Hope-filled Households: Nurturing Resilience
A 10-week Retreat-in-Everyday-Life** for parents, grandparents and anyone who cares for young people and wonders, worries, or prays about the world that we are passing along.
All are welcome to join this journey!
**check out the answer to the question below to find out more about what we mean by "retreat-in-everyday-life"!
Spend a few minutes (or a few hours, your choice!) each week pondering spiritual practices that can provide meaning and purpose in both our own lives as well as the lives of our family and especially the young people in our midst!
This program will begin on April 22 and continue through the end of June. You are welcome to engage it in various ways that work for you throughout the 10 weeks.
Guided by the book The Hopeful Family: Raising Resilient Children in Uncertain Times by Amelia Richardson Dress, these ten weeks will offer an opportunity for participants to enter into individual contemplation & reflection, small group conversation & sharing and discernment about the practices in our homes that create a sense of abundance and optimism. How does God call us to cultivate hope? - in ourselves and in our families?
Click on the plus (+) sign beside each of the questions below to find out more details about this program and then scroll down to register!
What is a "Retreat-in-Everyday-Life"?
A retreat is an opportunity to reflect on life and to spend some time noticing God's presence.
A "retreat-in-everyday-life" is an opportunity to infuse your ordinary life and your day-to-day routine with small changes or adaptations in order to spend intentional time reflecting on a topic and noticing God's presence - and especially taking time to be aware of God's presence in the day-to-day rhythm of our lives.
No prior retreat experience is necessary only the willingness to be open to the process offered. People of all religious affiliations or none are welcome.
What can I expect if I register?
You can expect to be invited to participate in any or all of the following (with no "required" attendance)!
You're invited to pick and choose the elements that fit best into your daily and weekly routine and use these building blocks to explore the weekly topics in the way that best suits your own spiritual practice.
- On Monday mornings, an email will show up in your inbox with 1) an overview of the topic for that week, 2) suggestions for optional readings in the book The Hopeful Family, 3) Questions for Personal (or Group) reflection to ponder, & 4) sometimes additional resources on the weekly topics.
- On Thursday evenings, you'll be invited to an optional online zoom session (from 7:00 - 7:45 pm) for conversations with others based on the reflection questions that were sent in Monday's email. This will be a chance to connect with people wrestling with these same topics.
- On Sunday mornings, a Hope-filled Households table will be set up during the regular St. Paul's coffee hour (approximately 11:15 a.m.) that will be a space for anyone who wants to sit and chat about the weekly topic & connect with others! The questions for reflection from the previous Monday will be on the table to help spark conversation.
- You will also be given access to a private Facebook Group and a What'sApp Community (you can choose either one or both!) for asynchronous connections with one another and the chance to pose questions to the entire group or share thoughts or other resources you've found as you're taking time in your every-day life to ponder and pray on the weekly topics. The weekly emails will also be posted her so that you can easily find and refer to them.
And finally, when you register for this experience, you'll also have the option to let us know if you might be interested in connecting with others in any of these particular sub-groups. Based on who registers for this experience, we will do our best to connect you with others with whom you might find affinity!
* parents of young children (0-5 yrs) |
* Grandparents | * Empty Nesters (or partially empty nesters!) |
* Special Needs Families |
* Elementary School families |
* Parents of Tweens and Teens | * LGBTQIA+ families | * Solo/Single Parenting |
*OR, please feel free to suggest any additional subgroups that might be helpful!
What are the topics that we are going to cover during the 10-weeks?
April 22 - 28 | An Introduction to a Hope-filled Retreat
April 29 - May 5 | The Stories We Tell: Sacred Reading
May 6 - 12 | Letting Go, Moving Forward: Forgiveness
May 13 - 19 | Finding Presence: Sabbath
May 20 - 26 | Nurturing Connection: Sharing the Table
May 27 - June 2 | The Joy of Enough: Gratitude
June 3 - 9 | Welcoming What Comes: Hospitality
June 10 - 16 | Choosing Abundance: Generosity
June 17 - 23 | Experiencing Peace: Silence
June 24 - 30 | Healing the World with Love: Blessing
*Save the evening of June 30th for a Closing Celebration (potluck dinner in the church hall)
What is the time & commitment for this program?
The time you'll spend with this retreat-in-everyday-life is really up to you!
The time-frame of the program is April 22nd through June 30th.
Your only commitment in filling out the registration form is that you agree to receive the emails and reminders for the various aspects of the retreat-in-everyday-life. From there your level of participation is up to you!
No attendance will be taken!
You can choose to show up for as much or as little as you are able! It's your retreat to create-as-you-go!
Just like many things in life, what you invest in this experience in your time and attention will likely be reflected in what you get out of the 10-weeks, but we know that even just skimming a few emails and spending some moments of intentional time thinking about these things will be a worthwhile experience.
We do hope to see you and connect with you throughout the time and most of all, please know that your presence is a blessing to all who participate - your showing up for the community connections part of this this experience (whether on zoom, at coffee hour or typing a Facebook or What'sApp post or a comment or reply to someone else) might provide that moment-of-grace & insight that someone else needed that day!
Well then, how do I register??!
Easy... just fill out the form below: