Courses

Are you too busy to pray? Too stressed to listen for God’s voice? Too exhausted, discouraged, or overwhelmed to attend to your spiritual well? Are you in a profession that drains all your reserves, or finding that life in academics leaves you with no energy to attend to your spiritual life? This course is designed to lead us towards principles and practices of creative spiritual life, which are essential for our own spiritual renewal and critical for meaningful ministry to others. Whether you are involved in full-time or part-time, paid or volunteer ministry, or engaged in another profession or academic discipline, each of us needs to tend to the vitality of our spiritual life. So, I invite you to come on a journey—and to let others join you for part of your journey. Come explore how Jesus’ voice in the Beatitudes guides our spiritual path, not as moralistic teachings but as welcome vistas on a journey. Come and learn to listen to where God’s Spirit is already breathing life and refreshment into your life. Come explore the personal spiritual landscapes of your journey. Consider the role of loss in fostering spiritual depth. Experience the diversity of postures and attitudes of prayer and worship that take us from the ends of ourselves right to the heart of God. Engage the vibrancy of practices that feed our spiritual life. Come to reflect, to write, to create, and to share in a community of fellow-learners, where each of us can learn about a life-long journey of deepening spiritual life and develop toolkits that will travel with us through life, ministry, and career.

Knowing…

• God’s design for your spiritual life through the Beatitudes
• God’s call on your life as a creative spiritual being
• more about the nature of God revealed in your life and the lives of others
• the challenge of balancing ministry with personal spiritual vitality

Being…

• explore the presence of God in your life, wherever you are right now
• find transformation in God’s design
• be present to other pilgrims (and classmates) on the journey
• attend to God’s still small voice in your life

Doing…

• develop deep knowledge and insightful reflection on the Beatitudes as spiritual life
• design your own personal life and ministry prayer
• refine your ability to see God at work in you, around you, and in others – an essential tool for ministry and life
• explore connections between creativity and spiritual life