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March 21-23, 2008
Wanted: Dead or Alive?
An Easter retreat with Jan Hoffman
Reflecting on the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection offers the opportunity to explore more deeply the mystery of death and resurrection, including their rhythms in the natural world and in our own lives. Do we resist necessary deaths in ourselves, even when we know that obedience to God’s suggestions offers new life? What do we want? What did Jesus want? Death? Life? In what sense? How does what we want relate to the Spirit that gives life? Come explore . . .
Jan Hoffman has led many retreats focused on the Christian liturgical year – Advent, Lent, Palm Sunday, and Easter. Pondering the death and resurrection of Jesus – his obedience and the power of God – has helped her understand the many spiritual deaths and resurrections in her own life. Through her experience in her home meeting ( Mt. Toby, MA), New England Yearly Meeting, and beyond, she has discovered that nonattachment to our lives bears the greatest fruit, not only for ourselves, but for life itself.
$275/shared room; $330/private room; $200/commuter
April 11-13, 2008 NOTE NEW DATES
Facing Our Shadows
A weekend with Erva Baden
Have you ever found yourself doing or saying something that you vowed never to do or say? Have you ever realized you were acting exactly like someone who you promised yourself you’d never act like? Oops, your Shadow is showing! These faux pas are usually unconscious and arise from a place deep within the dim landscape of the Shadow – a place where the hidden, unwelcome, and repressed parts of us survive. It takes courage and diligence to seek them out and face them. It is a spiritual undertaking to become fully conscious of all of our parts. Join Erva Baden and other like-minded explorers on this illuminating journey to wholeness.
Erva Baden is an international consultant, facilitator, and trainer. Her work centers on assisting people to live authentically with passion and compassion through enhancing communication skills, personal empowerment, emotional consciousness, and multicultural awareness. She is one of the co-founders of Shadow Work Seminars™ and has presented Shadow Work workshops and trained Shadow Work facilitators in the United States, Canada, France, England, and South Africa. Erva tells us, “Facing and embracing one’s shadow is a daunting task and takes courage and perseverance. And I think it’s also one of the biggest spiritual challenges we can face. We can only achieve greatness when we can know our internal pitfalls.”
$275/shared room; $330/private room; $200/commuter
April 11-13, 2008
The Sacred Art of Listening
A weekend with Kay Lindahl
Listening is both a sacred art and a spiritual practice. According to John of the Cross, listening is God’s first language. In our fast-paced culture, speaking has become our first language. We strive “to be heard” and often neglect how being heard is enhanced by deep listening to the other. The quality of our listening profoundly affects our interactions – with family, friends, and those holding beliefs at odds with ours. In this workshop, we will focus on the transformative power of becoming a listening presence. We will discover how listening as a spiritual practice opens and deepens our relationships, nurtures our inner voice, and inspires our spiritual growth.
Kay Lindahl is the founder of The Listening Center, offering presentations, workshops, and retreats on the power of listening for religious, spiritual, community, and business groups around the world. She is the author of The Sacred Art of Listening, Practicing the Sacred Art of Listening, and a children’s book, How Does God Listen?
$275/shared room; $330/private room; $200/commuter
See recommended readings for this course
April 21-25, 2008
Understanding Islam
A short course with Anthony Manousos, Iftekhar Hussain, Rick Boardman,
and other Muslim guest presenters
James Michener called Islam “the world’s most misunderstood religion.” In this short course, we will deepen our understanding of Islam, both as a spiritual practice and as a religious movement. We will examine:
- Basic Islamic beliefs, practices, and history;
- Islam from a Quaker perspective;
- Sufism as a mystical and political practice;
- Muslims in America today; and
- How we can respond effectively to religious conflict locally and internationally using approaches such as Compassionate Listening.
Anthony Manousos is editor of Friends Bulletin and a prolific author of Quaker-inspired articles and books. Most recently, he edited Compassionate Listening: The Writings of Gene Hoffman, Quaker Peacemaker andMystic and EarthLight, Spiritual Wisdom for an Ecological Age. Since 9/11, Anthony has deepened his own connections with Islam by fasting during Ramadan, publishing the pamphlet Islam from a Quaker Perspective, and leading a workshop on Islam at the 2005 Friends General Conference summer gathering. A member of Santa Monica Monthly Meeting (CA), Anthony is active in interfaith work in the Los Angeles area and is working on a book about interfaith peacemaking.
Iftekhar Hussain is chair of the Council of American-Islamic Relations for Pennsylvania (CAIR-PA) and secretary general of the American Muslim Society of the Tristate Area (PA, NJ, and DE). He serves on the advisory committee of the American Friends Service Committee, Middle East Peace Building Unit. Iftekhar is engaged in local interfaith educational initiatives with a focus on “Islam and the Middle East” and “US Foreign Policy and the Muslim World.” On behalf of CAIR-PA, he developed a ten-part course titled “Understanding Islam and Muslims through History and Jurisprudence,” which he has taught at over twenty different churches, synagogues, mosques, and schools in the past six years.
Rick Boardman was raised as a Quaker in New England and converted to Sufism in 1980. He worked for the American Friends Service Committee for thirty years. He is a member of the Bawa Muhaiyadeen Fellowship in Philadelphia.
$540/shared room; $635/private room; $375/commuter
This course qualifies for our Bring a Friend Discount. Learn more here
Find participant materials for this course
April 25-27, 2008
Interfaith Peacemaking
A weekend with Anthony Manousos, Iftekhar Hussain, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Lance Laver,
Abby Stamelman Hocky and other guest presenters
Experience the joy and power of interfaith peacemaking. Since 9/11/2001, people of different faith traditions have come together to build bridges of understanding, to deepen their spiritual connection, and to work together for peace and justice. This workshop will help you to become more involved and effective in this growing movement to transform our culture and to make the world more just and peaceful. It will also help equip you with knowledge and skills, such as Compassionate and Sacred Listening.
Since 1969, Rabbi Arthur O. Waskow has been one of the creators and leaders of Jewish renewal and of several important interfaith projects addressing issues of peace, justice, and healing of the earth. He founded The Shalom Center <www.shalomctr.org> in 1983 and has been its director since then. He is the author of many works, including, among others, Seasons of Our Joy, Godwrestling, and Godwrestling – Round 2, Down-to-Earth Judaism. Through The Shalom Center, Rabbi Waskow with his wife Rabbi Phyllis Berman helped bring into being the Tent of Abraham, Hagar, and Sarah, and initiated the effort at multireligious observance of the confluence of sacred seasons in October 2005. With Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister and Saadi Shakur Chisti, he co-authored The Tent of Abraham: Stories of Hope and Peace for Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Lance Laver is a member of Mishkan Shalom and a founding member of the Philadelphia Interfaith Walk for Peace and Reconciliation. He is also founder of the Philadelphia Interfaith Community Building Group, a volunteer organization that has built homes, community centers, and churches with needy communities locally and internationally for the past eleven years.
Vic Compher, a member of Tabernacle United Church (Presbyterian and UCC), has been actively involved in peace work for many years. He helped to organize the Philadelphia Interfaith Walk for Peace and Reconciliation with the assistance of Jewish and Muslim leaders in 2004. He is a clinical social worker, poet, and film maker. In his interfaith work he has co-facilitated a number of interfaith dialogues and has served on the boards of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia and the Arts and Spirituality Center.
Abby Stamelman Hocky has served as executive director of the Interfaith Center of Greater Philadelphia since its inception in January 2004. She came to the Center after two decades working in intergroup relations and public policy for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Philadelphia, where she last served as associate executive director and director of interreligious relations. This work entailed striving to enhance interfaith understanding, resolve issues among religious groups, and develop numerous models for dialogue -- especially among Muslims, Christians and Jews. Abby is an active member of her synagogue, Beth Am Israel.
$275/shared room; $330/private room; $200/commuter
Canceled
April 25-27, 2008
Clerking: Serving the Community with Joy and Confidence
A weekend with Arthur Larrabee
This is an opportunity for both new and experienced clerks of Friends’ meetings and committees to meet and think together about the role of presiding clerk. It is expected that each person will leave the weekend with new energy and enthusiasm for being a clerk, feeling well-grounded in both the theoretical and the practical. There will be handouts, exercises, and opportunities to share experiences, with most work done in a whole group setting.
Among other topics, we will consider:
- Developing a philosophy of clerking;
- Techniques of good clerking;
- The fundamentals of a Quaker meeting for business;
- How to make our meetings for business more truly meetings for worship;
- What a “sense of the meeting” is and where we can look for it;
- Distinguishing between political and spiritual statements; and
- Ways to deal with humanly difficult questions, issues, and decisions.
Arthur Larrabee, a lifelong Friend and a member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting, has led many workshops on clerking. He has served as clerk of his meeting, the Committee in Charge of Westtown School, and Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (PYM), and is now general secretary of PYM.
[Register early for this perennial favorite.]
$275/shared room; $330/private room; $200/commuter This workshop is full
Please add me to the Waiting List
April 28-May 2, 2008
Exploring Sacred Geometry
A short course with Carol Sexton
Explore the many facets of sacred geometry, including the spiritual meanings traditionally associated with numbers and shapes, the mathematical archetypes found in nature, the application of geometrical principles in art and architecture, and the meditative and healing possibilities offered by the mandala and the labyrinth. The course will offer participants a lively mix of hands-on art activities, presentation of ideas, group discussion, and personal reflection.
Carol Sexton is Pendle Hill's core teacher in Arts and Spirituality. She has extensive experience in teaching, campus ministry, spiritual direction, retreat facilitation, studio art, graphic design, and service to the Quaker community. She served from 2002 to 2005 as campus ministry associate for spiritual formation at Earlham College and has led retreats on diverse themes, including creating journals and walking the labyrinth. A graduate of the Earlham School of Religion, Carol also earned degrees in Studio Art and Art Education. She is a member of Clear Creek Monthly Meeting, Richmond (IN).
$540/shared room; $635/private room; $375/commuter
This course qualifies for our Bring a Friend Discount. Learn more here
See recommended readings for this course
May 2-4, 2008
Rituals for Renewal
A weekend with Donna Schaper
Rituals for Renewal is a changing life, transformational course that begins with the ordinary habits of daily living. How we eat, sleep, spend, and work are spiritual as well as practical questions. Our datebooks and our checkbooks are as holy as any shrine or meditative practice. We will review our "holy habits" and renew them – or change them. For too many of us, other people are in charge of our sacred time and our sacred resources; this course puts us back in charge from the "bottom up" by identifying our deepest values and putting them in charge of our daily living.
Donna Schaper is senior minister of Judson Memorial Church in New York City and author of Keeping Sabbath, Living Well While Doing Good, and Grassroots Gardening: Rituals to Sustain Activism, among many others. Her personal mission statement is “to provide spiritual nurture for public capacity so that people who hope in justice can experience that hope kicked into high, joyful gear.” For more information, see her website, http://donnaschaper.org.
$275/shared room; $330/private room; $200/commuter
See recommended readings for this course
May 2-4, 2008
James Nayler and the Lamb’s War: Texts and Contexts
A weekend with Doug Gwyn
Probably the most articulate spokesperson of the earliest Quaker movement, James Nayler added revolutionary political impetus to George Fox’s apocalyptic preaching of Christ’s coming in the bodies of common people. With other Quaker leaders, he proclaimed Christ’s divine right to rule in England through human conscience. They called for the disestablishment of the Church as the first step toward a wider moral, social, and economic transformation that they called the “Lamb’s War” – a nonviolent social revolution from the inside out, and from the base of society upwards. We will read extensive excerpts from Nayler’s writings, considering them in the context of English political events and Quaker developments. In so doing, we will follow Nayler’s trajectory from apocalyptic prophet, to stigmatized Christ-figure, to withdrawn quietist.
Doug Gwyn serves as pastoral minister with the First Friends Meeting, Richmond (IN). Formerly a teacher at Pendle Hill and at Woodbrooke, Doug has written widely on early Friends. His books include Apocalypse of the Word (1986), The Covenant Crucified (1995, 2006), and Seekers Found (2000).
$275/shared room; $330/private room; $200/commuter
See recommended readings for this course
May 5-9, 2008
Re-discovering Elias Hicks
A short course with Paul Buckley
Elias Hicks is blamed for (or credited with) sparking the 1827-28 separations, which shaped all the current branches of North American Friends. Despite the obvious importance of Hicks’s career and beliefs to all Friends, a clear picture of him is not readily available. He published little during his lifetime, and his literary executors seem to have been more interested in presenting a “proper” view of Hicks than an accurate one, leaving out of the published versions of his journal and letters much that could be illuminating. Paul Buckley has been reviewing the original manuscripts of Hicks’s memoirs and letters for the past ten years and is eager to share his findings. When Hicks speaks for himself, he has much to say to contemporary Friends. Working with transcriptions of the manuscripts, we will explore who Elias Hicks was, what he believed, and what motivated him.
Paul Buckley is a Quaker historian and theologian with many years of service to Friends. He is the co-editor (with Stephen W. Angell) of The Quaker Bible Reader and the author of Twenty-First Century Penn, Owning the Lord’s Prayer, and numerous articles in Quaker history, faith, and practice. He gives short courses, workshops, and retreats for Friends’ gatherings across the Quaker spectrum and teaches occasional Quaker Studies courses at the Earlham School of Religion.
$540/shared room; $635/private room; $375/commuter
This course qualifies for our Bring a Friend Discount. Learn more here
May 9-11, 2008
How Quakers Read the Bible
A weekend with Stephen W. Angell and Paul Buckley
In many ways, early Friends were steeped in the Bible. Biblical images, stories, and language provided a common language for the readers of their day. Yet to early Quakers, the Scriptures were not pre-eminent, but “the Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures” and illuminated them for each reader. Quakers today range more widely from the biblically literate to those for whom the Bible seems largely unknown and irrelevant to their faith. With the editors of The Quaker Bible Reader, we will look at the disparate ways Friends have approached the Bible historically, and use The Quaker Bible Reader as a springboard to discuss our own means of interpreting scripture.
Paul Buckley is a Quaker historian and theologian with many years of service to Friends. He is the co-editor (with Stephen W. Angell) of The Quaker Bible Reader and the author of Twenty-First Century Penn, Owning the Lord’s Prayer, and numerous articles in Quaker history, faith, and practice. He gives short courses, workshops, and retreats for Friends’ gatherings across the Quaker spectrum and teaches occasional Quaker Studies courses at the Earlham School of Religion.
Stephen W. Angell is the Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies at the Earlham School of Religion. His most recent book is The Quaker Bible Reader (co-edited with Paul Buckley), and he has written many articles on Quaker history, including “Rufus Jones and the Laymen’s Foreign Mission Inquiry: How a Quaker Helped to Shape Modern Ecumenism,” Quaker Theology 2:2 (Autumn 2000):http://quaker.org/quest/issue3-6.html.
$275/shared room; $330/private room; $200/commuter
CANCELED
See recommended readings for this course
May 9-11, 2008
Five Spiritual Principles
A weekend with George Owen and Jennie Levin
Pay Attention, Expect to be Changed, Honor Your Connectedness, Choose Beauty, Live Radiantly. Come explore how these five ideas can awaken and energize your daily life. Rooted in early Quakerism, these simple suggestions call us to live more fully in all aspects of our lives. We will examine these principles from a variety of perspectives and encourage you to find meaningful ways of working with them. There will be reflective time for personal discernment and small group sharing for testing and anchoring what is true for you and how you will carry these truths forward into your life.
George Owen, former clerk of Milwaukee Friends Meeting (WI), now lives at Pendle Hill. He has been exploring spiritual principles all his life in response to difficult life challenges and has led many workshops on this and other subjects. He serves on the Faith and Practice Committee of Northern Yearly Meeting and on the Central Committee of Friends General Conference.
Jennie Levin is an associate tutor at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Center and a member of Bradford-on-Avon Meeting in southern England. She has worked and traveled among Friends for nine of the 23 years she has been a Quaker. Jennie was attracted to Friends by their spiritual and practical congruence and is currently enjoying making the Five Principles a part of her practice.
$275/shared room; $330/private room; $200/commuter
May 12-16, 2008
The Unifying Legacy of Rufus Jones
A short course with Stephen W. Angell
Quaker teacher, philosopher, organizer of service work, prolific author, and inspiring presence, Rufus Jones built bridges and brought diverse sets of folks together. Beyond an introduction to this Friend’s life and thought, we will examine his work in bringing together branches of Quakers, lifting up the contributions of saints and mystics through the ages, promoting ecumenical and interfaith discussions, and reaching out to potential enemies and attempting to appeal to the Inner Light in them. What example does Jones set for us today? No prior knowledge of Rufus Jones is required; we will start from the basics.
Stephen W. Angell is the Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies at the Earlham School of Religion. His most recent book is The Quaker Bible Reader (co-edited with Paul Buckley), and he has written many articles on Quaker history, including “Rufus Jones and the Laymen’s Foreign Mission Inquiry: How a Quaker Helped to Shape Modern Ecumenism,” Quaker Theology 2:2 (Autumn 2000):http://quaker.org/quest/issue3-6.html.
$540/shared room; $635/private room; $375/commuter
This course qualifies for our Bring a Friend Discount. Learn more here
See recommended readings for this course
May 16-18, 2008
Tales of the Hasidim
A weekend with Eugenia Friedman
Martin Buber compiled this rich treasure of stories and sayings from the oral tradition of personal and communal Jewish mysticism that flourished in 18 th and 19 th century Eastern Europe. Hasidic groups, which arose within the larger Jewish community, were characterized by great religious fervor and ecstasy. Their leaders attempted to reach out to as many Jews as possible from ordinary walks of life with a mysticism rooted in everyday living and accessible to ordinary persons. Their disciples felt they witnessed extraordinary events, and they celebrated these events in the tales they told to one another. Come read about and discuss Hasidic life as presented in this remarkable collection of tales.
Eugenia Friedman has taught poetry and the Hasidic Tales at Pendle Hill for many years. She has also taught in the College of the University of Chicago, at Sarah Lawrence College, and in the Children’s School in San Diego.
$275/shared room; $330/private room; $200/commuter
See recommended readings for this course
May 19-23, 2008
Give Us This Day
A short course with Barbarajene Williams
Why are so many people in our culture suffering from overwork and time poverty? To get to the heart of the matter, this course will draw from the work of the national Take Back Your Time movement, the Quaker sense of a “guided life,” and other sources as we seek practical steps to create more meaningful time in our lives. We will aim toward a good balance of presentations, large and small group discussion, and ample opportunity for deeper reflection.
Barbarajene Williams served as spiritual nurturer for the Pendle Hill staff and has worked extensively with Friends meetings around the country as a retreat leader. Formerly a college English teacher, she is a graduate of the Earlham School of Religion and the School of the Spirit’s Spiritual Nurturer program.
$540/shared room; $635/private room; $375/commuter
This course qualifies for our Bring a Friend Discount. Learn more here
May 23-26, 2008
Nurturing Faithfulness
A short course with Marcelle Martin, Laura Melly, and Beckey Phipps
In this course, we will explore specific practices to identify and nurture spiritual gifts, leadings, and ministries. We will highlight a peer group process, in which each person benefits from the focused listening and prayerful support of others, as an effective means of deepening faithfulness and assisting ongoing discernment. We will offer each other the gifts of deep listening, evoking questions, and holding one another in the Light. Each participant will be supported to take the next step in hearing and responding to the Spirit. Meetings or pairs who travel or work together may find this course especially helpful.
Marcelle Martin is the resident Quaker Studies teacher at Pendle Hill. Chestnut Hill Meeting (PA) has minuted her ministry of spiritual nurture, which includes facilitating workshops and retreats related to the spiritual journey, prayer and discernment. She is a graduate of the Shalem Institute program in Spiritual Guidance and the School of the Spirit's program on Contemplative Living and Prayer. Marcelle is the author of two Pendle Hill pamphlets, Invitation to a Deeper Communion (June 2003) and Holding One Another in the Light (February 2006).
Laura Melly has served as adjunct faculty and consultant to resident students at Pendle Hill. For over twenty years she has served Quakers, their meetings and nonprofit organizations as a facilitator, teacher, committee member and Friend in Residence. She spent four years helping to oversee the Friends General Conference Traveling Ministries Program. She is a graduate of the School of the Spirit's Spiritual Nurturer Program.
Beckey Phipps clerks the Traveling Ministries Committee of Friends General Conference. She has a master’s degree in theology and completed the School of the Spirit’s Spiritual Nurturer program. A member of Fresh Pond Meeting (MA), she travels among Friends leading retreats and workshops on Quakerism and building the life of the meeting community. Her recent publications include “Finding Hope in Ephesians,” in The Quaker Bible Reader, and Simple Lives, Radiant Faith: Bible Lessons from the 2004 Annual Gathering of Friends.
$490/shared room; $565/private room; $375/commuter
This course qualifies for our Bring a Friend Discount. Learn more here
May 30-June 1, 2008
Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP): Basic Training
A weekend with Nancy Diaz and John Meyer
Originally developed by Quakers over thirty years ago to help reduce recidivism and violence in prisons, AVP is for everyone who wants to help empower people to lead nonviolent lives through affirmation, respect for all, community building, cooperation, and trust. Today AVP is used widely in schools, the workplace, with young people, and in international peacebuilding and reconciliation programs. Join us for an intensive, three-day learning experience in developing interpersonal conflict resolution skills through a series of exercises in small groups and one-on-one interactions. Exercises help build self-esteem and trust, improve listening skills and assertive methods of expression, develop cooperative attitudes for problem-solving, and practice creative resolution of conflicts that arise in our own lives.
Nancy Diaz is the Youth Development Specialist for the Southeast Philadelphia Collaborative. A long-time youth worker and social justice advocate and Mom of two wonderful young adults. Nancy has facilitated AVP and HIPP (Help Increase the Peace) and anti-oppression workshops for more than ten years. She has facilitated groups in Central America, as well as the United States. Nancy is a member of Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting (PA) the Religious Society of Friends.
John Meyer is coordinator of extended education programs at Pendle Hill and has facilitated AVP workshops at the State Correctional Institution at Graterford (PA) and at Pendle Hill.
$180/shared room; $205/private room; $105/commuter
