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 annunciations and invitations to enflesh the sacred creative call of our hearts in service to others. The season of Advent invites us into a profound reflection on this invitation and the movement toward birthing as well as offer us archetypal themes that call us to take our creativity seriously.
Being a monk in the world means responding to your heart’s deep call to be fully present to life. It means releasing that which gets in the way of this practice and making wide open space for stillness. It means welcoming in the challenges of living as opportunities to deepen into self-understanding and a reliance on grace. On the journey to Advent, how might you begin to birth your contemplative self more fully into the world?
Do you long to make the season of Advent a more meaningful time of prayer and reflection?
Do you want to make space to listen to your deepest call in this season of birthing?
Join Christine Valters Paintner, the online Abbess at Abbey of the Arts, along with some very special guest teachers: Roy DeLeon, Mary Earle, Paula Huston, Dana Reynolds, and Jan Richardson for a four-week contemplative online journey into the heart of the Advent season. Through daily reflections (five times weekly) and weekly movement experiences you will be guided on four themes of the contemplative and creative journey. Make a commitment to a retreat in everyday life and let this winter be a journey of transformation. Arrive at the holy day of Christmas from a place of deep reflection and intention.
Registration ends Sunday, November 27th!