Lectio Divina: The Sacred Art of Reading the World
with Christine Valters Paintner, Carmen Acevedo Butcher, Cassidhe Hart, Jo-ed Tome, Lisha Epperson, and Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
Forum facilitators Aisling Richmond and Polly Paton-Brown
January 11 – February 7, 2026
Weekly live Zoom sessions on Mondays
3:30-4:30pm Ireland
10:30-11:30am Eastern
7:30-8:30am Pacific
Are you longing for a transformative journey to deeper intimacy with God through an ancient practice?
Would you like to cultivate a contemplative way of being with scripture and the world?
Would you like to have wise guides supporting you through regular reflections and guided meditation practices?
Program Description
Lectio divina is an ancient practice of reading sacred texts in a slow, reverential, and heart-centered way. We are often taught in churches to think through our prayers – reciting words and formulas which are valuable elements of our shared traditions, but only one window into God’s presence. In lectio we invite God to speak to us through the scriptures, other texts like poetry, and even visual art, nature, and life experience.
Our memories, images, and feelings become an important context for experiencing God’s voice active in us and we discover it when we pray in a heart-centered way. Those words moving through us break open God’s invitation to us in this moment of our lives and call us to respond in some way.
Words can illuminate our hearts; they contain seeds of invitation to cross a new threshold. Words ripen within us. We can receive a word and not realize its full impact for our lives for a long while until one day we suddenly see things differently. Lectio divina invites us to listen deeply to the voice of God shimmering in sacred texts. Lectio cultivates in us the ability to be fully present to the holy call which emerges from our prayer.
During this retreat you will be introduced to the practice of lectio divina and you will also be invited deeper into creative ways of engaging the rhythms of lectio through movement, poetry, praying with images (visio divina), praying with sound (audio divina), praying with nature, and praying with the sacred stories of our lives.
It is recommended you purchase a copy of Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer (Skylight Paths Publishing).
We will turn on closed captioning during the live Zoom session (which you are able to turn off in your settings if you find distracting) as well as provide a video recording with closed captioning available and a text transcript of the session within 24 hours. You will be sent a notification when this is ready to view.
You have lifetime access to all online programs.
How the Retreat Works
Monday: Live zoom session with Christine Valters Paintner and guest musician Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
Tuesday: Scripture-sparked lectio divina (becoming chanting) with optional movement led by guest teacher Carmen Acevedo Butcher
Wednesday: Creative contemplative practice led by guest teacher Jo-ed Tome
Thursday: Guided lectio divina practice with poetry led by guest teacher Cassidhe Hart
Friday: Prayerful movement as an embodied way to engage with lectio divina led by guest teacher Lisha Epperson
Saturday: Reflection on the week
Sunday: Sabbath day for rest and integration
Weekly Themes
Week 1:
Sacred Reading
We begin with the foundations of lectio divina, what it is, what the foundational assumptions are of our encounters with God behind this kind of prayer. We will also explore in more depth the first movement of lectio, settling and shimmering, where we center ourselves and listen for what shimmers in the text, trusting this as God’s voice. Lectio divina calls us to awaken to the divine presence.
Week 2:
At the Heart of Lectio Divina
We explore the Benedictine approach to this prayer practice and the understanding of the heart in ancient mystical wisdom which undergirds our prayer experience. We will also explore the second movement of lectio, savoring and stirring, in more depth where we welcome all of our senses and let the prayer unfold through image, feeling, and memory. Lectio divina calls us to savor life fully.
Week 3:
The Role of Spiritual Practice
This week we engage with the role of practice in the spiritual life, how practices shape us, and help us to cultivate particular ways of being in the world that are more spacious, open-hearted, and compassionate. We also engage the third movement of lectio divina, summoning and serving, as we listen deeply for the call of the Spirit through all that has unfolded in our prayer already. Through lectio divina we are summoned to a new awareness.
Week 4:
Give Me a Word
We consider various ways of choosing a text for our prayer practice including looking at various translations, lectio continua, and learning texts by heart. We will also open up the fourth movement of lectio, slowing and stilling, where we release all the words and images and rest fully into being rather than doing. Lectio divina always leads us to this embrace of stillness and dwelling with the divine in the sanctuary of the heart.
In lectio we invite God to speak to us through the scriptures, other texts like poetry, and even visual art, nature, and life experience.
What's Included
- Six days each week you receive an email with a link to the day’s content. The 7th day is a time for rest and integration. The materials are in written, video, and/or audio format which you can view and listen to at any time.
- A lovingly facilitated forum is also included in this live version of the retreat. Feel free to share what you are discovering with a community of kindred souls.
- We will turn on closed captioning during the live Zoom sessions (which you are able to turn off in your settings if you find distracting) as well as provide a video recording with closed captioning available and a text transcript of the session. Captions and a transcript are available for all video material.
- The program will be recorded for those who pre-register but are unable to attend at the scheduled time or who want to view again. You will be sent a notification when this is ready to view.
- You have lifetime access to all online programs.
Your Guides for the Journey
Christine Valters Paintner
Christine Valters Paintner, OblSB, PhD, REACE is the online Abbess and director of AbbeyoftheArts.com, a virtual monastery exploring contemplative practice, creative expression, and ways to nourish an earth-cherishing consciousness. She is a spiritual director, teacher, pilgrimage guide, Benedictine oblate, and author of numerous books on spirituality and the arts. Her deepest belief is that the earth is the original monastery–a wisdom guide and mentor in living a soulful and vibrant life. Visit the “About Christine” page for more information.
Carmen Acevedo Butcher
Carmen Acevedo Butcher, PhD is an award-winning translator, poet, and workshop leader. She has been interviewed on the BBC’s Compass, NPR’s Morning Edition, and Dante’s Old South, and many others found on her linktree. Her Cloud of Unknowing translation received a 46th Georgia Author of the Year Award, and Martin Laird calls her translation of Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence “the new standard.” Carmen holds degrees in Medieval Studies from the University of Georgia, was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of London, and teaches in the College Writing Programs at the University of California, Berkeley. She is an Affiliate Faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation and has contributed teaching to the CAC’s Essentials of Engaged Contemplation course. Carmen lives in the Bay Area, and is working on a chapbook of poetry. Visit her YouTube channel here.
Cassidhe Hart
Cassidhe Hart, MDiv wrote her first poem as a toddler with her mother’s help, dictating words onto a scrap of construction paper. She’s been writing ever since. As a poet and liturgist, she writes at the intersection of faith, ecology, community, and ritual to explore the ways we tell stories about our inner and outer worlds. She comes from a long line of settler-colonists and is committed to listening to systematically oppressed voices and to growing an anti-racist, decolonizing ethic in all her work. She has been commissioned to write prayers, liturgies, and songs for various worship and retreat contexts. In all her writing and facilitating, she seeks to cultivate a tender and radical attention to God’s presence among us. Her list of favorite things includes sunlight through tree leaves, children’s novels, jasmine tea, and her nephew’s drawings of rainbow narwhals.
Cassidhe writes Spinning Nettles on Substack. CassidheHart.wordpress.com
Jo-ed Tome
Lisha Epperson
Rev. Lisha Epperson is a minister, movement specialist, writer, speaker, and Christian meditation practitioner. She teaches embodied practices (contemplative yoga/movement and faith-based meditation) to Christian communities. These therapeutic practices support overall wellness and help balance the demands of modern life. Lisha offers movement workshops and quiet day retreats designed around these themes and shares resources and tools to encourage a life long practice of self-care and spiritual formation. She is the founder of the Creative Arts Project, a summer arts immersion camp for children aged 6-12, and an ordained Episcopal priest. LishaEpperson.com
Richard Bruxvoort Colligan
Dr. Richard Bruxvoort Colligan is a spiritual director, musician, and lover of laughter. To this retreat, he brings his passion for lifelong spiritual formation and the arts, along with enthralled curiosity for the Great Mystery we are in together. His ongoing project is composing congregational songs at PsalmImmersion.com. He is the author of Dangerous Songs: The Psalms and a Gloriously Disrupted Life (Broadleaf Books). Richard serves as Director of Spiritual Formation at Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Rochester, MN and lives in Strawberry Point, Iowa USA with his wife Trish and dogs Winifred and Jack. Visit Richard online at Worldmaking.net and Patreon.com/RichardBC
Forum Facilitators
Aisling Richmond
Aisling Richmond is a Somatic Therapist and transformative guide who is deeply inspired by nature and the wisdom of the soul. Aisling is currently undertaking a PhD in Psychology and Transformative Leadership to work with cultural change. She shares a home with her partner in the rugged wildness of Donegal, North West Ireland. Aisling works as a therapist, supporting people to resolve trauma and life challenges through body-psyche-soul wisdom. She also mentors people in finding their deep soul purpose, and teaches a rich range of transformative programs online. Aisling is passionate about soul centred living, where nature and the feminine are deeply valued. Having worked collaboratively with many organisations including Amnesty International, Aisling has also been a guest lecturer with both Galway and Limerick Universities. AislingRichmond.com
Polly Paton-Brown
Polly Paton-Brown, MA, UKCP worked for many years as a psychotherapist and trainer in the field of trauma. More recently, Polly’s focus has been on helping people explore their spirituality and prayer, using creativity and connection with nature. Polly has a particular passion for creating healing dolls as a portal to transformation.
Always a lover of nature, horses and creativity Polly now integrates all of these into her practice. She has trained in Nature Based Practice and Eco-pychology, Environmental Arts, Expressive Arts and Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy. She is a licenced facilitator of Chakradance, The Art of Allowing , Creative Awakenings and the Wild Soul Woman Programme.
A member of the Iona Community, Polly was coordinator of their healing ministry for 11 years and when in that role ran regular retreats on the Isle of Iona. She is also a Sister of Belle Coeur. With roots in the contemplative and monastic traditions, Polly also draws wisdom from other spiritual paths such as Druidry and Sufism. She is passionate to help those wounded by the institutional church restore their image of God and themselves.
Polly writes the Wild Soul Calling on Substack. PollyPatonBrown.co.uk
Our memories, images, and feelings become an important context for experiencing God’s voice active in us and we discover it when we pray in a heart-centered way. Those words moving through us break open God’s invitation to us in this moment of our lives and calls us to respond in some way.
Registration
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$120
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Purchase the Companion Book
The book is not included in the registration fee. You may purchase the book at the links below or at your local book seller. Thank you for your support!
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