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Reminders
Come to the Center at Christ United
The Center for Mission & Ministry at Christ United Church is available for Synod church groups and organizations to schedule meetings, workshops, or retreats. You can check the schedule for open dates by accessing the Christ United calendar at www.christuniteddewitt.com. Click on the calendar link at the bottom of the page. Events reserved on the upper level are marked in red; upper level events are green; entire building events are blue. If you are planning on an event at the Center for Mission & Ministry you may wish to schedule overnight rooms at St. Francis Retreat Center located only a mile away.
To book an event at Christ United please email Pastor Terry Williamson, terrylwilliamson@mac.com or call/ text Pastor Terry at 517-719-4129.
To contact Sister Nancy Brousseau, OP, our Center for Mission & Ministry Facilitator, please call: 616-560-4580 (cell) or 517-669-9308 (Christ United number) or email: nancybrousseau@mittensynod.org
Sheila Rogers, Guest Services and Marketing Manager, St. Francis Retreat Center
srogers@stfrancis.ws 517-669-8321 www.stfrancis.ws
“Traveling" Programs
(for 2 hours or may be expanded to an afternoon or evening retreat)
These programs can be requested for any location/congregation or group of churches at your convenience. To make arrangements please contact Nancy at nancybrousseau@mittensynod.org or 616-560-4580
1. Praying with Scripture: Lectio Divina as Foundational to Bible Study: Movement from Text to Contemplation
Learn the practice of an ancient practice that runs counter to our 21st c culture of immediate results, three- second sound bytes to summarize complex theories or years of study, surface rather than depth, & immediate understanding and answers, commentaries rather than original sources…Lectio is radical. if we wish to be nourished directly by the Scriptures without seeking a predigested substitute, then we will probably need to develop new skills: deep listening, patience, fidelity, calming down, making time, regularity, repetition (not getting to the end quickly), It’s about perseverance, concentration and intention, deep reverence for the Word and practice, while being in touch with our feelings ( desert spirituality term “compunction” – being moved –usually moved to tears). This interior movement is about the journey into God: seeking God in contemplative communion (growing in union with God). See how praying the scriptures makes a difference in how one studies the scriptures.
2. Living in the Presence of God -- A Time for Connecting & Conversation-- This session is for anyone who is interested in living in a more conscious awareness of the presence of God in daily life. During our time together we will learn about and experience the prayer of awareness or what today is called Centering Prayer, which is wordless prayer that opens our hearts and our persons to the presence of God in Faith. It is a way of prayer that fosters a deep awareness of God’s dynamic presence in our lives and a non-anxious presence to others. We will also explore some of the obstacles & helps to living in the presence of God, our neighbor and all creation.
3. A Spirituality of the Paschal Mystery– a Lenten Reflection
The liturgical season of Lent is a time to stop and take inventory…a time to examine our lives, to remember, to reestablish priorities and to focus on the most central of all mysteries of our Christian Faith: the Paschal Mystery – the mystery of suffering, death, and transformation in Christ. Our time together will be a prayerful reflection & remembrance of the suffering and death of Christ. We will explore the five distinct moments within the paschal cycle of Jesus as it finds meaning in our own daily lives. Our prayer practice will be the ancient monastic way of Lectio Divina.
Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Forty Days, Ascension and Pentecost. This is the daily journey and our life journey. So, we will look at this cycle in concrete terms as experienced in daily life and over a lifetime.
Podcasts available
Please take a moment to connect with two podcasts concerning the Center for Mission & Ministry programs located under VIDEOS. Hear about the Institute of Spiritual Formation and the Foundations of Spirituality Program.
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