Wednesday evenings beginning March 4th
5:30 p.m. Stations of the Cross
6:00 p.m. Soup Supper
6:30 to 7:15 p.m. Program
This year's Lenten study led by Rev. Susan is based on the book In Your Holy Spirit: Traditional Spiritual Practices in Today’s Christian Life by Michelle Heyne. This study can either be a refresher for those familiar with spiritual practices or an introduction for those ready to go deeper. It's a perfect Lenten opportunity to discover and nurture practices that feed you while also trying on practices that may challenge you and stretch you.
Assess your spiritual life
Learn about a system of spiritual practice, grounded in the tradition, rather than a piecemeal or smorgasbord approach
Experiment with ancient and traditional practices to serve life in a modern world
Develop or refine your own spiritual discipline
The book will be available for purchase.
More About the Course
The class is grounded in Anglicanism’s traditional approach to Christian formation. There is a concern for the development of the individual Christian alongside the understanding that individual development always takes place as part of the Body of Christ.
For the individual there are the three threads:
Ancient practices for a contemporary life. This isn’t make-it-up-spirituality. It is rooted in what has served God’s people over time.
Adult. C.S. Lewis spoke of how Anglicanism was the most adult of Christian traditions. There is a need to accept responsibility for our own spiritual life as a member of the Body of Christ.
Experiment. The way ancient practice is made useful for modern life is by us experimenting with our own practice. The way we learn what “works” for us is through experimenting. The way we will be best nurtured and stretched is through experimenting.
For the parish there is a stance grounded in an understanding of how the Body of Christ becomes healthy:
Serve life. The parish can serve your longing for more depth and grounding in life. The parish can offer you the training and coaching needed for a spirituality that is balanced and has integrity.
Work with those ready to work. The formation of a parish is primarily done by assisting those ready to grow to do so. This is a pastoral strategy of parish revitalization that takes place over the years. Those with a more apostolic practice have an opportunity for renewal. Those ready to go deeper have a chance to test new ways. There are other legitimate formation offerings more directed at a broader group in the parish. The total parish offering recognizes both a diversity of spiritual needs and levels of growth.
An energy not its own. “The Church (it was early decided) was not an organization of sinless men but of sinful, not a union of adepts but of less than neophytes, not illuminati but of those that sat in darkness. Nevertheless, it carried within it an energy not its own, and it knew what it believed about that energy.” –Charles Williams
Power from the center. In his book Pastoral Theology: A Reorientation Martin Thornton presented his understanding of the parish church as the Body of Christ. He noted that the parish church was “the complete Body in microcosm.” He also observed the spiritual dynamic “in which power from the center pervades the whole.” God makes use of the holiness and love of those more proficient in prayer and spiritual practice to serve the whole parish. By their life and prayer the whole Body is built up.