WAYFINDING

The Soul-tasks of Aging

toward a Theology of the Elder Years

Every third Wednesday from 9:30-11:15am,

beginning September 21st

Pastor Julia will guide those of us who feel called to explore the soul-tasks of aging through a series of 10 workshops and conversations during the 2022-2023 program year. In a retreat like-format, we will come together once a month in-person in Friendship Hall on the third Wednesdays of the month from 9:30-11:15am. Our first 15 minutes will begin with coffee and refreshments moving next to a presentation to frame our time and large group circle conversation followed by breaking into small groups with facilitators for deeper conversation or activity. We close by singing and sending each other in peace.

RSVP: To sign up, please respond to Julie W. in the office indicating that you are interested in this program by replying to this email or [email protected].

Please let us know: would you be interested in a Virtual Wayfinding program with the same content on the 3rd Thursdays of the month? If you are interested in this program, but not sure you are able to commit to coming in-person, Pastor Julia may open up a third Thursday of the month at 4pm ZOOM Wayfinding gathering to occur the day after our Wayfinding events. If you are interested in this virtual option as well as or instead, please indicate that in your response so Pastor Julia knows whether or not to hold these gatherings.

A deeper look:

These workshops are designed to build on one another and co-create a theology and spirituality of the elder years. We invite you to see this as a journey. For instance, in September, we do not jump right into death and becoming wise, but instead we begin by looking over our pasts, telling our stories and appreciating what has been. We then move to our culture in October: we name the struggles of aging and think about positive aging, wondering what the church and our wider culture say about aging and debunking our own agism as we move from “doing” to “being.” In November we go into deeper work around our pasts, forgiving ourselves, finding peace and healing, and developing self-compassion. On the winter solstice in December, we contemplate living with mystery and making peace with what we do not know. January invites us to encounter the winter of our lives, moving to new views on solitude and loss. Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday guides us into themes around impermanence and mortality, telling stories about death and receiving ashes. In March we think about becoming death doulas, by releasing our fears of death, finding spiritual resources for death and dying, and finding strength to companion each other and our own souls through the transition from life into death. In April around Easter we contemplate the after-life and the resurrection, where the promise of life-abundant and new life are all around us. In May we write our spiritual wills and we think about our legacy and becoming ancestors, planting seeds for the next generation. In June we reflect on the journey of becoming wise and the major themes we want to touch again. Each of these build on one another.

Wednesday Sept 21: Memory as temple of the soul: Creating our timelines and looking over our lives.

Wednesday October 19: Conversations Toward a Theology and Spirituality of the Elder Years: value in society from “doing” to “being,” eradicating our own agism, accepting doing less, naming our struggles, positive aging.

Wednesday November 16: Self Compassion, Forgiveness & Peace with the past: inner harmony, healing, integration & harvesting.

Wednesday December 21: Living with Mystery: Making peace with what we do not know, the mystery of the incarnation, when the physical body wears out, a returned radiance of the soul, living in the cosmos, becoming the stars.

Wednesday ONLY ZOOM January 18: The Winter of Our Lives or The Natural Monastery: an invitation into new views on solitude and loss, becoming friends with our own soul, living each day with peace in the moment.

Wednesday February 22: Impermanence: Ash Wednesday & getting real with loss and mortality, telling stories about death. We gather this month on the 4th Wednesday so that we can contemplate themes of Ash Wednesday and receiving ashes.

Wednesday March 15: Becoming Death Doulas: releasing our fear of death, finding spiritual resources for death and dying.

Wednesday April 19: The Resurrection and Life After Death: de- and re-constructing faith in afterlife.

Wednesday May 17: Planting seeds: legacy, becoming ancestors, writing our spiritual will.

Wednesday June 21 Becoming Wise: living in the moment with gratitude, being at peace and unafraid with mystery, accepting our limitations, finding humor.

I look forward to journeying with you.

With love,

Pastor Julia