FULL : Meeting with Coast
Workshop number:
19
Viv
Hawkins
Lisa
Greber
Short Description:
Worship with a barnacle! Come to meeting for learning with the Rhode Island coast. Using practices of holistic science and related approaches in this liminal space, we will deepen our unity with coastal ecology, each other, and the Eternal, integrating Earth’s messages with traditional scripture and bodily knowing.
Long Description:
"And G-d called the dry land earth, and the gathering (mikvah) of the waters He called seas, and G-d saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:10)
Meeting with Coast will take us to the edges of land and sea, of the Word and silence. There, we will seek to know, as Parker Palmer wrote, “The power of a fully lived life… comes only as we let go of what we possess and find ourselves possessed by a truth greater than our own.” Meeting with Coast invites us to let go, be possessed by truth, and experiment at the edges of unknowing. Held in awe (air, water, earth), we are filled with awe (action, will, and energy). Held in earth, we remember we too are earth.
Liminal (threshold) experiences, whether spiritual or physical, can provide an opening into an engagement with creation and Creator, and the development of greater faith. . Faith in the Holy, nearby friends, and the light within us allows us to venture out of an acceptance of our comfortable limitations and open toward a future that only God knows. Then a wild freedom begins.
In all but extremely inclement weather, we’ll make pilgrimage to a nearby coastal area where we’ll pray, play, and practice holistic science: a contemplative inquiry that taps, on several layers, our inner knowledge of our seamless relationship with creation, as well as our inherent human skills of observation, analysis, and synthesis. In pairs, small groups, and with our whole intergenerational gathering, we’ll explore, worship, draw, journal, sing, make music, dance, talk, and listen. We’ll celebrate the robust and resilient diversity of color and shape, sound and tone, texture and temperature, and tastes and smells that the coastal life and ecosystem holds: all gifts from the always present Creator.
We’ll encounter the lives of the coast – barnacle, soft shell clam, rockweeds – and learn from them something of where and how they live, and what might be needed in order to be in right relationship with each other. In addition to rejoicing in creation, we will become co-creators. Through prior arrangement with local authorities, we will engage in spiritually-based stewardship through a service project which will be appropriately sized to our workshop time and the participant population.
In advance of the workshop, Lisa and Viv will e-mail Parker Palmer’s Meeting for Learning, 7 pages, as well as short pieces of relevant local ecology, which we are asked to read before the workshop begins. Depending on our group, our daily walks may range from ½ mile to less than 2 ½ miles over easy terrain. If you are interested in participating but have physical limitations, please contact us in advance and we will do our best to accommodate your needs. We will dress for the weather, wear comfortable walking shoes, and bring sunblock, bug repellent, drinking water, snacks, a journal, pen or pencil, and a sense of adventure.
Lisa Greber is a nature chaplain intern with Mayan Tikvah, a Jewish congregation which worships in nature. She practices holistic science and has led many people in Spirit-filled experiences with the Earth. Viv Hawkins carries a minute of religious service from Central Philadelphia Monthly Meeting which finds her clear to “inspire, encourage, and empower people to live into our greatest sacredness in harmony with creation.” She loves to ground spiritual life in the natural world.
