Program 2013

Gathering Leaves 2013: Program

During the retreat you will have the option of joining a "Sister Circle", which is a safe group of 5 - 8 women who can function as your touchstone during the retreat, and with whom you have the opportunity to create a closer bond of friendship. Sister Circles will meet twice during the weekend.

Thursday 6/4
    4-6 pm        Registration
    6-7 pm        Light dinner
    7-8:30 pm Opening Panel: Aspirations for the Future of Swedenborgian Churches (all are welcome)
                        (downloadable Panel Program)
    8:30-9:30    Reception

Friday 6/5 Sacred Space
    8-8:45 am   Breakfast
    9-9:30 am   Opening worship
    9:30-10:30 Plenary session – Jane Seibert: 7 Sacred Pauses
    10:30-11 Coffee
    11-12:30 #1 Workshops

Seven Angels of the Seven Churches - Our Guides to Regeneration!
Leader: Rev. Susannah Currie
The seven Tiffany stained-glass angel windows, which are on tour as the In Company withAngels museum exhibit, were inspired by Swedenborg's interpretation of the seven letters to the angels of the churches from the book of Revelation. In this workshop we'll explore how we can find meaning in the qualities of the seven angels to guide our understanding of how we are finding our unique 'place in heaven' based on where our journey of regeneration is taking us.

Feminine Images in Worship
Leader:Lori Odhner
This workshop will offer you the opportunity to create a Woman clothed with the sun out of felted wool. The process is simple, a barbed needle and roving of vibrant colors. She can either be pregnant or holding her baby. You can also make a bride coming down from God. You can use silks, linens, lace and embellishments to create a small bride. She could have a necklace of twelve jewels, like the gates of the holy city, and pearls around her waist or crown.

Based on her new book, The Growth of the Female Mind: Sincerity and Severity".
Leader: Soni Werner
Soni has felt that it was time to have a sequel to the well-known book by the Swedenborgian scholar, Bishop deCharms, that had focused on the spiritual growth of boys and male teenagers. Soni’s new book focuses on adults, and uses female characters from the Bible to illustrate the levels of mental growth. This book includes her theory of the 7 levels of spiritual maturity which is laid out like one staircase going up (increasing sincerity) and one going down (increasing severity). Many of her conclusions could apply to adult men as well as women. However, she does include some of the latest information from neuroscience about how men's and women's brains differ. She draws several key concepts from the Writings of Swedenborg to support her new theory.

12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30p - 3 #2 Workshops

Touching the Spirit in New Ways
Leaders: Page Morahan and Rev. Wilma Wake
This workshop will be presented by the minister and a member of the Central Committee of www.swedenborgiancommunity.org, the entirely online, minister-led outreach ministry of the General Convention. In it you will learn not only about the process and the seven-year success story of this ministry, but also will hear about other alternative ways of doing ministry in this twenty-first century. To the extent possible, examples will be drawn from ministries that are currently established or being established by denominational ministers and laypersons, as well as new forms of ministry connected to our parish ministries. We will present workable methods of reaching the new kind of spiritual seeker and church member of this time in history.

“Yes I Belong Here” Friends of Bill W and Swedenborg
Leader: Sue D.
The 12-step movement started with Bill W and Alcoholics Anonymous. It has grown to include innumerable groups that help people through the use of the 12-steps. What are they and why does it help? A little historical background does include that Bill’s wife, Lois W a founder of Al-Anon and her family were connected with the Swedenborgian Church. Although the groups specifically do not want to be related to any organization, can we see anything related in the steps. Can they help you with your life?

What is The Importance of Knowing Correspondences?
Leader: Dawn Potts
A new language was given to the world through Emanuel Swedenborg. We will explore the potential significance in and how we might use correspondences in our lives. We will also discuss the value of children being taught correspondences along with learning their ABC's. A perfect example is the correspondence of the seven days of creation which helps us understand the spiritual journey that every person travels all through their life. We will look at how understanding these states and spiritual qualities can enhance and expand our journey.

    3:00-3:30    Coffee
    3:30-6     Free time
    3:30 - 4:30 Informal Discussion - Page Morahan: Gathering the Harvest: the Helen Keller book
                        and other Gathering Leaves outcomes"
    5:30 - 6       Sister Circles
    6-7 pm        Dinner
    7-8:30 pm   Evening Program - Jane Fullerton: Guided Meditation
    9-9:30 pm   Vespers

Saturday 6/6 Sacred Movement
    8-8:45 am Breakfast
    9-9:30 am Worship
    9:30-10:30 Plenary session – Anna Woofenden: The Compost Heap: Decomposition, Fertilization, and
                       New Growth
    10:30-11    Coffee
    11-12:30    #3 Workshops

Art making and Spiritual Growth.
Leader: Wendy Soneson
Because art making is one of the highest forms of human functioning, we can find an easy parallel in this process to the development of the spirit. The stages of learning and creating enhance, mirror, and benefit from stages of spiritual growth. Watercolor is especially translucent in showing the correspondence between human/spiritual growth and the elements of water, mineral pigments, and cotton fibers. We will talk about these ideas, then have a short demonstration and participation exercise. All people are artists and therefor welcome.

The Church of the Second Chance
Leader: Penny Rhodes
Many of us experience, during the course of our lives, a time when we feel either the church, or we, are a lost cause. The Lord finds ways to bring us back to HImself. This workshop is not so much a presentation as it will be a celebration of the Lord’s Infinite Love and Mercy, as told through the sharing of our stories and journeys...our personal second and third and fourth chances...seven times seventy. The hearing and telling is a gift to all of us.

Breathing Light: Learning and Teaching
Leader: Linda Simonetti Odhner
Education at its best creates spaces where learning happens. Rigid educational hierarchies too often hinder instead of helping the learning process. Yet everyday people of all ages and states are learning freely and joyfully, both within and outside formal schools. Waves of energy for education reform have passed through our society and left their mark. We can help to bring about the changes we hope for, for ourselves, our families, our communities, and the world. After a short presentation, we will discuss our experiences, observations, and visions for the future.

Something in the Air: the Decision to Ordain Women in the Swedenborgian Church of North America
Leader: Joy Barnitz
As a second year M.Div. student at the Swedenborgian House of Studies/Pacific School of Religion, Joy was curious how the decision to ordain women was made in the General Convention. This workshop will engage participants in looking at some of the underlying biblical, theological and social factors that led to the ordination of the Reverend Doctor Dorothea Harvey in 1975.

    12:30-1:30 Lunch
    1:30-5:30   Outing to White Mountains
    5:30-6        Free time
    5:30 - 6       Sister Circles
    6-7 pm       Dinner
    7-8:30        Evening Program - Mary Duckworth: Sacred Circle Dancing
    9-9:30        Vespers

Sunday 6/7
    8:00-8:45 Breakfast
    10:00 am Glendale Church service