A Cosmic Quaker Genesis Story

In this workshop we’ll root ourselves in radical stories of who we are as humans, Quakers, children of God, and expressions of an evolving, miraculous cosmos. Taking inspiration from the Bible, early Quakers, and contemporary science, we’ll write and share new stories that can help us live fully into the future. This workshop will create…

Workshop Description

In this workshop we’ll root ourselves in radical stories of who we are as humans, Quakers, children of God, and expressions of an evolving, miraculous cosmos. Taking inspiration from the Bible, early Quakers, and contemporary science, we’ll write and share new stories that can help us live fully into the future.

This workshop will create a worshipful setting in which to explore and write the widest stories of where we come from and where we are going, as a way to root ourselves as fully as possible, individually and collectively, in the spiritual wisdom and power available to us.

We will begin daily sessions with about twenty minutes of meeting for worship, followed by a presentation of ideas related to our cosmic Quaker story. There will be opportunities in pairs to help one another pay attention to our own experience, including the subtle knowing in our hearts and experiences on the edges of our awareness.

Each day we will also read and share thoughts about one or two short texts, from the Bible, the writing of early Friends, the writing of Quaker mystics, and Cosmogenesis by Brian Swimme. Consideration and discussion of these texts will be followed by an opportunity to write about our own experiences and theology. We will give at least twenty minutes to writing each day. Then, in pairs and small groups, we will have opportunities to share our writing. On most days, we will include a period of worship sharing. During our last session there will be an opportunity to hold one another in the Light in small groups and to provide encouragement for the journey ahead.

This course will lift up radical ideas, but the purpose is not primarily to focus on intellectual considerations, but to evoke our deeper knowing and our own inspired writing and storytelling. By sharing our stories, we will encourage each other to think and feel boldly, widely, radically, theologically, and cosmologically. The intention for this workshop is to root ourselves in stories that can help us face the future with greater clarity, hope, love, inspiration, and spiritual force.

Monday:
Genesis and Divine Wisdom (the inspiration of prophets)
In the Beginning Was the Light
Cosmogenesis & the Primal Light
Children of the Earth, Sun, and Stars

Tuesday:
The Quaker Genesis Story
The Fountain of Life and Love
The Kingdom of Heaven Among and Within Us

Wednesday:
Divine Guidance
The Sacred Earth
Our Evolving Humanity and Divine Nature
All Creation Awaits the Birth of the Children of God

Thursday:
The Gathered Meeting
Collective Consciousness
Healing and Miracles

Friday:
Facing the Future: Inspired, Faithful & Spirit-Led
Holding One Another in the Light

Reading
There is no required reading for this workshop.

For those who would like to do some preparation in advance, here are some suggested readings as well as a film that will provide helpful background:
Wisdom’s Feast: Sophia in Study and Celebration by Susan Cole et al.
Our Life is Love: the Quaker Spiritual Journey by Marcelle Martin
“The Gathered Meeting” and A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly
Heaven on Earth by Douglas Gwyn et al.
Seekers Found, by Douglas Gwyn
Cosmogenesis by Brian Swimme. T

he hour-long film, “Journey of the Universe” with Brian Swimme, is also recommended. It’s freely available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulXfIv3wHvg

Leader Experience

Since 1996 Marcelle has been teaching classes, facilitating workshops, and leading retreats at monthly and quarterly meetings and at Quaker retreat centers across the country. She was the resident Quaker Studies teacher at Pendle Hill for four years and has led workshops at numerous FGC Gatherings. In 2016, she began teaching online courses, starting with an introduction to Quakerism offered online by Pendle Hill. She was a core teacher for the School of the Spirit program A Way of Ministry. Three times she has been a core teacher for the nine-month Nurturing Faithfulness program based in New England Yearly Meeting, which combined intensive in-person retreats with online learning.