Becoming more alive to God within our daily routines

This mini-course is a non-credit offering of the VST Academy - Vancouver School of Theology

God is Present! All around us and everywhere. Do you notice? Do you experience God?

Some of us do. Many of us don’t.

But we wonder.

We invite you to wonder with us.

You might imagine this as a sort of retreat. Except, rather than stepping out of regular routines, this retreat happens within them. We are all busy enough (maybe too much). Few of us want to add more. Instead, our approach is to thicken our experience of what we’re already doing within the mundane rhythms of the everyday. It is within these that God meets us, often in ways we do not expect.

This mini-course will span 12 weeks, from February 9 until April 20. As some of this time will be during the Lent season, it will be a good preparation for Holy Week. During this time, we will be . . .

• Meeting 6 times, every 2 weeks, for learning, conversation, and practicing. Our meetings will be online using Zoom, and will go for about 2 hours each.

• Individually engaging in simple prayer practices daily, in the morning and evening.

• Receiving encouragement and food-for-thought through weekly inspirations delivered to you by email.

We will be exploring our awareness of the God who is Present. We’ll learn simple practices that will help us be purposefully available to God. We’ll cultivate a posture of attentiveness to how God is making God’s Presence known. And we’ll do all this within our normal, day-to-day lives.

Facilitators

Larry Doyle is a United Church of Canada minister, serving a congregation in Courtice ON. The Presence Project was the fruit of his DMin work in spirituality. 

Greg Smith-Young is also a UCC minister who serves congregation in Elora ON. He coordinates The Presence Project Network.

The details . . .

• The course costs $20
• This is a continuing education opportunity. It is not for credit.

We'll be meeting online using Zoom. You'll need a device and sufficient internet access to use the Zoom meeting platform.