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Cynthia Bourgeault Q & A– Gerald May Seminar 2012
Cynthia Bourgeault Answers Questions of the Audience Shalem Institute Gerald May Seminar 2012 At Shalem’s recent Gerald May Seminar, Cynthia Bourgeault received a number of written questions from participants. Below are a few of those questions and her responses that we’d like to share with you— Q: You are speaking to what appears to be…
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Composting our Lives
It has been several years now since my wife and I have been able to plant a garden. So you can imagine how exciting it has been for us to plant our garden now that we are living in Reliance, Virginia. We had never tried composting before so it was going to be interesting to…
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A Sabbath Heart
More and more people have become aware of the need for sabbath today, even if they don’t know how to bring it into the normal rhythm of their complicated lives. We see signs of people’s desire for a more receptive quality of time in the increasing popularity of retreats and meditation practices. However, the attempts…
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Lectio Divina
Literally “Divine Reading” You can use these steps for praying with scripture, selecting a passage that seems right for you. Read the Word (Lectio) Read the passage slowly, stopping when a word or phrase “shimmers” (stands out, catches your attention), becoming a transparency of God for you. The intention is not to get to the…
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Rediscovering a Desire for God
Like a gentle diagnostician/professor, Frank Griswold, former presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, spoke to clergy on Maundy Thursday morning. His words caught my heart. Beginning with the passage from the Revelation of John, chapter two, Griswold quoted the words of praise for those who work so hard in the church: “I know what you…
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Contemplative Possibilities in Corporate Worship/Liturgy
Here are a few suggestions that can help open the way for people’s first-hand presence in the Presence during a Sunday or other time of corporate worship. These include selected (sometimes modified) excerpts from the section on Liturgy in chapter four of my new book, Embracing the Call to Spiritual Depth (Paulist Press 2010), followed…