CLICK HERE TO VIEW 2010-2011 BOOK LIST (.pdf)                                      Download a flyer w/bookmark

Our focus for Souls on the Journey will be “Spirituality for the Second Half of Life.” We will continue to offer a retreat day for spiritual reflection and discussion with co-journeyers, sharing prayer time, discussion and experiential contemplation. These days are open to anyone who would like to share gentle time together to meet Spirit. We would love if you can commit to all four events so all of us may more fully share this gift of becoming more fully alive! Our group is limited to 12 participants. These gatherings foster openness and offer safety across lines of our various theological, political, and denominational positions. Note: March 2011 date changed from initial publication. March date is March 22, 2011, not March 15 as originally released. ADDITIONAL INFO: What to bring: Lunch & utensils, treats to share with the group, and an openness to Mystery!   REGISTRATION DEADLINE: We request that you register at least ONE WEEK prior to each discussion day.   To Register:   Please contact Betsy Keller betsykeller@oasismin.org, Oasis Ministries for Spiritual Development, 419 Deerfield Road, Camp Hill, PA  17011; 717-737-8222; oasismin@oasismin.org   “How wonderful it has been to bask in God's healing love together.” —Donna Kulik, Spiritual Direction for Spiritual Guides

Our Theme: Taking care of unfinished business Our Mantra: “Want what you have, do what you can, and be who you are!”      Forrest Church, Love and Death Our Schedule: 10am to 3pm, Tuesdays: September 14, and November 16, 2010; January 18 and March 22, 2011 Our Leadership: Both facilitators, Kathleen Roney and Linda Klopp, are trained spiritual directors and graduates of Oasis’ Spiritual Direction for Spiritual Guides and Deepening Year for Direction Ministries.  Learn more about Kathleen and Linda Location: Kenbrook, 190 Pine Meadow Road, Lebanon, PA 17046 www.kenbrook.org Retreat Fee: ONLY $35-$55 per gathering day Register for all 4 gatherings for $120 - Save over 10%!     Spirituality for the Second Half of Life 2010/2011 Suggested overall workbook: Life's Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest by Christina Baldwin Sept 14:   defining and accepting our second half of life Read: Contemplation and Midlife Crisis: Examples from Classical and Contemporary Spirituality by Rosemarie Carfagna Nov 16:  breaking open and healing Read: Broken Open: How Difficult Times Can Help Us Grow by Elizabeth Lesser, Jan 18: Aging into hope, joy, grace  Read: The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister March 22: Living fully-dying well Read: Love & Death, My Journey through the Valley of the Shadow by Forrest Church An annotated bibliography and other suggested readings can be found by Clicking Here

What is a Book day? Spiritual Reflection Book Discussion Day of Retreat Have you been longing for a day of retreat? a spiritual book discussion group? time to reflect with co-journeyers? Souls on the Journey provides opportunity and space for retreat and dialog four times a year Typical day looks like (though fluid): 10:00am Gathering Contemplative Prayer Time 10:30am Reflection and Discussion on Book 11:15am Personal Time of Retreat, Solitude, Reflection 12noon Gather together for lunch 12:30pm Group Prayer, Reflection, and Discussion 1:00pm Personal Time of Retreat, Solitude, Reflection 1:30pm Group Reflection and Discussion 2:00pm Personal Time of Retreat, Solitude, Reflection 2:30pm Group Sharing and Closing Prayer Time (depending on the discussion, there may only be time for two times of personal retreat and reflection, one in morning and one in afternoon)

The following poem was written as a group (9 people) at the closing of May 2007's Souls on the Journey Day -after discussing and praying The Wisdom of Wilderness by Gerald May; each person wrote two lines: Wisdom of Wilderness Poem 5/1/07   This, This, This pond flows through me Running, yet somehow still      Green, Green, Greening my soul The touch of grass enlivens me It is the Earth within me Nurturing all growth      Ripples in the gray-green water Sun off the water Water to run in     Play in, laugh in Lily pad, floating on the water, rooted deep. Turtles resting near them.    Violets growing wild,          Scattered like polka dots on green This moment passing quickly Knowing always the present moment   Is all we have To thine own self be true,     But only after truth in God and Creation. And This-This-This you.

UNDERSTANDINGS AND INVITATIONS   

“Let each reader travel prayerfully with the group when sharing fully in their convictions;  let each reader search prayerfully with the group when sharing doubts; let each reader return prayerfully to the group when recognizing error; let each reader call each reader back prayerfully; In this way let us advance along the road of mystery toward the Divine.” Paraphrase from St Augustine, DeTrinitate

And,   “Let the reading read you! As you read each month’s book prior to our meeting,  reading join your life.  Be curious and attentive to where the book stops you, where it turns your head, where it stirs your emotion.  Use those moments as prayer; be open to journaling, art, movement. Let the book lead you in to the invitation being offered through the reading.  Reading in that moment becomes an icon for the Word behind the words.  Trust your reading to read your life, to bring you to those moments of connection needed in your journey.  Read expectantly.  Read in gratitude for what is there; for what is waiting to be found.”               ~ Glenn Mitchell, Director of Training and Program

 

 

A RITUAL TO READ TO EACH OTHER 

If you don't know the kind of person I am

and I don't know the kind of person you are

a pattern that others made may prevail in the world

and following the wrong god home we may miss our star.

 

For there is many a small betrayal in the mind,

a shrug that lets the fragile sequence break

sending with shouts the horrible errors of childhood

storming out to play through the broken dyke.

 

And as elephants parade holding each elephant's tail,

but if one wanders the circus won't find the park,

I call it cruel and maybe the root of all cruelty

to know what occurs but not recognize the fact.

 

And so I appeal to a voice, to something shadowy,

a remote important region in all who talk:

though we could fool each other, we should consider--

lest the parade of our mutual life get lost in the dark.

 

For it is important that awake people be awake,

or a breaking line may discourage them back to sleep;

the signals we give--yes, no, or maybe--

should be clear: the darkness around us is deep.

 

William Stafford

 

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