To name our need: in worship and small groups facilitated by spiritual directors

To nurture our mind connection with God through learning: with guest speaker Dr. Joseph Benton Howell, PhD, Founder of the Institute for Conscious Being.

• Dr. Howell’s book, Becoming Conscious: The Enneagram’s Forgotten Passageway, is available here.

To nurture our body connection with God through embodied spiritual practices:

Yoga with Mitchell Bond – Some familiarity with Yoga positions is helpful but not required. For all sessions, getting up and down off the floor is optional.  Sessions to include the following themes:

• Balance:  Welcome the new day with a balance of movement and stillness.  This practice will focus on connecting breath with gentle yoga postures and constructive rest. 
• Compassion:  Compassion for others begins with compassion for oneself. This practice will explore self-massage techniques, simple yoga stretching, and breathing as tools for relaxation, self-awareness, and self-care. 
• Gratitude:  Much as we build strength in muscles by using them over time, gratitude builds when you practice it regularly. This gentle yoga flow practice will center on using movement and breathing to cultivate gratitude. 
• Joy:  “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning!”  Start your day using movement and breathing as tools to tap into resilient joy.

Art

Painting as a Spiritual Practice with Yusang Chung-  No experience necessary! Comes take a break with a visual prayer. This time is not the time to pour out all of our artistic gifts, but the time to be filled in God. I warmly welcome all of you who want to try this spiritual practice in painting.
Sometimes we experience deep connection with God through routes other than language. Sometimes we get close to the center of God’s heart through images, painting, and art. I am a clergy who is not trained in painting, but I enjoy painting as a visual prayer.
When I sit alone in a quiet room holding a brush and pen, it is time for me to be with God alone. The repeated touch of the brush becomes my silent prayer, and I feel like I am part of God’s daily joy of creation. The pastor’s tired, empty heart or excessive enthusiasm becomes a prayer in the painting.

Walk/Run as Spiritual Practice

Labyrinth with Kim Barker-Brugman

Tune Our Hearts: Singing as Embodied Spiritual Practice with Kathy Toole – Participants will experience music as a means of grace, opening the heart and mind to greater resonance with God.

Centering Prayer with Audrey Smith and Tom Frost

To nurture our soul connection with God through spiritual direction:

• Tom Frost
• Bruce Lugn
• Kim Barker-Brugman

To nurture our heart connection with God through connecting in community: We will pray daily, take meals together in fellowship and have ample time for conversation and communion.

To rest: Time and space for solitude and rest for all who need it.

This is a love letter to you.

We want you to know that a small group of folks who serve with the Board of Ordained Ministry have been praying for you every morning at 6:00 a.m. Monday through Friday for over a year. 

We see you. We know you’re tired. We know how hard you’ve been working. 

As so often happens when we pray, God has asked us to help answer our prayer for you. 

The Spiritual Vitality Committee of the Board of Ordained Ministry is offering a love gift from God… to you.

Will you join us for a time out in a safe place, to name your need and nurture your soul’s connection with God at our Clergy Soul Care Retreat at Roslyn Retreat Center in October?

If you can’t make it for this one, we’re working on another in March – we’ll keep you posted with details.

You are loved. 

Spiritual Vitality Committee, Board of Ordained Ministry

The cost is $150 per person and $200 for single occupancy rooms, so the single occupancy room fee is $50.

Everyone attending will be required to test for COVID the day before the conference. If you have had COVID in the last 7 days or, if you test negative and are also experiencing cold or COVID symptoms, please do not attend the conference.

Clergy Excellence has approved 1.0 CEU for this Retreat. You may apply for Clergy Funding at the time of registration.

A draft of the agenda will be available before the retreat.