with thanks to Rex Nelson for his photographs

If you are reading this and know nothing about the work of The Center for Courage and Renewal, I hope this will offer enough background to whet your desire to know more. If you do know some about the work of The Center, I would like you to know of a specific niche – new in concept and practice – which we call Courage Earth.

Courage work in general is primarily retreat work, retreats being offered nationally and internationally by certified facilitators. They are designed to reconnect a person’s deepest spiritual longings with their professional callings. Phrases such as “reconnecting soul and role” or “living the undivided life” manage to get directly to the heart of our work. The one hundred and seventy or so facilitators offer variously focused retreats: for teachers, for medical professionals, for church leaders, and more. Some are designed for a particular profession; others are multi-disciplinary. Some revolve around the seasons of the year; others around a particular theme, such as sense of place, and understanding and healing the eco-systems of our planet.

The focus of Courage Earth is to help all of us reconnect and remember our place, both physical and spiritual within the earth community, not as set apart, not as “called out” but as interdependent and integral to all creation. In the words of the late Thomas Berry:

 We need a spirituality that emerges out of a reality deeper than ourselves, even deeper than life, a spirituality that is as deep as the earth process itself, a spirituality born out of the solar system and even out of the heavens beyond the solar system. There in the stars is where the primordial elements take shape in both their physical and psychic aspects.

 There is a certain triviality in any spiritual discipline that does not experience itself as supported by the spiritual as well as the physical dynamics of the entire cosmic-earth process.

 A spirituality is a mode of being in which . . . we discover ourselves in the universe and the universe discovers itself in us.

With the above as background, the invitation is this:

My facilitator colleague Dr. Sally Hare and I are offering a Courage Earth Retreat titled: Living in the Space Between ~ Exploring Out Interconnectedness with the Earth and Our Selves as a path to Healing and Renewal. You are invited to apply! A brief description follows.

 “There is a space between things, between all things. The space is sacred, and it is rich with blessing.”

Caroline S. Fairless, The Space Between Church and Not-Church ~ A Sacramental Vision for the Healing of our Planet.

Humans are hardwired to connect, building relationships both human-to-human and human-to-non-human. Although such interdependence is often diminished, dampened, distorted, or ignored, the knowing is innate and cannot be extinguished. Our sense of place and innate knowing of time are birthright gifts that deepen with our experiences.

Living in the Space Between is a three-day retreat to explore and reclaim our connectedness with the Earth and with our Selves.

By creating a safe, supportive space, Sally and I are inviting you into a space in which we can let down the defenses we have built around our own deep listening to our Selves and the Earth – and the wisdom of both.

The dates are July 23-25, and the retreat facility is The Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center in Bangor, PA. I urge you to poke around in their website. It is a magnificent facility!