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.

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

Regular rate $120.00 USD Benefactor rate $250.00 USD Discount rate $80.00 USD

Zoom or no Zoom?

Thursdays March 9, 16, & 23 at 7:00 pm Eastern (4 pm Pacific) No Zoom for me. I will participate only via the retreat blog.

QUESTIONS?

 

     Write me at readwithredmont@earthlink.net.

 

Click here 

to see other offerings from Redmont Retreats 

this winter and spring.

Book group (and spiritual sharing) on When in Doubt, Sing: Prayer in Daily Life

I'm going to be hosting a book group (and spiritual sharing time) once a week online, on Zoom, a video-conference platform with which some of you are already familiar.

The group begins next week, the week of March 29, 2020.

You don't have to have a Zoom account to participate. You just receive an invitation via e-mail and click on a link.

The group will be based on my book When in Doubt, Sing, Prayer in Daily Life.

We'll focus on one chapter (topic) per session. I am also adding to the series a couple of bonus topics that I would have included if I were writing the book today.

Each session will run for 90 minutes. It will be live and we'll be able to see and hear each other.

We can go for less time in any given session if we run out of things to say before the 90 minutes are over, but I want to leave enough time for

a) some brief meditative silence at the beginning;
b) conversation about the chapter and topic of the day with questions and clarifications';
c) sharing of our own stories of prayer and spiritual practice on the topic of the chapter; and
d) a brief prayer, meditation, or poem at the end of each session.

These will all flow into each other, but having a structure will help free us to slow down, reflect deeply, and listen carefully to each other and to the Holy One.

The group will meet once a week but I will offer it  this opportunity on two different days of the week, each at a different time, in order to make this experience accessible both to people in the Americas and to people in Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. I live in the U.S. in the Eastern Time Zone.

You can pick EITHER

(1) the Tuesday group, which will meet at 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time

OR

(2) the Thursday  group meeting at 10:00 A.M. Eastern Time.

I will run both groups if I get enough people signed up for each, and by "enough," I mean half a dozen people or more.

Bear in mind that Daylight Saving Time has already begun in North America and will begin in Europe on Sunday, March 29. Here's the World Clock site so you can make the time conversion from the above times to your time zone.

Both groups begin next week: the Tuesday one on March 31 at 8 p.m. Eastern and the Thursday one on April 2 at 10 a.m. Eastern. The chapter will be the Introduction (pp. 2-9) and we will also have a chance to introduce ourselves.

By happy coincidence, my publisher has been in the middle of an overstock sale this month (going till late April at latest notice) and the book is available for only $3 (list price is close to $20 w/tax). Click here for more information.

The press's website is open for orders 24/7, but the offices have just closed until April 13 due to current coronavirus-related travel restrictions in Indiana, where the press is located. Books ordered now won't ship till after April 13 However, you can buy the e-book version on various platforms including Amazon, which appears to have a sale on the paperback for less $ than the e-book.

If you don't already own the book and you can't afford the cost right now, please write and let me know and we will figure something out (probably a chapter-by-chapter scan sent via e-mail) so you can read the chapter for each week.

There will be no charge for the group itself. Donations are welcome (see PayPal button below) but I want this to be accessible and a source of spiritual formation and support in these challenging times

All you need to do is to e-mail me here and let me know (1) that you wish to sign up for the book group and (2) which day and time you plan to participate each week.

I'll keep posting reminders here of what the topic of the week is so that you can attend one session at a time (you'll still need to sign up so I can send you the Zoom link) if you're not sure about making a long-term commitment. It would be great if you could participate every week, for continuity and for the fullest possible experience, but life being what it is, I know that's not always possible, and the book has a lot of chapters, though they are short!

In addition to the two groups above, I am open to running a group for clergy and other religious leaders, who are especially stretched in these difficult days and may wish to have a confidential group of colleagues with whom they can talk about the book and about their spiritual life and prayer practice. If you are interested in this, e-mail me and let me know! Also let me know what days of the week are good and not good for you. (And save your Sabbath time for rest!) If we get half a dozen people or more, I'll run the group.

Feel free to write me with any questions, either below in the comments, or privately, at readwithredmont at earthlink dot net (or just click here).

I hope this will be a nourishing opportunity for you. Stay safe and well, and remember to let me know of your interest and commitment by signing up via e-mail!

A donation button is below. Donations are welcome but not required.