Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
    • 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
    • Community Online Retreats
      • 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
      • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: A Weekend Retreat Online
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Sacred Balance:
        Aligning Body and Spirit Through
        Yoga and the Benedictine Way
    • 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)
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers
        (SELF-STUDY)
      • 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

Abbess love notes, Earth as Original Monastery, Lift Every Voice Book Club, Prayer Cycle

New Book Club for 2021: Lift Every Voice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle: Day 7 Evening Prayer from Abbey of the Arts on Vimeo.

Listen to the Audio Podcast

Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle: Day 7 Evening Prayer

Dearest monks and artists,

We have lots of wonderful things in store for you this year!

Lift Every Voice Book Club

One of our new offerings will be a monthly book club called Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color. The Christian contemplative tradition is largely dominated by the European mystics. With the rise in awareness around the rich diversity of voices available to us, we wanted to explore what our understanding of Christian mysticism and contemplative practice would look like through the lens of writers of color. How might we be enriched by other perspectives?

I am delighted to be joined by author Claudia Love Mair in a monthly conversation on this very question. We have selected 11 books (we will take July as a sabbatical) and the last Wednesday of each month we will post a video conversation around one of the books. We then invite conversation and reflection in our dedicated Facebook group (click the link to request to join us).

You, as a member of this community, are invited to purchase and read the books in advance and participate actively in this journey of deepening, discovery, and transformation. There is no other cost to this program than buying the book each month (or borrowing from the library). We will provide spaces for conversation online and in our Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group so you can contribute to our growing vision.

This is a free series, the only cost for you is buying the books and we encourage you to support your local bookseller. We have provided links to Bookshop.org who sources from independent stores.

I am excited to begin with our first Featured Book for February 2021! God Alone is Enough: A Spirited Journey with Teresa of Avila was written by Claudia Love Mair and gives us a conversation between a modern black woman and a 15th century Spanish mystic. Claudia’s writing style is so accessible and makes Teresa of Avila into a dear friend you want to spend time with.

Well-known author Phyllis Tickle described it as: "the kind of book that a serious Christian has to thank God for. It only illuminates and opens St. Teresa of Avila in a profound and intimate way. I cannot recommend this book too highly or, I suspect, even adequately. Read it and you will see what I mean."

Join us on January 27, 2021 for the first video recording of our book conversation!

Give Me a Word Winners

We also want to announce the winners of our random drawing for those who participated in Give Me a Word 2021, a free gift we offer at the turning of every calendar year!

The winners are:

  • Space in our online Lent 2021 retreat on the Desert Mothers and Fathers
    • Barbara  Dress Herr McCann – Presence
  • Choice of our self-study online retreats
    • Kathleen Middleton – Grace
    • covenantwmn -Serve
    • Dolores Nice-Siegenthaler – Mother
    • Liz Nau – Courage
  • One signed copy of The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Debbie B ~ Stillness
  • One signed copy of Dreaming of Stones: Poems by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Rebecca Przybylski ~ Possibility
  • One signed copy of Earth, Our Original Monastery: Cultivating Wonder & Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Roxanne ~ Trust

Please get in touch with us to redeem your prizes.

Thank you to everyone who shared a word for the year, it is always so inspiring to read them all and the reasons they are meaningful for you.

Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle Complete! Celebrate with us!

And last, but not least, our final episode of our Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle is available today. See the links at the top of this email for the audio and video podcasts.  We are so thrilled to now have a full week of morning and evening prayers Abbey-style available for you to pray with on your own or with your community as a free resource. I am especially grateful to Betsey Beckman, Simon de Voil, and Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, without whom these audio and video resources would not be possible.

We are hosting a live event next Sunday, January 17th at 8 pm Ireland/UK time (3 pm Eastern / 12 noon Pacific) to celebrate the completion of this cycle. Join us for song, movement, reflection, meditation, and shared prayer. You can sign up to join us live at this link. The event will be recorded and shared on our website as well.

With great and growing love,

Christine

Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE

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Leave a Comment January 10, 2021

Upcoming Programs

  • Writing Into Bloom with Christine Valters Paintner
    • May 1, 2021
  • Revelations: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
    • May 13, 2021
  • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: A Weekend Retreat Online
    • May 15, 2021 - May 16, 2021
  • View All Upcoming Programs

Recent Reflections

  • A mini-poetry reading from Christine plus other publishing news
  • St. Kevin Holds Open His Hand and Radical Hospitality ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Monk in the World Guest Post: Greta Kopec
  • Monk in the World Podcast + Harriet Tubman Mysticism ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color – April Video Discussion and Book Group Materials Now Available

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