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Quiet Days and Quiet Half-Days
My approach to quiet days is a little less quiet. Along with story, worship, journalling, and silent time, we'll include some work for the senses - perhaps a craft, an art experience, or a walk. Community music will be part of the experience. And - in keeping with the oldest sources of community spirituality - there will be work for each to do for the good of all.
Front Porch 101
People used to have a place and time in their daily lives to welcome their neighbors. Out on the front porch, after the supper dishes are done, there could be stories, conversation, music, maybe even a piece of pie. This quiet day is about the skills and insight we need to construct our front porches again, however and wherever we live, and offers shared reflection on rediscovering the joy and power of neighborliness.
This Present Occasion! Exploring America's Shaker Traditions
'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free..." Simple Gifts grew out of a distinctive faith community, the Shakers, who flourished in nineteenth-century America. Scientific gardeners, skilled carpenters, they worshiped by dancing and singing and their leader was (of all things!) a woman, Mother Ann Lee. In this quiet day we'll visit at the music, dance and traditions of American Shakers - and, if there's a kitchen available, we'll make a Shaker lemon pie.
The Ammas and the Abbas - In the Desert, Seeking God
Beginning in the third century of the common era, men and women lived in the Egyptian desert in small, subsistence communities of work and prayer. We have from them - the abbas and the ammas - a mighty and wonderful collection of stories. This quiet day introduces and embodies the practics of silence and breath prayer - but we'll also dig around in those stories and marvel at the living texture of these long-ago lives.
In This Moment - Beginning Your Book of Hours
Recollectedness is the hour-by-hour awareness that we are beloved children of God - and it's always a challenge. For centuries Christians have used Books of Hours, personal prayer books, to seek recollectedness. In this hands-on quiet day we'll see examples of personal prayer books and Books of Hours from different centuries. We'll reflect together about what recollectedness means for each of us. Each participant will have time to experiment with materials to make a page or a book that calls to recollectedness. Participants will be invited to bring pictures, prayers, and other texts that are personally meaningful for them - generous amounts of other craft supplies will also be available.
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