, earth and water, all speak the same silent language, reminding the monk that he is here to develop like the things that grow all around him.
-Thomas Merton
Course description
Are you ready to take a retreat in everyday life through the heart of creation?
We live in a time when our relationship to the natural world has never been more important to the survival and flourishing of all beings. Transforming our engagement with creation emerges from a deeply rooted contemplative practice where we come to know what Teilhard de Chardin called the “breathing together of all things.” The four primal elements of water, wind, earth, and fire are woven throughout the Hebrew and Christian scriptures and the wisdom of the great mystics, and they can enliven and incarnate prayer and faith. This 5 Week E-Course invites you into a deeply contemplative spirituality which engages creation through ancient texts and prayer practices. With the support of Christine’s wise guidance, you will explore how the four elements invite you into a spiritual life infused with a reverence for the whole created world.
When we recognize ourselves as a part of the earth community, as the scriptures and mystics have encouraged us to do for centuries, then we begin to see the profound mystery at work in the depths of our souls is the same sacred mystery at work in the natural world. Contemplative presence to nature transforms our daily choices so we become conscious of how to live within the matrix of creation in life-giving ways.
This online class includes suggested reading from the book Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements, weekly reflections to orient you to the week’s focus and practices (in PDF format), a guided meditation recording (MP3 file), and daily emails with images, quotes, and questions for reflection.
Awaken your passion for creation through prayerful encounters with the sacred elements as our guides. Fall in love with the God who pulses through nature. Commit to a guided journey of encountering the holy in creation.
*Special Bonus* Experience the elements through image and imagination as facilitator Kayce Stevens Hughlett guides you virtually through the creative process of SoulCollage®. Each week will include exercises to help you create your own collaged card and then interact with it to deepen your personal awareness of earth, wind, fire and water.
How the course works
- Once you register you will be subscribed to the daily emails which will arrive every day in your in-box for the following five weeks (starting September 13th if you pre-register). Each email contains a quote, image, and question to encourage you along the contemplative journey for continued inspiration and support.
- You will also receive access to a password-protected web page with the weekly lessons in PDF format and the five podcasts with guided meditations in mp3 format.
- Your suggested time commitment: Daily practice and weekly reading and reflection. Because the class is self-directed, you can engage the materials at your own pace.
What's included
- Weekly written reflection on one of the four elements (PDF format)
- Weekly SoulCollage® practice for creating a card based on each of the elements
- Daily suggestions for reflection sent by email with photos for inspiration and encouragement
- A podcast every week (five in total) with guided meditation recordings (MP3 format)
- Email access to me with questions about your practice
Cost and payment
To register you can pay by credit card either through Paypal or Google Checkouts using the link below. Your email included with your payment will be where your class materials are sent unless you notify me otherwise.
Please note – if you pay through Google Checkouts sometimes your settings mask your email address so make sure to send me your contact information directly in addition to payment.
Program Fee: $90
Program Fee plus a signed copy of Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements - $100
To pay by check please mail to Abbey of the Arts, PO Box 23160, Seattle, WA 98102 and send me an email to Christine@AbbeyoftheArts.com to let me know to expect your registration.
Policies and FAQ
Please read the Class Policies and FAQ page before registering.
Your guide for the class
Visit the "About Christine" page for more information
Feel free to email me at Christine@AbbeyoftheArts.com with any questions or concerns.
Praise for the class
I found Christine’s daily emails of softly probing, provocative, questions and ponderings/photography and poetry to be inspirational and encouraging sources during the Easter season; the season that is so longed for during the long days of Lent and so quickly pushed aside after the glory of Easter a.m. celebrations. My journaling and thoughts for the day were those I suspect I would not have encountered if I had not been participating in the E-Course. Always a blessing, I was not disappointed with this offering from Abbey of the Arts.
-Dianna Woolley at Mind Sieve
This retreat invited me to practice prayer in creative ways and experience the surprising presence of the divine within the elements and beyond.
-C.A.
Christine’s E-Study on praying with the elements offered me opportunity for ease and consistency for engaged learning. Reconnection with the elements deepened and expanded my experience of the vital divine movement of Nature. Questions asked through daily emails articulated what stirred in my heart waiting to be asked and pondered. Over the entire course, I awakened to a presence of support, assisted through inclusion of sacred scripture and mystical poetry. Forever grateful to you Christine, for your focused gift received as an intention of love. Our God is an awesome God!
Blessings of the Elements
While taking The Easter E-course with Christine:
I have been tickled and tossed by the turns of the Wind,
surprised and sustained by the shimmerings of the Sun,
washed and renewed by the Water of Life,
embraced and emboldened by the energy of the Earth.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
© Martha Louise HarknessMany, many thanks for this rich opportunity to honor, learn from and celebrate Creation!
Praise for the book
Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements:
For too many centuries, too many Christians have been taught that a deep reverence for the beauty of nature is incompatible with sincere faith. Christine Valters Paintner’s Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire thus comes as both a blessing and a gift. Not only is her writing as beautiful as the symbolism she describes, but her wide knowledge of scripture, patristic writing, the mystical life of the saints, and contemporary spiritual poetry makes the reading of this book an inspiring and rejuvenating adventure.
-Paula Huston, author of The Holy Way: Practices for a Simple Life
Christine Valters Paintner invites us—with inspiring words and examples—to dive deep into the elemental universe, and encounter there the Mystery that hides in all things. She writes out of the Christian tradition, but her message is as universal as the elements themselves.
-Chet Raymo, author of When God Is Gone, Everything Is Holy: The Making of a Religious Naturalist
Amid the current profusion of spirituality-and-nature books, Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire is a rare treasure: a deeply Christian book that also draws us more deeply into contemplation of and relationship with nature. This fine work of spiritual wisdom and guidance offers to both individuals and groups a companion for all seasons. It can soothe at night, enliven in the morning, kindle the human spirit during the day, and at all times serve as a reminder of the abiding presence of the Creator Spirit, which is the spirit of Christ on earth and among us.
-Jane Redmont, author of When in Doubt, Sing: Prayer in Daily Life
In a warm, personable manner, Paintner, a Benedictine oblate and spiritual director, invites the reader to engage creation as a sacred text by prayerfully exploring theological dimensions of the elements. Drawing on Celtic tradition, Paintner explores religious and cultural symbolism; for example, water’s associations with the direction west, the season autumn, and its physical forms and spiritual dimensions, such as tides, thirst, tears, baptism. Suggestions for reflection and action include the application of lectio divina, a practice of sacred reading typically used with scripture, to nature, encouraging the reader to listen deeply for the stirring of the holy in sacred texts around us. In each chapter, Paintner offers reflections on her prayer life during the book’s composition, demonstrating how she applied the spiritual practices she suggests (such as lighting a candle when contemplating Fire). Quotes from scripture, poets, essayists, and Christian mystics encourage the reader to seek divine revelation and comprehension of God’s love for all creation by cultivating a contemplative relationship to nature. Simple and powerful, this book will be a welcome new resource for individuals and groups seeking spiritual connection to creation.