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Is God Coming? An Advent Theoblogger Challenge

Patheos offers regular Theoblogger challenges, inviting their writers to respond in 100 words or less. This month’s challenge asks the question “How is God coming into the world this Advent?” Here is my response: In the Northern hemisphere Advent is the season of growing darkness and waiting in the midst of unknowing. Images of night, mystery, and birthing make my soul sing. During this time that we wait for God’s coming, I pay close attention to my dreams, those nighttime visions that come to show me something new. An angel appeared in a dream to Joseph to tell him to wed

December 5, 2011

Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist -second section for Winter just added!

Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist is a 12-week online journey with fellow monks and artists and limited to 15 participants for intimacy and depth of sharing. The first section filled a couple of weeks ago so I have decided to add a second one for winter (January 9-April 1, 2012). This will take you through Lent and is a wonderful way to begin the new year with commitment to your contemplative and creative practice. Once this section fills there will not be any more added and this will be the last time the class is offered until

November 29, 2011

Last chance to register for the Advent online retreat!

November 27 – December 24, 2011 (a 4-week online class) Description I must be the Virgin and give birth to God. –Angelus Silesius (17th century German mystic) What good is it to me if Mary gave birth to the Son of God fourteen hundred years ago and I do not also give birth to the Son of God in my time and in my culture? We are all meant to be Mothers of God. -Meister Eckhart (15th century German mystic) Each of us is called to participate in bringing God to birth in the world. We each hear our own

November 25, 2011

Featured Review of Lectio Divina at Englewood Review of Books

Chris Smith at the Englewood Review of Books has featured Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words & Images into Heart-Centered Prayer this month! I am very honored by his review, here is an excerpt: What distinguishes Paintner’s work from a host of other recent books on lectio divina is its focus on beauty. Paintner is an artist and has reflected at length on the role of the arts in spiritual formation (for instance in her book Awakening the Creative Spirit, co-written with Betsey Beckman, which we reviewed here). Part of what is lost in the ever-increasing pace of Western culture,

November 19, 2011

Artistic Advent Enrichment (lovely new review of The Artist’s Rule)

Kristin Berkey-Abbot at Liberation Theology Lutheran has a great post suggesting The Artist’s Rule as a creative companion through the season of Advent (and I agree, it is a brilliant idea): If you’re looking for a disciplined approach and a guide to walk you through each practice and to help you make the connections between spirituality and art, allow me to recommend Christine Valters Paintner’s latest book, The Artist’s Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom. Much like Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, Paintner’s book is set up as a 12 week intensive immersion into techniques and practices that

November 15, 2011

Go in peace, you are loved

Go in peace, you are loved, you are loved Go in peace, you are loved Go with God, you are loved, you are loved Go with God, you are loved The God who wove you in the dark the one whose rough hands made your heart had you in mind before the dawn of time The one who gazed with gentle eyes at all the colors of your life– Before the threads were dyed, the artist saw your life (chorus) Back at the house you started from your God has left the porch light on however late the hour, you’ll

November 13, 2011

Creative Source

The lovely and wise Claire at A Seat at the Table has a beautiful post at her blog about embarking on a journey with my latest book The Artist’s Rule as her companion. Each of us uses a bit or a lot of that Creativity which comes from the same Source. Each one of us is a facet of that Creative Source. Beautifully, in it, we are One. Click here to read more>>

November 11, 2011

Streams of Contentment

This month at the Patheos Book Club they are featuring Robert Wicks’ new book Streams of Contentment. I was invited to write a post in response to the theme of the book and participate in a conversation abotu contentment. Wicks’ book offers us an array of stories to illuminate this journey toward living a life of deeper contentment, of more simplicity and clarity about what brings us satisfaction, of remembering gratitude as a foundational practice. I have learned a lot about contentment from my yoga practice. In Sanskrit the word for contentment is santosha which asks us to accept the current state

November 2, 2011

A Midwinter God

I love the bare branches of winter trees spread across the muted sky. Those aching arms that have been stripped of encumbrance to reveal the bones. When autumn comes I am dizzy with delight at the release of fluttering jeweled prayer flags settling to the ground to become the compost for next spring’s flowers. There is an excitement I experience at the change of each day’s landscape, a parade of colors, always something new revealed. It can be easy to forget that this is also the heart of dying. Then winter arrives and brings with it an often profound stillness.

November 2, 2011

Midwinter God – SCI online class general registration now open!

Soul Care Institute online learning: January 9-February 19, 2012 Register now for A Midwinter God: Making a Conscious Underworld Journey (click the link for more details) Open to all soul care practitioners (spiritual directors, chaplains, counselors, pastors, etc). In a dark time, the eye begins to see. —Theodore Roethke Wisdom comes with winter. —Oscar Wilde Our western culture denies the reality of difficult feelings, demonizes the experience of darkness, and rejects the invitation of winter to move into a place of unknowing and mystery. Our religious institutions don’t leave any room for the experience of doubt and despair. Certainty, planning,

November 1, 2011

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Is God Coming? An Advent Theoblogger Challenge

Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist -second section for Winter just added!

Last chance to register for the Advent online retreat!

Featured Review of Lectio Divina at Englewood Review of Books

Artistic Advent Enrichment (lovely new review of The Artist’s Rule)

Go in peace, you are loved

Creative Source

Streams of Contentment

A Midwinter God

Midwinter God – SCI online class general registration now open!

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Sabbath as a Way of Being in the World ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Monk in the World Guest Post: Elaine Breckenridge

Seven Gates of Mystical Wisdom for Lent ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Monk in the World Guest Post: Mary Francis Drake

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