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
to Saturday, April 1
CANCELED DUE TO COVID.
for the other retreats,
which don't start till March 8 and March 23.
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(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
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(c) Jane Redmont 2019
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What and How
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).
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.
