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
featured 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 themes of grief, trauma, and oppression
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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 will 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.
12 Days of Christmas (with Guidebook)
An introduction to how you and your family can celebrate the liturgical 12 days of Christmas, with readings, reflections, prayers, and spiritual practices for every day from December 25th to January 6th that invite faith practice and theological reflection on the meaning of the incarnation and what it means to allow God to do “a new thing” in our lives.
The messiness of Christmas
An offering for years with a Second Sunday of Christmas, this class offers an intergenerational opportunity to explore how new birth disrupts old ways of thinking and being. The "messy" everyday realities of the Christmas season and the hopeful spirit of the secular new year are tied to themes of hope, new life, and change in the Scriptures through meditations on the prophets, the parables of Jesus, and the early Christian martyrs.
Who Invented Christmas?
In the U.S., "the Christmas season" is culturally defined as the holiday shopping season, in the days and weeks leading up to December 25th. Meanwhile, the church's liturgical calendar still defines Christmas as the 12-day season after December 25th, which lasts until Epiphany on January 6th. In the midst of this confusion, it has also become increasingly commonplace to hear evangelical Protestants and secular agnostics alike arguing that Christmas is actually a "pagan" holiday invented by the Romans, the Germans, and/or the Celts. This 4-week class sets the historical record straight on the history of our religious and cultural Christmas traditions, situated in a theological discussion about the relationship between religious belief, cultural practice, and Christian theology of time and the seasons. This class will also offer practical suggestions for how to engage more meaningfully with the Christmas season as it exists both culturally and liturgically.
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
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 Gregersen, Ellen Davis, and Elisabeth Johnson, this class reflects on stories and perspectives from across church history that inspire a deep sense of awareness about our connection to the material world and to all of God's creation.
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. Learn more
making the BREAD OF LIFE
An experiential and intergenerational learning opportunity in which participants actually make a loaf of communion bread together, while learning about the steps involved in making bread in the ancient world — from harvesting the wheat grain, to grinding the grain into flour, to making the dough, to baking the loaves. As we make the bread, we'll discuss a number of Biblical passages that relate to wheat and bread from both the Hebrew tradition and from the New Testament, in order to deepen our theological understanding of what these stories and parables meant to listeners within an ancient agricultural context.
Praying with the earth
This interactive learning experience invites participants to reflect on their own creatureliness in relation to the natural elements as we explore the Christian theology of creation. We'll look at wilderness themes in the Bible and stories of saints from throughout church history who model kinship with creation while reflecting on our own relationship to water, sky, plants, stars, animals, other people, and rest. These wonderings will be placed in theological context as we wonder together about what it means that God called all of it "good."
Stewards of THE earth
An experiential learning opportunity that places Biblical stewardship in both ecological and economic context. Ideally, this discussion would be co-led with members of the community who can offer their own expertise and practical guidance on practices like composting, home energy audits, gardening with native plants, pesticide alternatives, and awareness about local issues relating to food and the environment. We'll connect practical suggestions for how we can be good stewards of God’s creation with "liturgy" as a public work for the common good.
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.
AllHallowTide
Ripe for THE Harvest: Stewardship in Biblical context
The practice of financial stewardship is placed in a Biblical, theological, and historical context that draws especially on Sabbath economics (Walter Bruggemann, Ched Myers), as well as the writings of the early church fathers on wealth accumulation. An 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 our ancestors in the faith and draw inspiration from their example. The origins of diverse cultural traditions surrounding Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day will be explored from alongside a discussion of how sainthood is understood in Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant contexts.
"St Ignatius in Cardoner” by Galina Oussatcheva (at Cardoner House in Toronto, Canada)
