Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
      • Introduction to the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle
      • Day 1 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Cathedral
      • Day 2 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Scriptures
      • Day 3 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Saints
      • Day 4 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Spiritual Directors
      • Day 5 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Icon
      • Day 6 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Sacrament
      • Day 7 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Liturgy
      • Prayer Cycle Leader Resources
    • About the Abbey
    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
    • About the Wisdom Council
    • Monk Manifesto
    • Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks
    • Subscribe to Our Love Notes
    • Website privacy notice
  • Books
    • Breath Prayer:
      An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred
    • Sacred Time:
      Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
    • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems
    • Earth, Our Original Monastery:
      Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
    • Dreaming of Stones: Poems
    • The Soul's Slow Ripening:
      12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
    • The Wisdom of the Body:
      A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
    • Illuminating the Way:
      Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
    • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
      Eight Practices for the Journey Within
    • Eyes of the Heart:
      Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
    • The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
    • Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained
    • Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
    • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
    • Awakening the Creative Spirit:
      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
  • Poetry | Art | Music
    • Music + DVD
    • Poetry by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Poetry Videos
    • Dancing Monk Icons
    • Other Art Collaborations
      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
      • Sacred Time art series by Alexi Francis
      • Mary block print art series by Kreg Yingst
  • Programs
    • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color Book Club
      • God Alone is Enough: A Spirited Journey with Teresa of Avila (Book Club – February 2021)
    • Community Online Retreats
      • Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
      • Novena for Times of Unraveling
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
      • Sky, Sun, Sea, & Stone:
        Celtic Spirituality and Creative Writing
      • The Two HT’s-Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Revelations: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
    • Self-Study Online Spiritual Retreats
      • Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert:
        An Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
      • Dreaming of the Sea:
        A women’s discernment journey through the story of the Selkie
      • Earth, Our Original Monastery
        A Companion Retreat to the Book (SELF-STUDY)
      • Exile and Coming Home:
        An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures
      • Eyes of the Heart:
        Photography as Contemplative Practice
        (Companion retreat to the book)
      • Honoring Saints and Ancestors:
        Online Retreat for the Season of Remembrance
      • Lectio Divina:
        The Sacred Art of Reading the World
      • A Midwinter God:
        Making a Conscious Underworld Journey (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone:
        A Creative Retreat with the Elements (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Seasons:
        A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
      • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
        Eight Practices for the Journey Within
        (a companion retreat to the book)
      • The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seekers of the Sacred (a companion retreat to the book)
      • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
      • Watershed Moments
        in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
      • Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist:
        A 12-Week Companion Retreat to The Artist's Rule
      • The Wisdom of the Body:
        A 10-Week Online Companion Retreat to the Book
      • The Wisdom of Mary and the Sacred Feminine
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
  • Contact

Dance Party Invitation, Lectio Divina, Monk in the World Guest Post Series, Photo Party Invitation, Poetry Party Invitation

Community Contemplation & Creativity
(Fall Schedule)

For several years now the Abbey has offered a regular Poetry Party and last year we added in the Photo Parties. These have been invitations into your own creative expression through a particular theme and then sharing it with your fellow monks. We took a break from them over the summer but are excited to be bringing them back now.

This autumn we are adding on two new features:

Community Lectio Divina: Each month I will be posting a scripture passage or poem (and eventually some art and music) which you will be invited to pray with using the ancient contemplative practice of lectio divina.  Guidelines will be posted and an audio recording of Christine leading you in the prayer. Suggestions will also be offered for creative ways to respond to what arises in your prayer and you are invited to share the fruits of your discoveries with the wider community.

Invitation to Dance/Dance Party: I will also be posting a monthly invitation into a gentle movement practice so you can explore the body in prayer as sacred landscape and holy vessel and invite you to share what you discover.

Join the Conversation: You are invited to join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook page as a place to participate or in the comments below each blog post as they appear.

Below is a look ahead at the weekly themes. All are welcome to participate.

Our approach to the arts at the Abbey is one of exploration, discovery, and prayer. Our aim in art-making isn't to create a beautiful product and impress others, but to pay attention to the process of unfolding that leads to the creation of something that is an authentic expression of our experience in the moment. We welcome in the discomfort and resistance, as well as the ease and joy. When we create what is truly within us, rather than what we want others to see, we dance on the wild edges and expand our understanding of the Spirit's movement in our lives.

Art can be a journey of revelation and truth-telling. Creating from the heart (as opposed to the mind or ego) draws us closer to the Great Artist who is continuously at work in the world, and with whom we can collaborate on life's artistry.

Autumn 2013 Community Invitations

September 1: Community Lectio Divina

September 8: Invitation to Photography

September 15: Invitation to Poetry

September 22: Invitation to Dance

September 29: A chance to pause and savor

October 6: Community Lectio Divina

October 13: Invitation to Photography

October 20: Invitation to Poetry

October 27: Invitation to Dance

November 3: Community Lectio Divina

November 10: Invitation to Photography

November 17: Invitation to Poetry

November 24: Invitation to Dance

Upcoming Monk in the World Guest Posts:

Each of the Wisdom Council members shared a guest post this past summer about becoming a monk in the world and artist of everyday life.  They were so well received, that we are continuing the series with some more wonderful writers and bloggers on the contemplative life.

September 9: Tara M. Owens, CSD, spiritual director and supervisor with Anam Cara Ministries and Senior Editor of Conversations Journal.

September 16: Carl McColman, author of Answering the Contemplative Call: First Steps on the Mystical Path and The Big Book of Christian Mysticism: The Essential Guide to Contemplative Spirituality

September 23: Claudia Mair Burney, author of God Alone is Enough: A Spirited Journey with Teresa of Avila

September 30: Claire Bangasser of A Catholic Woman's Place

October 7: Lacy Ellman of A Sacred Journey

October 14: Kent Ira Groff, author of Honest to God Prayer: Spirituality as Awareness, Empowerment, Relinquishment, and Paradox and Writing Tides: Finding Grace and Growth through Writing

October 28: Paula Huston, author of Simplifying the Soul: Lenten Practices to Renew Your Spirit and The Holy Way: Practices for a Simple Life

November 4: Ken Peterson, author of Prayer as Night Falls: Experiencing Compline

November 11: Wil Hernandez of CenterQuest and author of Henri Nouwen and Spiritual Polarities: A Life of Tension and Henri Nouwen and Soul Care: A Ministry of Integration

November 18: Mary Sharratt, author of Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen

November 25: Edward Sellner, author of Finding the Monk Within: Great Monastic Values for Today, Wisdom of the Celtic Saints, and his most recent book The Double: Male Eros, Friendships, and Mentoring-From Gilgamesh To Kerouac

December 2: Mary Earle, author of Celtic Christian Spirituality and Marvelously Made: Gratefulness and the Body

December 9: Judy Smoot, founder and executive director of Always We Begin Again

*Please note: The book links above are Amazon Associates links which provides the Abbey a small percentage of your purchase price at no additional cost to you.  These funds go to support the Earth Monastery Project and our scholarship fund.

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Leave a Comment August 30, 2013

Upcoming Programs

Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
March 13, 2021
with Drs. Jamie Marich, Kellie Kirksey, and Christine Valters Paintner

Novena for Times of Unraveling
Becoming a Monk in the World

March 17-25, 2021
with Christine & John Valters Paintner, and Simon de Voil

Recent Reflections

  • Hildy Tales 7: An Nead by John Valters Paintner
  • Sacred Time and Slowing Down ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 6: Céim uile an domhain ~ by John Valters Paintner
  • Join us on a Desert Journey for Lent ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 5: Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin ~ by John Valters Paintner

Connect with the Abbey

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