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By Melanie P. Moore, et al.
Each month, we publish a listing of upcoming contemplative and spiritual opportunities recommended by folks here at The Abbey. Many of us have floundered around in the past looking for community and deep engagement with other pilgrims on the spiritual path. Here we share a curated list of what we are finding, hoping you might find some of it helpful on your journey. We’ve included a Comments section with each listing detailing what we as participants have liked. If you know of something coming up in August or September and would like to have it listed here, please email the information as shown below to editor@theabbey.us by July 20 to be included in the post at the beginning of July. Please note that all times are listed in Central Time.
July
Gathering Dharma Series – The Eight Realizations: The Path to Liberation for All with Roshi Joan Halifax
Dates and Times: Monthly on Sundays, Noon – 1:30 p.m.; June 23, July 7, August 18, September 15, October 13, November 3, December 22
Registration: Open
Cost: Donation suggested
Frequency: Monthly
Duration: 1.5 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: “Gathering Dharma” is about compassion, connection and collective action. It is a time to explore social and environmental engagement and to affirm our vows in a time of great challenge on our earth. During the morning, we will touch into practice, learn together, and open to inquiry.
For each morning program, there will be a Resource Page, and the Zoom video of the morning session will be posted on the Resource Page shortly after the session. We ask that you register for each Sunday you wish to attend, and you will be sent a Zoom link for the gathering and have access to the unique Resource Page. Recordings of the session will be accessible in perpetuity.
Comments: We like Roshi Joan Halifax as well as several of the other leaders who are participating, including Frank Ostaseski and think this series would be a great way to explore compassion, connection, and collective action.
GATHERING DHARMA Bridging the Divide with Tara Brach and Frank Ostaseski, from Upaya
Dates and Times: Sunday, July 7; Noon – 1:30 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: Donation Suggested
Frequency: One-time event
Duration: 1.5 hours
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes
Description: One of the great sufferings facing us is the growing divide between humans with different views, different realities. This program explores several levels of divides – being at war with ourselves, creating separation in our personal relationships and the societal divides. These two friends and teachers will reflect on how we can evolve consciousness from the instinctual habit of Fight, Flight, Freeze to the wholeness and belonging that arises with “Tend and Befriend.”The program will include reflections by both teachers, mindfulness practice and ample time for group discussion.
Comments: We like both of these teachers and the offerings from Upaya are consistently high-quality. We also like that the recordings are available to registrants for perpetuity. It is nice that they have a wide range of suggested donations, making this possible for anyone to participate.
Metanoia Journey’s Sunday In-Person Contemplative Gathering
Dates and Times: Sunday, July 7, 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Registration: Not required
Cost: Free
Frequency: Monthly
Duration: 1.5 hours
Format: In person at The Seminary of the Southwest’s Christ Chapel 501 E 32nd St., Austin, TX
Recording Available: N/A
Description: The format of this gathering will include 20 minutes of Centering Prayer, a scripture reading from the sacred texts, a “message” offered by the ministers or guest speakers, community communion, and contemplative music. We invite anyone who wants to participate in performing a role to let us know. Otherwise, just come, rest in God, and receive.
This is a “contemplative service,” with 20 minutes of silent, meditative prayer. For those that attend that have not practiced Centering Prayer before, we have a copy of the brief Guidelines to practice the prayer available at the entry to the Chapel for people to follow along.
At this time, we do not have an area for children to gather separately or have a children’s ministry. Older children are certainly welcome if they can rest in silence during that time.
Comments: This is an opportunity to connect with other contemplative practitioners in person in Austin. While these are primarily Christian contemplative services, all are welcome.
Summer Interlude – Conversation with Rev. Dr. Mona West, “Lessons From the Garden on How to Thrive”
Dates and Times: Wednesday, July 10, Noon – 1 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: Free
Frequency: One-time event (part of Eremos Summer Interlude Series)
Duration: 1 hour
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes, for 1 month
Description: Using her passion for gardening, Mona will weave together stories of wisdom from the garden to help us cultivate spiritual practices for thriving.
Comments: This is one in a series of one-hour presentations based on the Summer Interlude series that Eremos is presenting. It’s a great opportunity to hear the speakers who are leading the various groups this summer.
Wild Goose Festival
Dates and Times: Thursday, July 11 – Sunday, July 14, 2024
Registration: Open (as a reader of Practicing Presence, use the code ABBEY at checkout to save 20%.
Cost: Winter Special $269 (ends March 19); Spring Special $299 (ends June 20)
Frequency: Annual event
Duration: 4 days
Format: In person, VanHoy Farms, Union Grove, NC
Recording Available: N/A
Description: Wild Goose Festival is a transformational community grounded in faith-inspired social justice. At our nationwide festival, we learn and grow by co-creating art, music, story, theater, and spectacle, engaging in a wide variety of robust, courageous conversations with each other and with thought leaders and artists from other communities. We are welcoming and hospitable to people of all faiths – or no faith – who join us in seeking the common good. We fully affirm and celebrate people of every age, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual identity, education, bodily condition, religious affiliation, and economic background, particularly those who are most often marginalized. We are rooted in progressive Christianity. For us this means moving beyond belief to center ourselves in justice and compassion, to walk toward those in need and to solidarity with the marginalized and the oppressed, acknowledging our own privilege and actively working to use our power to alleviate suffering and achieve wholeness.
Comments: We look forward to attending and have heard wonderful and affirming things about this festival. For example, in 2022, Diana Butler Bass’s sermon at the festival went viral as she shared Elizabeth Schrader Polczer’s groundbreaking work on Mary Magdalene. This year promises to be another rich experience of speakers, musicians, co-creators, and personal transformation for those who attend.
Contemplation and Care for Creation Certificate Program
Dates and Times: Starts in June 2024 and runs to May of 2025
Registration: Open – Deadline to apply is May 1
Cost: $1,300 with $500 deposit due with application
Frequency: Bi-monthly (see details here)
Duration: 11 months
Format: Zoom with 2 in-person retreats
Recording Available: N/A
Description: This is a year-long ecumenical program that shares the theology and spirituality of creation care. Learn to encounter the sacred in nature, interpret that experience, and reflect on its implications for your own life, your church, and society. Immerse yourself in the contemplation of nature in company with other participants, based on classical monastic spiritual formation. Study the integral relation of creation to the fundamental tenets of the Christian faith. Create a rule of life for yourself based on a right relationship with God and the glorious elements of God’s world.
Comments: We are familiar with the leaders of the Center for Deep Green Faith and have found them to be very compelling in presentations we’ve seen. They are well-informed environmentally and theologically.
August
The Missing Piece: How Lament Can Move Us from Surviving to Thriving with Terra McDaniel, presented by Eremos
Dates and Times: Saturday, August 24, 9:30 a.m. – Noon
Registration: Open
Cost: $50 (partial scholarships available)
Frequency: One-time even
Duration: 2.5 hours
Format: In person at Abiding Love Lutheran Church, Austin, TX
Recording Available: N/A
Description: In our rush to get back to normal, many of us ignore the need to express our sorrows. We don’t realize this missing step is often vital to healing and living with more wholeness.
In this workshop, Terra will share wisdom about the ancient practice of lament and the need to grieve our sorrows and losses, whether personal, professional, or global.
Guiding you into a few tried and true grief, gratitude, and hope practices from her work with clients, Terra will invite you to notice the space created within—a place for hope and even joy to enter—after you’ve given your griefs a way to be metabolized. Optional invitations to share with small groups and the larger group will occur throughout the morning.
Comments: We have consistently liked the offerings from Eremos and find their teachers/leaders to be effective and engaging. We want to note that this offering will be in-person in Austin, which is nice for this type of program.
Summer Interlude – Conversation with Dianna Amorde, “Refreshing Your Spirit Through Pilgrimage”
Dates and Times: Wednesday, Aug. 28, Noon – 1 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: Free
Frequency: One-time event (part of Eremos Summer Interlude Series)
Duration: 1 hour
Format: Online
Recording Available: Yes, for 1 month
Description: Blessed to be joining a few Eremos friends on a pilgrimage to Inishmore (one of the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland) in mid-July, Dianna will share stories, pictures, and more about her experience and invite you to go on your own pilgrimage, even if only in your imagination.
Comments:This is one in a series of one-hour presentations based on the Summer Interlude series that Eremos is presenting. It’s a great opportunity to hear the speakers who are leading the various groups this summer.
Ongoing
Contemplative Chant
Dates and Times: Wednesdays at 4 p.m.
Registration: Open
Cost: Free
Frequency: Ongoing
Duration: 30 minutes
Format: Online
Recording Available: No
Description: 30 minutes of contemplative chant from Wisdom Waypoints, with chants led by Susan Latimer and Elizabeth Combs. Chanting is a wonderful practice for bringing both the Moving Center (body, breath, tone) and the Emotional Center (open heart) online. It is a spiritual practice that opens our hearts, nourishes our nervous systems, prepares us for prayer and meditation as a bridge into stillness, and connects us to our innate joy, courage, steadfastness, peace, beauty, truth and goodness. In times of great uncertainty and change, we find chant to be one of the things that most grounds us. These sessions draw chants from Wisdom Schools, various spiritual and religious traditions, sacred texts, old hymns and poetry. Because of the limitations of synching sound on Zoom, all participants are muted except for the one leading. This allows everyone to chant along in their own space. (Great if you are shy about sharing your voice! Fun if you like to try harmonies!)
Comments: Some of us join this contemplative chant weekly and enjoy it very much. We find it a wonderful contemplative practice. Wisdom Waypoints is the wisdom community started by Cynthia Bourgeault, one of our favorite wisdom teachers. Note that this is a small and warm group of regular participants. Therefore, it can be more difficult to participate anonymously.
The Abbey Tuesday Morning Meditation
Dates and Times: Tuesdays at 8 a.m. (Meditation at 8 a.m., optional discussion at 8:30 a.m.)
Registration: Open
Cost: Free
Frequency: Weekly
Duration: Ongoing
Format: Zoom
Recording Available: No
Description: A 20-minute sit, followed by a brief reading and discussion.
Comments: Of course we love this meditation group! It’s The Abbey, our own contemplative community.
Word of the Week
Dates and Times: Emails sent on Sundays, meets each Tuesday at 8 a.m. and Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Registration: Sign up for weekly emails here.
Cost: Free annual subscription (with recommended donation of $95/yr)
Frequency: Weekly, per above
Duration: One hour
Format: Zoom – link is sent weekly in the email on Sunday
Recording Available: No
Description: A beautiful email is sent on Sundays with the reading of Lectio Divina that will be done. There is a sit and then the Lectio Divina.
Comments: We like this because it’s a chance to revisit the reading for the week—and they always include beautiful artwork (it’s Lectio and Visio Divina!). We like the sense of community. It’s a pretty stable group and there’s a chance to share. We also like the balance of it—they are very mindful of the time, it’s just an hour. There’s a rhythm of it that we like. We read the emails each week and appreciate having the email in advance to sit with it a little before the group reading. There are also opportunities to interact online with the group during the week. We will note that it can be difficult to find the link for the Zoom in the weekly email; it is also spelled out here—the third bullet has link to the zoom with poorly brown highlighted “Click on this link,” but it also provides the zoom code and passcode in the email.
Wisdom Waypoints Daily Centering Prayer/Meditation
Dates and Times: Monday – Friday 9:30 a.m.; Monday/Wednesday/Sunday 6 p.m.; Saturday 10:30 a.m.
Registration: No registration required, join via website
Cost: Free
Frequency: Daily, per above
Duration: 30 minutes
Format: Zoom
Recording Available: No
Description: A collective wisdom pause for “Silence and Stillness.” Wisdom members lead each sit with a brief reading, chant, and meditation/stillness.
Comments: We like this because it is a way to maintain our personal practice alongside others with the degree of anonymity (or not) with which we are each comfortable. Wisdom Waypoints is a part of Cynthia Bourgeault’s network of teaching and practice resources.