Tuesday, September 29, 2020 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM

I drank the silence of God from a spring in the woods.
-Georg Trakl

How fitting that the author who wrote this classic text in the 14th century remains anonymous for he tells us that to know God we must take the apophatic road to nothingness and nowhere, let go of all we 'think' God is to, just perhaps, in a blessed moment of forgetting, come to 'experience' what God truly is. Gratefully, we’re told not to worry if we can’t grasp it as, surely, such moments can’t be explained—but may be revealed in response to our humble, loving, heart. So, we come to our practice to gently pull back our wandering minds and yearning hearts to create a kind of inner crucible, silent and empty, most fitting for our God’s visit. And, over time, something quite sweet begins to happen—more and more, as we walk out into our days, we notice, suddenly now, that there is nowhere God is not! There is God moving in the wind, speaking through stones, budding the dandelion, cooing the mourning doves, and, most graciously, there, looking back at us through the eyes of our neighbors, next door and around the world. Having dared to lose ourselves in nothingness and nowhere, we have found ourselves to be everywhere, like one of those dandelions in the field, unique yet an integral part of all that is—the glorious body of Christ. Welcome home.

In this 8-week class, we’ll journey together toward nothingness and nowhere delighting in interactive sharing, Christian mantra practice, and engaging in many experiential exercises. You’ll receive an accompanying study guide with questions for reflections to guide our focus each week and with ideas for further enrichment during the days between our meetings.

Come. Journey with us toward nothingness and nowhere. You just may find yourself at the water’s edge drinking in the silence of God.

NOTE: This is an 8 week ongoing journey/commitment.  The cost of the course is $60 for the eight weeks. 

The book we'll be using is The Cloud of Unknowing & the Book of Privy Counseling - Forward by Houston Smith and edited by William Johnston.

About the leader(s)

Stephanie Rutt