Classes & ReTREATS
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Sunday morning forums
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Weekday evening classes
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Quiet Days & Retreats
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Saturday workshops
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Small group studies
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Online classes
My Approach
All of my classes draw on core themes from the Christian Foundations Curriculum that highlight the intersection of Christian faith with everyday life. Themes can be mixed and matched to create a variety of unique offerings catered to specific contexts and topics.
The Sabbath Way
Rest as Resistance
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Rediscover the way of Jesus as a path of praxis that connects what we believe with how we live
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Learn about the historical relationship between Hebrew and Christian lifeways
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Reflect on inherited assumptions about work, labor, and earning in relation to social & religious practices
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Examine the connections between economic, ecological, and racial injustice
living the Beatitudes
suffering, solidarity, & Surrender
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Discover the theology of the cross in relation to grief, trauma, oppression, and abuse
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Learn about clinical resources for developing healthy empathy and resilience through grief and trauma
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Reflect on inherited assumptions about self-sacrifice in relation to Christian postures of humility and grace
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Examine the Biblical narrative through a trauma-informed and historical-contextual lens
the Stories we tell
pop culture, religion, & myth
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Rediscover the relationship between mythology, religion, storytelling, and culture
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Learn about the psychology of storytelling and its impact on politics, media, marketing, and religion
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Reflect on the theological themes found in fantasy, sci-fi, and other pop culture and literary franchises
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Examine the relationship between ancient mythology, modern religion, and capitalist fandoms
BLESSING CREATION
Incarnation & embodiment
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Rediscover incarnational faith as a "body-positive" theology that affirms both science and creation care
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Learn about the historical relationship between the liturgical calendar and the agricultural seasons
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Reflect on inherited assumptions about the body and the material world in the context of spirituality
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Examine issues relating to science, technology, racial and economic injustice, and creation care
ancestors in the faith
intergenerational wisdom
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Rediscover how to learn from and pray with the Communion of Saints as ancestors in the faith
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Learn skills for sharing and receiving wisdom cross-generationally
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Reflect on the inherited assumptions and blind spots of each generation shaped by their historical context
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Reflect on Biblical examples of mimetic learning and intergenerational apprenticeship
know thyself
spirituality & religion
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Rediscover contemplative spiritual practices that support Christian faith development and praxis
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Learn self-awareness tools that support healthier relationships between self, other, and God
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Reflect on inherited cultural assumptions about the relationship between spirituality and religion
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Learn to practice discernment in the context of community
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ALL Classes & ReTREATS
All classes can be customized to meet the needs of specific congregations and community contexts.
seasonal offerings
ADVENT & CHRISTMAS
Liturgical seasons: cycles in sacred time
Advent is a season when the tensions between sacred and secular time can be especially felt. In the midst of a cultural season marked by the hustle & bustle of shopping, parties, and a seemingly never ending to-do list, our liturgical tradition invites us to a time of quiet self-reflection, and calm expectation. Drawing on the Christian monastic tradition, this 4-week class places the cycles of daily, weekly, and yearly prayer within a larger Biblical framework of Sabbath that invites participants to live into a deeper sense of “sacred time” even in the midst of modern everyday life.
Incarnation & salvation
A 4-week contemplative exploration of the theology of the incarnation, guided by the early church fathers as well as later theologians like Isaac of Ninevah, Maximus the Confessor, and John Duns Scotus. We will prayerfully explore the deep meaning of Christ’s embodiment and its implications for human salvation and the transformation of all creation.
The messiness of Christmas
An offering for years with a Second Sunday of Christmas; an opportunity to explore how new birth always disrupts old ways of thinking and being. The “messy” everyday realities of the Christmas season and the secular new year are tied to themes of hope, new life, and change through this meditation on the prophets, the parables of Jesus, and the early Christian martyrs.
12 Days of Christmas (Guidebook)
A day-by-day guidebook offering readings, reflections, prayers, and spiritual practices for each day of Christmas that invite personal theological reflection on the messiness of new birth, and the possibility of opening ourselves to change and allowing God to do “a new thing” in our lives.
EPIPHANYTIDE
St. Brigid’s Day & the wisdom of seasons
Stories and wisdom from St. Brigid and other saints of the British Isles are shared as we gather to make St. Brigid crosses and discuss the relationship between the Christian faith and the seasonal cycles of the natural world. Participants are encouraged to look for the first signs of new life all around them - in nature, in their own lives, and in their communities.
the Light of the World
Scenes from the earthly ministry of Jesus will guide this reflection during Epiphanytide on the mystery of light coming into the world through the person of Jesus Christ. This can be offered as a single class or as a multi-session series from Epiphany to Ash Wednesday. Optional: Pair with a Candlemas celebration around February 2nd, inviting folks to bring candles from their own homes to be blessed alongside the church's candles for the coming year.
Lent
Lessons from the wilderness
This 6-week study of wilderness themes in the Bible draws on stories from the ancient Israelites and the wilderness communities of Second Temple Judaism to the desert fathers and mothers of the early church, emphasizing how much of the Christian faith tradition was forged in the wilderness. Connections are drawn between the 40 years that the Israelites spent wandering in the desert and the 40 days that Jesus spends being tempted in the desert, presenting the 40(ish) days of Lent as a time during which we are invited to embark on our own journey of self-awareness, repentance, and dependency on God.
Creating a rule of Life
With St. Benedict as our guide, participants will be led through a 6-week step-by-step process of developing a regular and realistically sustainable prayer practice in their own personal everyday lives, utilizing a variety of tools for honest self-assessment and reflection. Suggestions for how to adapt traditional monastic practices to life in the modern world will provide a starting framework for how to think more creatively about when, where, and how seek intentional connection with God.
12 Steps for the Rest of Us
A 6-week exploration of healing and restoration in community, through the lens of the 12 step framework, expanded for use beyond addiction recovery through the work of Gerald May, M.D. and Fr. Thomas Keating, OSCO. The Biblical concept of sin will be placed within a larger socioeconomic and systemic context of cultural addiction that reveals how the 12 step framework can guide us towards greater self-awareness and healing from patterns of greed, ambition, and control.
HOLY WEEK
The history of holy week
An introduction to the liturgies and traditions of Holy Week and the Paschal Triduum as we have come to inherit and practice them in the Episcopal Church, along with a brief overview of how Holy Week is understood and practiced in other cultures and denominations.
HOLY WEEK: Walking with Jesus (Guidebook)
A day-by-day guidebook that offers readings, prayers, and spiritual practices for each day of Holy Week, encouraging personal theological reflection and connections that deepen the communal liturgical experience of the Paschal Triduum.
The Stations of the Cross
14 meditations for the Stations of the Cross that invite meditation and prayerful reflection on the final moments of Jesus’ earthly ministry.
EASTER & Pentecost
Resurrection hope in difficult times
The social context in which the early disciples witnessed the death and resurrection of Jesus was much like our own: a time of globalization, polarization, political instability, economic uncertainty, and significant religious and cultural anxiety. Drawing on the work of Jürgen Moltmann (Theology of Hope) and Michael Lamb (Commonwealth of Hope), this discussion looks at the radical nature of Christian hope in the context of social and political despair.
The Stations of the Resurrection
14 meditations for the Stations of the Resurrection that invite meditation and prayerful reflection on the various appearances of Jesus between his resurrection and ascension.
Opening to the Spirit: Lessons from the Arts
Inspired by Stephen Nachmanovitch’s Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art, this interactive class explores what music, dance, theatre, and the visual arts can teach us about becoming more open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives. Through easy improv games and exercises, we learn new ways of practicing our faith by honing our skills of acceptance, humility, and trust.
CREATIONTIDE
Reading the bible with agrarian eyes
A 3-week introduction to the development of ancient Mesopotamian agriculture, showing how the texts of the Bible (especially the Pentateuch and the synoptic Gospels) spoke directly to the everyday lives of common people, while also participating in a larger critique of the religious and socioeconomic practices of grain-based empires.
THE Saints of Creation
Learn about some other saints besides St. Francis whose lives, prayers, and teachings reflect their affinity for animals, the earth, and the natural material world. Drawing on the work of Neils Gregersen and Elizabeth Johnson, this class will also inspire deep thinking on the relationship between our theologies of creation, incarnation, and salvation
Making communion bread
An experiential learning opportunity in which participants make a loaf of communion bread while learning about how bread was made in the ancient world — from wheat grain to flour to dough to baked loaf — highlighting the ways in which the everyday realities of bread-making informed the theology and themes of the New Testament.
Visit The "little way" farm
An experiential learning opportunity in which participants make a trip out to Siler City to visit with Fr. Joe Sroka and learn about the story of the Little Way farm and the Community of the Franciscan Way, a mission of the Episcopal Diocese of NC. The practices and processes of farm life are then situated within an agrarian reading of the Gospel tradition.
The Saints of Creation
Learn about some other saints besides St. Francis whose lives, prayers, and teachings reflect their affinity for animals, the earth, and the natural world. Drawing on the work of Neils G
Stewards of creation
An experiential learning opportunity that places stewardship of the earth in Biblical and theological context, paired with practical suggestions for how church members can be good stewards of God’s creation, both as individuals and as a community. This discussion will be co-led with members of the community who can offer their own expertise and practical guidance on things like composing, home energy audits, gardening with native plants, pesticide alternatives, and awareness about local issues relating to food distribution and environmental racism.
Autumn / AllHallowTide
The Franciscan Way
An invitation into a Franciscan way of seeing and experiencing the Christian faith, drawing especially on the teachings of Richard Rohr, OFM. The life of St. Francis of Assisi is placed in historical and theological context, challenging some of the ways in which Francis has become sanitized in popular culture, and deepening into a broader sense of what it means to live into a truly Franciscan spirituality.
Ripe for THE Harvest: Stewardship in Biblical context
The practice of financial stewardship is placed within a historical, Biblical, and theological context that draws especially on Sabbath economics (Walter Bruggemann, Ched Myers), and the writings of the early church fathers on wealth. The understanding of liturgy as a “public work” for the common good is emphasized.
The Wisdom of Ancestors
An introduction to the season of Allhallowtide, with suggestions for how to pray with and draw inspiration from our ancestors in the faith. Different cultural traditions surrounding Halloween, All Saints, and All Souls from throughout history are paired with a discussion of how sainthood is understood in Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant contexts.
Spiritual PracticeS
Praying like a monk: contemplative practices
An introduction to contemplative spirituality within a Christian theological framework, with practical suggestions for how to adapt traditional monastic practices to modern everyday life. Participants will be encouraged to build their own repertoire of spiritual practice that connects their interior personal spiritual devotion to their outer lives of common worship and community engagement.
Praying the hours
An introduction to how the daily rhythms of monastic practice were shaped by the ancient rhythms of agrarian (solar) time. Instruction for how to pray the daily office using the BCP emphasizes how the daily prayer cycle is meant to invite us into a deeper sense of connection with the patterns of the natural, created world and with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Ignatian Spirituality
An introduction to the deeper spirituality of the Ignatian exercises, situating the well-known practice of the examen within a larger Ignatian framework of discernment.
Praying with Icons
An introduction to the practice of praying with icons, including a brief overview of the Orthodox theology of images and the ancient understanding of the powers of sight. Premodern ways of relating to images are contrasted with the typical modern Western experience of images, particularly in the context of marketing and social media. A discussion of Protestant iconoclasm can be included here when helpful.
Praying with the earth
Drawing on a variety of Biblical passages and stories/prayers from saints throughout church history, participants are invited to reconsider what it means to pursue a restored relationship with the natural world in light of both the incarnation and the resurrection.
walking the labyrinth
An introduction to the history of labyrinths that includes its symbolic and historical meanings in the ancient world, its theological and liturgical use within medieval churches, and the resurgence of interest in a contemporary context. If desired, groups can be given instruction on how to create or draw their own labyrinth, with discussions of different styles and the symbolic associations of each.
Intro to the Enneagram
An introduction to how the Enneagram system can be understood within a Christian theological context, along with a more nuanced psychological framework that draws on trauma studies and the clinical framework of Helen Palmer and Beatrice Chestnut. Healthy ways of engaging with the system as a tool for self-awareness are contrasted with some of the more popular approaches found on social media and in corporate business culture.
Singing as a spiritual Practice
Insights from music therapy and the teachings of John Chrysostom guide this exploration of the inward postures that give spiritual depth to our practice of singing, regardless of what we are singing or our level of musical talent.
RETREATS
Women of the Way
A retreat for women
Drawing on stories from women in the Bible and throughout church history, this retreat introduces a more nuanced theological reflection on the dialectical tension between Mary and Martha, with special attention to the Christian concept of kenosis (self-employing) as distinct from the typical postures of self-denial and self-sacrifice that are commonly expected of women.
The Wisdom of Elders
A retreat for people ages 55+
This retreat encourages bonding over shared generational experiences, while inviting a greater awareness of the particular blind spots that develop in every generation based on the common cultural assumptions and anxieties of the times in which we grew up. Participants are invited into a process of honest self-reflection, integration, and the development of generational wisdom. Suggestions are offered for how to connect and share wisdom with younger generations while also continuing to listen and learn from them.
The Way of Discernment
A retreat for vestries and other decision-making groups
This retreat introduces up to four traditional models for discernment: the Ignatian spiritual exercises (discerning with God), the Quaker clearness committee (discerning in community), Four Voices (discerning with the church), and Embodied Listening (discerning within ourselves). The benefits and limitations of each approach are explored through real-life examples of decision-making, emphasizing the need for balance between inward and outward postures of listening. Suggestions are offered for how to draw wisdom from each model while adapting them to everyday contexts.
Pray Like a monk: intro to contemplative practice
A retreat for anyone wishing to deepen their spiritual life in the Christian faith tradition
This retreat introduces contemplative spirituality and historical monastic practice within a Christian theological framework. Participants will be introduced to a variety of contemplative practices, with suggestions for how to adapt the traditional practices of the monastery to modern daily life, in ways that connect practices of inward devotion to outward practices of common prayer and community engagement. Any of the following practices may be introduced: the rule of life, centering prayer, praying the hours (the BCP daily office), the Ignatian spiritual exercises, lectio divina, the rosary, chant, walking meditation, and praying with icons.
"St Ignatius in Cardoner” by Galina Oussatcheva (at Cardoner House in Toronto, Canada)