Sacred Time
Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
- Companion retreat to the book
- Online retreat
- Self-study, start anytime
- Move at your own pace, in your own place
- Lifetime access
Registration Fee: $150 USD
Program Description
*You will need to purchase a copy of Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Ave Maria Press)
We live in a breathless world.
Everything around us seems to move at faster and faster speeds, summoning us to keep up. We multitask, we organize, we simplify, we do all we can to keep on top of the many demands on our time. We yearn for a day with more hours in it so we can complete all we long to do.
We often talk about wasted time, or time spent like money, or time fleeting. This rushed and frenzied existence is not sacred time.
Sacred time is time governed by the rhythms of creation, rhythms that incorporate times of rest as essential to our own unfolding. Sacred time is being present to the moments of eternity available to us at any time we choose to pause and breathe.
In sacred time, we step out of the madness of our lives and choose to reflect, to linger, to savor, to slow down. We gain new perspective here. We have all had those moments of time outside of time, when we felt like we were touching eternity, bathed in a different kind of rhythm. Touching eternity brings a cohesion to our lives and reminds us of the goodness and surplus of living because it honors the rhythms of the soul.
The clock with its forced march is not the only marker of time. Our calendars with their five and ten year strategic plans rob us of our future as we desperately try to cram things in. Each slow mindful breath, the rising and setting of the sun, the expansion and contraction of the moon, the ripening and releasing of the seasons, these all mark a different quality of time and invite us into a deepened and renewed way of being.
It is only when we move more slowly and with intention that we can touch the vertical modes of experiencing time. In this online retreat you are invited to behold the slow witness of the natural world and how those rhythms offer us a portal into another experience of time and offer ways to begin practicing this alternate way of being.
This retreat is an invitation into an intentional way of life, one governed by presence, attention, spaciousness, slowness, and love.
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 audio format which you can view and listen to at any time. You have lifetime access to the materials in the course.
Day 1: Recording of session with Christine providing an overview of the theme and chapter. You will also be guided in the meditation.
Day 2: Scripture reflection from John. Includes an audio recording of Christine leading you in lectio divina with this scripture passage.
Day 3: Song and Movement experience. Betsey Beckman leads you in a gesture prayer to a song selected to deepen the chapter’s theme. Includes a teaching video and a dance along video.
Day 4: Creative Exploration. Includes an audio recording of Christine leading you through the creative process.
Day 5: Reflection Questions and Meditative Coloring. Questions to deepen your reflection and a PDF printable version of the chapter art for meditative coloring.
Day 6: Closing Blessing. Christine reads the closing poem to you in an audio recording and invites you to integrate what you have discovered.
Day 7: Sabbath rest and integration
- Video and audio recordings of eight weekly webinar sessions with Christine Valters Paintner. These sessions were first delivered during a community offering of this retreat in spring 2021 and there may be some reference to that season and time. Written transcripts of each session are also included.
- Lifetime access to the materials in our private and easy-to-navigate retreat platform on Ruzuku.
- Weekly written scripture reflections from John Valters Paintner
- Weekly songs and movement prayer videos with Betsey Beckman
- Weekly reflection questions to deepen your inquiry.
Weekly Themes
Week 1: Breath
Week 1: Breath
Week 2: Hours of the Day
Week 2: Hours of the Day
Week 3: Sabbath Rhythms
Week 3: Sabbath Rhythms
Week 4: Lunar Cycles
Week 4: Lunar Cycles
Week 5: Seasons of the Year
Week 5: Seasons of the Year
Week 6: Seasons of a Lifetime
Week 6: Seasons of a Lifetime
Week 7: Ancestral Time
Week 7: Ancestral Time
Week 8: Cosmic Time
Week 8: Cosmic Time
Artwork commissioned from Alexi Francis
Your Guides for the Journey
Christine Valters Paintner, PhD, REACE
John Valters Paintner, MTS
John Valters Paintner, MTS is the online prior for Abbey of the Arts, where he assists his wife Christine in ministering to global community both online and through in-person programs. John was a youth minister and pastoral associate for four years before becoming a high school religion teacher for twelve years. He has a Masters of Theological Studies from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley. His love for the Bible, particularly the Hebrew Scriptures, emerged when he taught the “Old Testament” at an all-boys high school. John is also a lover of the art of story-telling and has written dozens of short stories, one-act plays, and short films in a variety of genres.
Betsey Beckman, MM
Betsey Beckman, MM is nationally acclaimed as a spirited dancer, storyteller, teacher of SpiritPlay and dancing Spiritual Director. With her extensive repertory of sacred storydances, she is regularly featured as artist/presenter at national conventions as well as local churches. She earned her Masters in Ministry degree from Seattle University, her certificate in Movement Therapy from the Institute for Transformational Movement, and is a certified InterPlay leader. As dancer, choreographer, author, mother, wife, teacher and spiritual director, she is passionate about living life fully and fostering creativity in all those with whom she shares life and ministry. Betsey’s publications include books (she is co-author of Awakening the Creative Spirit: Bringing the Expressive Arts to Spiritual Direction), recordings, and The Dancing Word series of DVDs on embodied prayer. She offers the gift of playful improvisation whenever possible. Visit Betsey’s website here>>
Praise for the Course
Registration
$150
Registration Fee
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!
Terms and Conditions
Please consider your purchase carefully and review the many free materials we have on our website to make sure the program will be a good fit or get in touch with any questions.
We ask that you honor our work by not sharing the program materials with others who are not enrolled.
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Some self-study retreats include video or audio recordings of sessions that were recorded in a live community offering of the retreat and may make reference to forums or other modes of sharing. Please disregard these as self-study retreats do not have these available.
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