Friday, February 17, 2023

LEARNING AND SPIRITUAL REFRESHMENT, FEBRUARY TO JUNE 2023, online

Join us for one or more of these online offerings --some longer, some shorter-- for spiritual reflection, deep learning, prayer, and daily practice

Click on the links at the titles below (first line of each title) to learn more about each offering: three retreats, one course-retreat.


1. RE-MEMBERING OUR LIVES:

A Healing Lent 

February 26-April 1 

CANCELED DUE TO COVID - 

but we're on for the other retreats, which begin

 later in the season. See below!


   2. A GENTLE LENT

Living Ancient Practices Today 

March 8-25


3. NINE DAYS WITH DOROTHEE SOELLE

a retreat for 

marginal, committed, radical, and/or curious Christians

March 23-31



4.  SOELLE IN SPRINGTIME

Challenge and Wonder

 a course-retreat *

 April 19-June 23 

* Less reading and more spiritual practice than a course (class), more reading and critical thinking than a retreat. Open to persons of any (or no) religious background.


Click on the titles above for details and registration.

RE-MEMBERING OUR LIVES: A HEALING LENT - online retreat begins February 26

For other offerings from Redmont Retreats this winter and spring, 
including some shorter, later-beginning Lenten retreats 
and one course-retreat, click here.
 

RE-MEMBERING OUR LIVES: 

A HEALING LENT

Sunday, February 26 * 

to Saturday, April 1 

CANCELED DUE TO COVID.

But click above (on the word "here")

for the other retreats, 

which don't start till March 8 and March 23.


(c) Jane Redmont 2016
OUR LIVES THESE DAYS

Three years into the COVID pandemic...

"I'm still emerging and reorganizing and reinventing."

"The pandemic for me was profoundly disorienting and dislocating -- and yet also profoundly orienting and locating."

"Everyone was isolated. My question became, how do we connect with other people when we can't connect physically?"

"People are grieving their way out of that isolation."
 
"I'm not in the same body I was three years ago. How I am in community, what I see in community. How I see the world. All these things have changed."
 
"It's not just the COVID pandemic. There's been a racial reckoning. A sharper awareness of the climate crisis. And there's still an epidemic of gun violence."

"It was a kind of re-awakening for me."
 
"I want to go back to the way it was before."

"How can we find new ways of being church?"

"I am looking for what attends to my soul. I have explored more. My life has become hybrid in more than one way. Technologically, physically, and spiritually, in my religious affiliation. I am involved in multiple communities."

"We're never going back to the way it was before."
 
 "I've had to rearrange my life -- including my inner life and my spiritual practices."

"It's been like one long Lent."

Does any of this sound familiar?

join us for

RE-MEMBERING OUR LIVES:

A HEALING LENT

(c) Jane Redmont 2019

What and How

Body

Earth

Time*

Memory

Community


These are basic realities in our lives. Whether or not we observe Lent, we live in our bodies, on this earth, in time, with memory, and in some form, in community.

This online Lenten retreat --not just for those who observe the season of Lent-- will go through the season of Lent with five themes or lenses, one for each week. After a welcome and introduction to our time together, we will journey with one theme every week. We will stay together sixth week of Lent, Holy Week, when the realities of suffering, injustice, death, trauma and transformation are so present, and where the path still unseen leads to an entire season of Easter. Resurrection.

Every Sunday, especially for those who observe Lent, I will offer a (written) biblical reflection inspired by the Sunday readings in the Revised Common Lectionary. For everybody on the retreat, at the beginning of the week, we will also have a simple mindfulness exercise related to our theme of the week.

During the week, the retreat will invite us, on the retreat blog, to ponder the week's theme --in the form of a journal, through a creative activity,  in gazing at an image or two or listening to a piece of music, in silent meditation, in prayer; there will be options from which you can choose. 
 
Every week, we will notice the present, but also re-member, becoming more deeply aware of how the five realities of body, earth, time (especially Sabbath), memory, and community have changed --or not-- in our lives. We will recall and see connections, and make connections we may not have before. Some of us will see that we are reweaving the frayed parts of our lives, but often with a new thread, a new color, a new piece of cloth --or, if you prefer another metaphor, repairing or sanding or shaping or rebuilding something made of wood or stone or clay.
 
Where and how
 
Online (resources, conversation) 
 and in your daily life (anywhere - home, work, outdoors, indoors).

Online:
 
 1)  On the retreat blog. All retreat materials (readings, meditations, spiritual exercises or invitations to practice, music, visual art) will be posted on the retreat blog as the retreat proceeds. At least three times a week, there will be words of wisdom, music, images, and spiritual exercises for you. 
 
There is a comments space on every post of the blog for you --if you wish-- to share reactions to the offerings of the week or experiences you have had with the theme of the week in your own life

The initial, one-time-only sign-on to the retreat blog is easy.* Once you have signed up a first time, the retreat blog will recognize you and you can check in any time. Only retreatants with have access to the blog, which is private and not searchable on the internet.
 
2) In live Zoom conversations. This retreat also offers a weekly 60-90 minute opportunity to talk with other retreat participants and with me (Jane, your retreat facilitator) about your experience with the week's theme and with the resources and spiritual practices of each week in Lent.  Your registration on PayPal includes options from which you can choose: A morning session, an evening session (both on weekdays), and, for any who really cannot make it on a weekday, a possible Sunday session.
    
For both of these online experiences, you will need a computer or tablet and a working internet connection. The bigger the screen, the better: while technically speaking you can view the retreat blog and use Zoom on your smartphone, I don't recommend it.
 
* Need technical help? Neither the retreat blog nor Zoom is complicated once you've done it once, and even the first time it's not hard. I send out detailed directions on how to sign on to the retreat blog and a link to hop onto Zoom. But if you need extra help and support, I'll be glad to walk you through your first time or to trouble-shoot with you should you run into a snag.
 
In daily life:

Your life, your location, your schedule: You can read --and gaze at, and listen to-- the retreat materials at any time of day or night, and you can pray and practice according to your schedule and lifestyle. 
 
It will be good for you to devote a little time every day to the retreat, but three days a week can also work. When and where you practice and pray is up to you. Experiment and see what works. The Zoom conversations will also provide support and ideas. Listen to others And don't hesitate to ask for help.
 
Registration and Cost
 
Registration and payment take place via PayPal secure link (below), which takes credit and debit cards in addition to PayPal.

--You don't have to have your own PayPal account to use this online payment method.
--If you prefer making a donation via Venmo, please write me.
--A discount rate is available for those in financial hardship.
--Likewise, the benefactor rate, for those who have the means, helps offset costs and makes scholarship aid possible.
--If even the discount fee is too high for you, please write me and ask about the possibility of a scholarship.
--Payment is non-refundable and due upon registration.
 
 
 
Please pick one
Pick your weekly Zoom time
*IF* I offered a weekend Zoom, which could you attend?



Questions?
 
 
 
For other offerings from Redmont Retreats
 this winter and spring, 
including some shorter Lenten retreats
and one course-retreat,
click here.

A GENTLE LENT: Living Ancient Practices Today (an 18-day retreat, online)

Do you want to observe Lent in some form, but can't make a five or six week commitment to a Lenten retreat, even an online one?

Did you get a late start on Lent?

Do you need a protected space with support and resources for observing Lent?

Not sure you know what Lent is about any more?

Wondering whether and how those three ancient Lenten practices of "prayer, fasting, and almsgiving" can have meaning in your life?

Join us for  
 
A Gentle Lent: 

Living Ancient Practices Today

Wednesday, March 8 

to Saturday, March 25

WHAT
 
A two and a half week online retreat for those who would like a shorter retreat time than the entire season of Lent or who just weren't able to "get started on Lent" at the beginning of the season.
The traditional practices of Lent are known as prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. What form can they take, and what sense do they make, in our 21st century lives?
 
How are they related to leading our lives with simplicity, mindfulness, and compassion?

In this season, can we learn anew to be gentle with ourselves as we discover --or remember-- that God is tender and merciful toward us?

WHEN 
 
Wednesday, March 8 to to Saturday, March 25
 
March 8 is the middle of the second full week in Lent. It is two weeks after Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.
 
March 25 is the Feast of the Annunciation, a day honoring invitation, surprise, and affirmation in the life of Mary the mother of Jesus, and inviting us to ponder where God is calling us.
 
Aloysius Hsu,  SJ, “Annunciation"
Journal of the Asian American Theological Forum (2019)




WHERE and HOW
 
Online (resources, conversation) and in your daily life (anywhere - home, work, outdoors, indoors).

Online:   
 
   1)  On the retreat blog. This is the primary resource for the retreat. All retreat materials (readings, meditations, spiritual exercises or invitations to practice, music, visual art) will be posted on this blog as the retreat proceeds. The initial, one-time-only sign-on to the retreat blog is easy.* Once you have signed up a first time, the retreat blog will recognize you and you can check in any time. Only retreatants with have access to the blog, which is private and not searchable on the internet.
 
    2) In live Zoom conversations.  You will also have three opportunities to meet in "real time" with other retreatants and with me on Zoom, for 90 minutes on a Thursday evening, with some quiet time, musical offering, and sharing about your Lenten journey and daily practice. (Note: it's not a competition! Come as you are, not as you think you "ought to be.") Your registration on PayPal includes options of meeting times from which you can choose.
    
For both of these online experiences, you will need a computer or tablet and a working internet connection. The bigger the screen, the better: while technically speaking you can view the retreat blog and use Zoom on your smartphone, I don't recommend it because you won't see as well as you would on a larger screen.
 
* Need technical help? Neither the retreat blog nor Zoom is complicated once you've done it once, and even the first time it's not hard. I send out detailed directions on how to sign on to the retreat blog and a link to hop onto Zoom. But if you need extra help and support, I'll be glad to walk you through your first time or to trouble-shoot with you should you run into a snag.
 
In daily life:

Your life, your location, your schedule: You can read --and gaze at, and listen to-- the retreat materials at any time of day or night, and you can pray and practice according to your schedule and lifestyle. It will be good for you to devote a little time every day to the retreat, but when and where you practice and pray is up to you. A regular time to check in to the retreat blog every day or two is best, even if it is short. Experiment and see what works, be gentle in setting the schedule that works for you, and don't hesitate to ask for help.
 

brush art by Thomas Merton
 
REGISTRATION AND COST

Registration and payment take place via PayPal secure link (below), which takes credit and debit cards in addition to PayPal.

--You don't have to have your own PayPal account to use this online payment method.
--If you prefer making a donation via Venmo, please write me.
--A discount rate is available for those in financial hardship.
--Likewise, the benefactor rate, for those who have the means, helps offset costs and makes scholarship aid possible.
--If the discount fee is too high for you, please write me and ask about the possibility of a scholarship.
--Payment is non-refundable and due upon registration. 
 

Please pick one
Zoom or no Zoom?


QUESTIONS?
 
     Write me at readwithredmont@earthlink.net.
 
Click here 
to see other offerings from Redmont Retreats 
this winter and spring.

NINE DAYS WITH DOROTHEE SOELLE

The full list of our Winter, Lent, and Spring 2023 online offerings is here.

Do you need spiritual support and enrichment
during the fourth and fifth week of Lent?

It's not too late!

Join us for a time of reflection, practice, and prayer.

Thursday, March 23 to Friday, March 31, 2023 
 
Nine Days with Dorothee Soelle

 
an online retreat

Dorothee Soelle (also spelled Sölle) (1928-2003) was a German theologian, poet, peace activist, Protestant and ecumenical Christian, spouse and mother, teacher, socialist, and from mid-life on, feminist. She is the author of The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance; Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian; Revolutionary Patience; Theology for Skeptics; and other books.

Soelle wrote in an accessible manner (mostly in prose, sometimes in poems) and not in the form of long academic treatises. Her chosen topics, though, were often challenging: silence and language in the struggle to name God; suffering and the vulnerability of God; Jesus the risk-taker and the community of the friends of Jesus; history, evil, and Christian political engagement; Christians and the Shoah (Holocaust); the church as community of memory, resistance, and hope.

This retreat will be especially helpful if you

--are struggling with the challenge of staying hopeful in hard times
--want to explore connections between Christian spirituality and social justice
--are busy and yearn for some quiet and inspiration
--are honest about your struggles in faith
--want to rekindle your relationship with God
--got a late start on Lent
--are serious about Christian discipleship
--are not really sure about your relationship with the church
--are thinking of taking the online class (course/retreat) on Dorothee Soelle in the spring and want a taste of Soelle's writings before you make that commitment

What, when, where, how

* An online nine-day spiritual retreat, beginning Thursday, March 23, 2023.

*
The life and writings of Dorothee Soelle serve as a focus and inspiration.

* Simple and accessible resources and practices:

one quotation or short excerpt from DS's writings per day
one spiritual exercise per day
one prayer per day
                                    on nine consecutive days
* At home, on a break at work, in a coffee shop, on vacation, in your daily life: read, reflect, meditate, and pray with the retreat materials in a way that suits your schedule.

* Spiritual refreshment, nurture, and challenge.

* You'll need 20 minutes a day of focused time (any time, night or day) and a computer or tablet with internet access. (Smart phone works too but the larger the screen, the better.)

Easy registration and payment via PayPal secure link, which takes credit and debit cards in addition to PayPal.
--You don't have to have your own PayPal account to use this online payment method.
--If you prefer making a donation via Venmo, please write me.
--A discount rate is available for those in financial hardship.
--Likewise, the benefactor rate, for those who have the means, helps offset costs and makes scholarship aid possible.
-If the discount fee is too high for you, please write me and ask about the possibility of a scholarship.
--Payment is non-refundable and due upon registration.

Register here

Retreat fee (choose one)
 

 An online retreat? How does that work?

* The retreat offers daily resources (the quotations, spiritual exercises, and prayers mentioned above, with some images as well to nourish you visually, and sometimes a piece of music too) online on a blog. This is the primary resource for the retreat. All retreat materials  will be posted on this blog as the retreat proceeds. 

* The initial, one-time-only sign-on to the retreat blog is easy. Once you have signed up a first time, the retreat blog will recognize you and you can check in any time. Only retreatants with have access to the blog, which is private and not searchable on the internet. 

* Once you register for the retreat, I will send instructions for the one-time sign-on mechanism. After you first sign on to the retreat blog, the blog will always recognize you.

Privacy and community

During the retreat, you can remain anonymous, invisible, and silent and just read the blog and use the quotations, spiritual exercises, images, music, and prayers on your own, without writing any comments about them or sharing your experiences or reactions.

OR

If you are more extroverted and communal or in need of companions on your retreat, you can share your thoughts, experiences, and questions via the comments function on the blog and engage in (written) conversation with other retreatants and with me (the retreat facilitator). 

Please do not hesitate to write me with questions or concerns.

Reminder:
 
The full list of our February to May online offerings, including longer Lenten retreats and a seven-week course/retreat on Dorothee Soelle, is here.

Jane Redmont (c) May 2016

SOELLE IN SPRINGTIME: Challenge and Wonder - a course-retreat

Yes, a course-retreat.

Less reading and more spiritual practice than a course (class), 

more reading and exercising the mind than a retreat.

Soelle in Springtime:

Challenge and Wonder

April 19-June 3, 2023
 
  online

Read and reflect in community on the work, thought, and spirituality of Dorothee Soelle (also spelled Sölle). 

Dorothee Soelle (1928-2003) was a German theologian, poet, peace activist, and Protestant Christian with Catholic, secular, humanist, and Jewish companions and allies; she was also a friend, teacher, spouse, mother, socialist, and from mid-life on, feminist. 

Soelle wrote in an accessible manner --mostly in prose, sometimes in poems-- and not in the form of long academic treatises.
 
Her chosen topics, though, were challenging. We will visit a number of them:

    - history, evil, and Christian political engagement
    - silence, language, and poetry in the struggle to name God
    - suffering and the vulnerability of God
    - Jesus the risk-taker and the community of the friends of Jesus
    - church as community of memory, resistance, and hope
    - feminism, disobedience, and human wholeness

She was one of the first Christian theologians (and first German theologians) to address the reality of the Shoah (Holocaust) and how Christian thought and practice must change in a post-Shoah era and world.

What, when, where, how

* A seven-week online course-retreat from April 19 to June 3, 2023
 
* Reading, personal reflection, group conversation.  

* At home, in your daily life: read and reflect in a way that suits your schedule.

* Two brief (1 or 2 paragraphs) online check-ins (in writing) per week.

* Not for academic credit -- but a solid contribution to your spiritual, intellectual, and community life and civic engagement, and to your work in the arts, community organizations, religion, activism, and/or academia.

* Readings are not lengthy (one and a half paperback books over seven weeks, plus short excerpts from Soelle's work on the course blog) but topics in Soelle's work are of the "oh, that's deep" sort. Expect gentle and friendly guidance and space for questioning and wonder, but also challenge and seriousness.

Soelle is the author of Political Theology; Revolutionary Patience; SufferingTheology for Skeptics; Creative Disobedience; The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance; Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian; and many other works including books, essays, and poems. She also co-authored several books with friends such as her husband Fulbert Steffensky, her friend biblical scholar Luise Schottroff, and others.

How the course-retreat will work

* Soelle in Springtime is part course, part retreat
* As such it will examine some of Soelle's writings with the intention of understanding them and her and the historical, social, political, and economic context in which Soelle  lived and wrote. 

* It will also invite us to reflect on some of the themes Soelle raises in our own contexts and lives, to ponder some of the questions she raises, slowly and prayerfully or meditatively, and to share some of the fruit of our reflection and prayer with other participants. 
* There will be required readings every week, not too long, some from the two paperback required books** and some shorter ones posted on the course blog.
 
** Dorothee Soelle, Against the Wind: Memoir of a Radical Christian (Fortress, 1999)   

Dorothee Soelle, Essential Writings, ed. Dianne Oliver (Orbis, 2006)

* I will post short readings, meditations, and questions for you to the course blog twice a week, usually on Wednesday and Saturday.

* You will take up to three or four days to read and ponder and write brief responses (can be just a paragraph or two) on the course blog, any time. (That's it. No papers, no exams, no presentations.)
 
* While the main platform for the course will be our course blog, I will also offer a once a week live Zoom session for us to talk about our readings, reactions, and discoveries (spiritual, intellectual, and/or practical). This is optional but highly recommended. These weekly sessions, if you can make time for them, can keep you engaged and encouraged.
 
Online? How does that happen?
 

* As you saw above, two books are required. Otherwise, I offer further resources (quotations, images, reflection questions, guidelines for spiritual exercises, explanations and clarifications) online on a blog. The retreat blog will be open only to those
whom the blog owner-administrator (that's me) allows in. In other words, it is not open to anybody wandering around the internet. Random web surfers will not be able to view either the blog or our conversations in the blog comments.  
 
Once you register for the course, I will send instructions on the one-time sign-in mechanism for the blog. After that, the blog will always recognize you.

* We have conversations online in the comments section of each post on the blog. These are written conversations. I will post questions for your reflection and you will ponder them on your own, then reflect on them in community through your twice-weekly check-ins on the blog. You must check in twice a week, but your check-in may be as short as one or two thoughtful paragraphs. You may write more if you wish, but that's the minimum: one or two paragraphs, twice a week. No papers, no exams, no required academic jargon. 
 
Registration and cost

Registration and payment take place via PayPal secure link (below), which takes credit and debit cards in addition to PayPal.

--You don't have to have your own PayPal account to use this online payment method.
--If you prefer making a donation via Venmo, please write me.
--A discount rate is available for those in financial hardship.
--Likewise, the benefactor rate, for those who have the means, helps offset costs and makes scholarship aid possible.
--If the discount fee is too high for you, please write me and ask about the possibility of a scholarship.
--Payment is non-refundable and due upon registration.


Please pick one
Pick your first choice of weekly Zoom time time
Pick your second choice of weekly Zoom time



For a full list of February to June offerings from Redmont Retreats, click here.