Journey Groups
Summer 2010 Journey Groups
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Open Your Heart and Mind to the Divine: A Short Course in Centering Prayer
Deeply rooted in the Christian mystical and contemplative tradition, Centering Prayer is a beautiful and simple practice that can be truly transformative. Learn to listen with the heart to God’s first word: silence. Find wisdom, patience, unconditional love, and cultivate spiritual abundance by letting go.
Leader: Jonathan Mendoza
Wednesday evenings, June 2 – 23, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Books and BBQ: Jesus for the Non-Religious
Bishop John Spong’s book, Jesus for the Non-Religious, will give us direction and enrich our spiritual vocabularies as we travel together on our spiritual journeys. We’ll hash out our traditional symbols that surround Jesus of Nazareth and discern the divinity of Christ as the ultimate dimension of a fulfilled humanity. This 2008 book has been hailed as the book that finally brings the pious and the secular into a meaningful dialogue. Join us for potluck BBQ’s and lively discussion.
Leader: Peter Techmanski
Wednesday evenings, July 7 – August 11, 6 – 8 p.m.
Location: Home of Peter Techmanski
Book: Jesus for the Non-Religious by John Spong
The Powerful and Poetic Bible
This five-week course will focus on and discuss some of the most powerful passages of the Bible. The emphasis will be on the effect of words rather than theological implications, although the spiritual nature of the words involved will be of prime importance. If time permits, we will also look briefly at some of the most powerful phrases of the Prayer Book. One might say, the course will deal with Biblical language and its special nature. We will look at the passages as assemblies of words into a poetic form, and as examples of the application of words to matters otherwise very difficult to express.
Leader: Jim Nash
Wednesday evenings, June 30 – July 28, 6:30 – 8 p.m.
Menu for the Future: Where Food and Faith Intersect
We will explore the essays of current food writers, nutritionists, and chefs such as: Michael Pollan, Marion Nestle, and Mark Bittman to gain insight on where exactly our food comes from. We will discuss how making informed choices not only impacts our planet but also our faith. Our group will follow the “Menu for the Future” curriculum put out by Northwest Earth Institute as a guide. We will end the class by preparing a meal together.
Leader: Leslie Baccus-Hope
Wednesday evenings, July 14 – August 18, 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $20 for curriculum
South Austin Book Club - The Blue Sweater
This book is the inspiring personal memoir of a woman who has spent her life on a quest to understand global poverty and to find powerful new ways of tackling it. From her first stumbling efforts as a young idealist venturing forth in Africa to the creation of the trailblazing organization she runs today, the author brings us a series of insightful stories and unforgettable characters — from women dancing in a Nairobi slum, to unwed mothers starting a bakery, to courageous survivors of the Rwandan genocide, to entrepreneurs building services for the poor against impossible odds.
Leader: Gregory Thomas
Dates: Thursday evenings, June 10 – July 16 (no meeting on July 2), 6:30 - 8 p.m.
Location: La Madeleine, 5493 Brodie Lane (Sunset Valley)
Book: The Blue Sweater
