Dear Friend,

It has been awhile since our last retreat on flesh and blood spirituality but I hope you haven't forgotten the invitation to receive life in our bodies as one of God’s good gifts. I pray that even in these challenging times, you have maintained care for your body and that you are finding new ways of experiencing your body as a place of joy and pleasure, gut-level wisdom, and beyond-words communion with God.

As you prepare for our upcoming virtual retreat, I hope you have been able to take steps to create the best retreat environment available to you. Looking forward to "being together" soon!

Many blessings,

Reflecting on the Last Quarter


Our most important encouragement since last retreat has been to do whatever helps you be more intentional about noticing, caring for, listening to, and praying in your body as a spiritual practice. As you prepare your paper and also to share with your small group:
  • Notice resonance and resistance as you interact with the biblical and theological perspectives on the sanctity of the body and honoring the body as a spiritual discipline.
  • Describe the practices you chose to explore relative to honoring the body. How did you encounter God in and through these practices? What gifts and challenges did you experience relative to these practices?
  • How have you responded to the teachings and reflections on gender and race as a fundamental experience in the body through which we can learn more about God? What are your reflections on the connection between sexuality and spirituality?    
  • Describe the effect of these reflections and practices on your life and well-being and how you have experienced God in the practice of honoring the body.

Papers


Many of you have already sent your reflection papers from the last quarter but if you haven't yet, please email your paper to TC16papers@transformingcenter.org prior to the retreat.

Preparing for the Upcoming Retreat


Our upcoming retreat, January 25–27, is on experiencing transformation through self-knowledge, self-examination, and confession. Please plan to have your copy of Mull Holland's Invitation to a Journey with you.

Additional information and guidance was sent in an email last week. If for any reason you didn't receive it or can't find it in your inbox, you can always find our communications on your community webpage TransformingCenter.org/TC16  password: sacredrhythms16

As a reminder: We will be sharing communion together in the Leaving Service on Wednesday so please plan to have communion elements ready for that service.

Don't Forget—Extended Retreat


Although this retreat usually ends at 4:00 p.m. when we are in person, we have shortened it a bit to try and avoid zoom fatigue. Please plan to stay with us through Wednesday at 2 p.m. CT. You may want to request a late check-out if you are staying away from home. Since important things are happening right up until the end, we hope we can all finish together!

Requests for Prayer

and Pastoral Care


With all that leaders are holding and carrying right now, we are aware that many of you are in need of prayer or a pastoral conversation. We are pleased that our intercessory prayer team and community pastors are available to meet with you virtually but it will require planning ahead just a bit. We are grateful for all the ways God continues to meet us — even through zoom! Even though it might feel odd, don't hesitate to reach out for what you need on this retreat. As always, the content of these meetings will be confidential.

Prayer
Please email Jerry at jlee@transformingcenter.org to schedule time during afternoon solitude. 

Pastoral Care
If you would like to connect with a community pastor please reply to this email.
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