I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
Isaiah 43:19
Psalm 93
God acts within every moment
and creates the world with each breath.
[God] speaks from the center of the universe,
in the silence beyond all thought.
Mightier than the crash of a thunderstorm,
mightier than the roar of the sea,
is God’s voice silently speaking
in the depths of the listening heart.
Stephen Mitchell, from A Book of Psalms:
Selected & Adapted from the Hebrew
Home
Where is my home?
Is it the house where I live,
The garden where I sit in summer,
The country where I roam,
Or the church where I worship?
The place I call home
Is where my heart is at rest.
And my heart is most at rest
When it turns to God in prayer.
So wherever I pray is home.
from Celtic Praise: A Book of Celtic Devotion by Robert Van De Weyer
Register for our next
Recalibration LIVE! Zoom
on May 4
Sacred Dreamscapes
The Gifts of Dreams for Ourselves & Others
with Connie Bovier
1:00 – 4:00 pm Eastern
12 noon – 3:00 pm Central
11:00 am – 2:00 pm Mountain
10:00 am – 1:00 pm Pacific
Come join us as spiritual director and dreamwork consultant Connie Bovier leads us in a lively interactive workshop exploring our dreams.
Through lecture, slides, handouts, breakout rooms and large group discussion, Connie will help participants enhance their relationships with dreams and embrace the output of the unconscious as a vital ingredient in the process of spiritual growth. In addition, spiritual directors and others in helping professions will learn ways to receive the dreams of others and to companion them in the exploration of their own deep material.
The workshop will feature the dreams of anonymous volunteer participants to illustrate dreamwork principles and techniques and to provide tools for all to use in their own dream practice. (Those who register will receive a confirmation email that contains information about how to submit a dream.)
Click here for information and registration.
Meet Our Presenter: Connie Bovier
Certified in dreamwork by the late Jeremy Taylor’s Marin Institute for Projective Dreamwork and a long-time student of the Haden Institute Summer Dream Conference, Connie Bovier is steeped in the Jungian, mystical, Judeo-Christian dreamwork stream. From this perspective, she leads classes, workshops and retreats, as well as the dreamwork training modules for two spiritual director training programs in Texas. She facilitates two monthly dream groups on Zoom and offers one-on-one dream consultation. Trained as a SoulCollage® facilitator, she currently studies and teaches in the synergistic realm of imagery from the unconscious as manifested in dreams and SoulCollage®.
Her book, Dream Animal Wisdom by Constance Bovier, features 100 vivid dreams from 20 dreamers that bring instinctual energies forward in a host of creaturely forms.
The next zoom will be July 20 on aging as a spiritual practice, led by Jane
Book Review
Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion
by Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove
Foreward by The Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II
Review by Mary Kay Glazer, HOF Member
Whether we Christians like it or not, White Christianity bears a lot of the responsibility for the White supremacy that infects our country. One place to see just how entangled White Christianity is with White supremacy is in the sordid, horrifying history of slavery that began in our country even before we were a country. One of the many books that takes the reader into the tangle is Reconstructing the Gospel: Finding Freedom from Slaveholder Religion by Jonathon Wilson-Hartgrove.
Part one of the book focuses on slaveholder religion – the kind of Christianity that helped form the racial injustice that made slavery possible and continues to be a key player in today’s racial injustice and White supremacy. Those who enslaved people, who made property out of humans – those slavers, they were Christians, respected in their community. As were the members of the Ku Klux Klan. As are people today who, at best, resist coming to terms “with how institutional racism has infected us,” writes Wilson-Hargrove. He takes us through his own journey of awakening to the deep infection, sharing anecdotes and evidence to show just how insidious the infection is. Because while most White Christians today would say that slavery was wrong, there are many who are stubbornly blind to how White Christianity and White Christians are still a purveyor of racial injustice.
Part two of the book is a reconstruction of what Hartgrove-Wilson calls the Christianity of Christ. He encourages White Christians to see and repent of our blindness when it comes to race in America, and to go on a journey of learning the truth about race in our country. It’s a journey that includes facing the truth about how deeply embedded racial injustice is in White Christianity’s churches. It can be an uncomfortable journey, yet it is a path to spiritual maturity and soul-healing. Hartgrove-Wilson shows us how much White Christians need to do the work of this journey, and he shows us the fruits of the work. This is not a book to just read. Read it, and let it work in you to change how you engage with racism within Christianity and the wider society.
As Hartgrove-Wilson says, “The personal work of letting a reconstructed gospel heal my hidden wounds isn’t just about saving me.” It’s about doing something to repair the damage wrought by Christianity. And, according to Wilson-Hartgrove, it begins with listening, and a willingness to let go of rigidity around racism. There is so much that White Christians need to learn about racism. Admitting our knowledge gap – our ignorance – becomes an important spiritual practice. This is just some of what White Christians need to tend to in the journey toward the Christianity of Christ.
Cross That Line
Paul Robeson stood
on the northern border
of the USA
and sang into Canada
where a vast audience
sat on folding chairs
waiting to hear him.
He sang into Canada.
His voice left the USA
when his body was
not allowed to cross
that line.
Remind us again,
brave friend.
What countries may we
sing into?
What lines should we all
be crossing?
What songs travel toward us
from far away
to deepen our days?
~ Naomi Shihab Nye, from Everything Comes Next: Collected & New Poems,
p. 175
Click here to listen to the poet read the poem.
A Word from Our President…
It was only a couple of weeks ago that we celebrated the most sacred day in the Christian year; Easter! Did you know that the early church thought the Easter joy needed to be continued, so the early church held a Holy Humor Sunday the Sunday after Easter. The church I am serving decided to practice that early tradition. I was a little concerned that I might be the only person telling humorous stories. Almost everyone came with stories to tell. There were some oohs and aahs and lots of laughter. It was a joyous time, jus like it was supposed to be.
Because this is a presidential election year, I am hearing the question in various places, “Are you better off than you were 4 years ago.” All I can think about with that question, is that 4 years ago we were early in the pandemic. I remember this month I was just beginning to understand what it meant to stay at home. When I went for a walk, there were no cars on the road. I knew many people who put on gloves to bring in their mail and let the mail sit for two days before opening it. I knew many people who went to the grocery story, and washed everything before using any groceries.
The Fellowship of United Methodist Spiritual Directors and Retreat Leaders had to cancel our in person retreat that year. And in the coming months, the board discussed what we could do. We decided to put out inspirational notes twice a month and to hold a zoom mini retreat every other month. We called the inspiration “Recalibration” and our mini retreats “Recalibration Live.” We have continued both of these, and heard from many of you that you appreciate the inspiration and the mini retreats.
In May we are holding a Recalibration Live on dream interpretation. I know little about this topic so I will learn a lot. In July we are holding a Recalibration Live on aging as a spiritual practice. Now I know something about aging, and I know something about spiritual practices so I will be interested in the intersection of these two topics. I hope that you will join us for one or both. I have found that whether I know a little or a lot, there is always something new.
The Pandemic forced us to evaluate what our organization was doing and make changes.
Now that things are back to normal, it is a human tendency get comfortable with the status quo. However, Jesus Christ calls us to be disciples in the world, to see what needs to be improved. Christianity is about transformation and being willing to change. Hearts on Fire needs to make sure we stay fresh and meet needs of our members. As a board, we depend on your feedback to let us know what and when things need to change. We welcome your comments and your participation in our events.
Linda
President, The Fellowship of United Methodist Spiritual Directors and Retreat Leaders
[email protected]
Bits of Wisdom and Inspiration
IX.
I go by a field where once
I cultivated a few poor crops.
It is now covered with young trees,
for the forest that belongs here
has come back and reclaimed its own.
And I think of all the effort
I have wasted and all the time,
and of how much joy I took
in that failed work and how much
it taught me. For in so failing
I learned something of my place,
something of myself, and now
I welcome back the trees.
~ Wendell Berry, from Leavings
Click here to listen to the poem.
A Musical Representation of Spring
Click here to listen to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons: Spring.”