Real Time Thomas Group

We are welcoming members to this new group forming in the real-time virtual meeting grounds of the internet, so you may join our meetings from any geographical location.  Starting with a simple contemplative liturgy of chants, centering prayer and readings, we transition into an enquiry into selected Logia from The Gospel of  Thomas  using the practices of lectio divina and visio divina to build a dynamic midrashic dialogue between the scriptures, the icons, and ourselves.

Please contact me by email for more information about this group:  alicedespard@gmail.com

"Introduction to the Luminous Gospels" Seminar and Retreat January 13-15, 2017

Dear friends,

After a long hiatus, I am finally returning to this blog as a way to convey some new developments with respect to growing a contemplative wisdom community in my new home on the edge of the continental U.S. in southeastern Connecticut.  It is about as far east as I can get on the eastern seaboard without falling off the mainland:  a place of serene beauty and quiet wonders--such a contrast to the more crowded life I lived in Washington, DC.  The winter season is very much the off-season here in an area reliant on the tourism trade, and so the quietude becomes deep and the denizens very few as the cold winter winds arrive to seal this seaside village off from the rest of the world.  The boats have all been pulled in to drydock in the boneyards, the vacationers, sailors and fisherman have all but disappeared for the next five months or so.  This tiny seaside community is a perfect place to hold a contemplative retreat, and so I am enthusiastic about sharing my home as a retreat setting for the first time in the deep mid-winter of January.

I hope you will prayerfully consider joining us for the first retreat to be held in my new home, which I am henceforth calling the Sophia Meeting House.  We will gather around the wood stove with some warm-hearted souls and listen to my dear friend and mentor Lynn Bauman hold forth on one of his pet topics--"The Luminous Gospels: The Oriental World of the Christian Tradition"

Please contact me by email for more information:  alicedespard@gmail.com
or Deborah Shields, deborahshields@hope-tree-healing.net

Seminar:  The Luminous Gospels, with presenter Dr. Lynn Bauman
Dates:  7 pm Friday, January 13 -- 9 pm, Saturday,  January 14, 2017
Location:  Sophia Meeting House, Stonington, CT
Registrar:  Deborah Shields, deborahshields@hope-tree-healing.net
Fee:  $150, $50 nonrefundable deposit due by January2, 2017

NOTE:  In response to requests, we have decided to open up the full dates of the seminar, Friday through Sunday, to all attendees.  The increased cost will be $50 to cover the cost of additional meals.
Please contact Deborah Shields to register and to let us know if you need help with housing.