Note: We offer TWO kinds of online retreats:
1. on a blog (as we have offered in the past):
No
appointment needed: read, gaze, listen, and practice on your own time;
resources are posted regularly to mark a rhythm and offer progression
and order, but you may pick the hour of day or night and the pace at
which you participate; any conversation is in writing -- or you may
remain anonymous.
2. on Zoom (as we began offering last year):
Weekly
(or in some cases, one-time-only) gathering on Zoom, at an appointed
date and time; in real time; any conversation is in person and with your
face (or Zoom profile) showing.
Longing for some prayerful and reflective time in your busy life?
Interested in a new perspective on the Bible in these United States?
Pondering the relationship between Christian faith and social realities?
Join us for
Nine Days with William Stringfellow
an online blog-based retreat
Tuesday, March 22 - Wednesday, March 30, 2022
William Stringfellow
(1928-1985), was a lawyer by training and trade, not a professional
theologian, though he wrote a dozen books and was one of most astute and
insightful Christian thinkers of the 20th century. An Episcopal layman
who understood himself very much as "Protestant" and engaged in open
criticism of his own beloved church, he was grounded in the prayerful
study of scripture. Stringfellow was also a radical social critic
preoccupied with the powers of sin and death in the world and in the
cosmos."My concern," Stringfellow wrote, "is to understand America biblically -- in contrast to the more common tendency, to understand the Bible 'Americanly.'" One of the published summaries of his work notes that his great theme "was the Constantinian compromise, the accommodation of Christianity to the values of the empire and the preservation of status quo."
Click here for an informative essay on William Stringfellow.
What, when, where, how
* An online nine-day spiritual retreat, beginning Tuesday, March 22, 2022.
* The life and writings of William Stringfellow serve as a focus and inspiration.
* Simple and accessible:
one quote or short excerpt per day (Note: The excerpts in this Stringfellow retreat are somewhat longer than the quotations in other online retreats.)
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 and a computer or tablet with internet access.
* Easy registration 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 to pay by Venmo or check, please e-mail me.)
--Discounts are available for those in financial hardship. (If even the "hardship rate" is too high for you, please e-mail me about scholarship need.)
--The benefactor rate helps offset costs and makes scholarship aid possible.
--Payment is non-refundable and due upon registration.
Register here!
An online blog-based retreat? How does that work?
* The retreat offers daily resources (the quotes, 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. More specifically, a closed blog.
* What's a closed blog? It's a blog like this, but it is not public: it is open only to those whom the blog owner-administrator (that's me) has signed in. In other words, it is not open to anybody wandering around the internet. It is not searchable: random web surfers will not be able to view either the blog or our conversations in the comments.
* Once you register for the retreat, I will send instructions on the one-time sign-in 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 quotes, spiritual exercises, and
prayers on your own.
OR
Reminder: The full list of our Lent 2022 online offerings
(both blog-based offerings and Zoom offerings) is here.
All of the blog-based retreats have a structure and a schedule, but they are flexible enough to integrate into your daily life: you are the one who decides when and where to read and pray with the materials in the retreat (day or night, at home or elsewhere) and how to apply the invitations to practice.
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| Block Island, R.I., where Stringfellow shared a home with the poet Anthony Towne. |
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