Practices of Releasing is a Small Group Study for Lent 2015
[AVAILABLE FOR LENT 2016. Sale Price $25.]*COMING SOON: Practices of Releasing will be REVISED as an INDIVIDUAL SPIRITUAL STUDY.
To register: For more information or to order the Small Group Study.
I am excited to share with you some quotes from the audio recordings for the Small Group Study. Through them, you’ll meet my guests who share their thoughts in 6-9 minute easy-to-download audio recordings.
- Here is a sample of the Small Group Study Session 1 so you get an idea of the process: Leader Page – Session 1: Original Goodness
Session 1: Essential Goodness
This Lent we explore big themes and seek ways to open our heart, to make ourselves available to the ‘joy and pain of living.’ We risk our tender hearts and, as we do surrender or let go into grace. We explore practices of releasing. Today, as beginning, I recall for us our original goodness. We are born knowing it, and when we are separated from it, our longing for it calls us back. It calls us home. We return, again and again, to this home of our soul.
Session 2: Violence and Forgiveness
Lloyd Bruce, a former Prison Chaplain speaks of a coming trip to a prison and wonders what it would be like to meet a prisoner who killed one of his best friends. What would make that conversation possible? “If I had the courage to be that vulnerable, God might be present in that conversation.”
Session 3: Grief and Healing
Lesley Read is a retired Social Worker and leader in Grief Recovery Groups in Sackville, NB. She shares her personal experience of grief, challenges our culture’s attitudes toward grief, and draws attention to the importance of listening. She offers in conclusion: “The other side of suffering is joy.”
Session 4: Fear and Courage
I offer this one. I know a lot about fear … and courage. I share stories of how fear is transformed into courage and how I come to trust fear. “I think I will always be afraid. It’s woven into my DNA. But I hope I will learn, even more keenly, to welcome fear and allow fear to draw me deeper in to Mystery and adventure.” (Janice MacLean)
Session 5: Scarcity and Abundance
Laura Hunter, Minister for Justice & Stewardship, says scarcity and abundance are lenses through which we see ourselves and the world around us. She speaks of her own “wake-up call” bringing her to a different sense of abundance. Laura also names spiritual practices which are“critical in supporting our ability to see possibility and hope.”
Session 6: Lent Liturgy for Small Group
More info?
The audio recordings, Leader Page, and Participant Page are available now on a private webpage. You get the link and password when you register.
Cost: $29, payable by cheque, credit card or Pay Pal.
For more info: Contact Janice MacLean at the Prayer Bench. Email.
