Have you ever kept a journal, a diary, or logged your daily life?
A quick search on the internet, and you’ll find multiple benefits of journaling, from stress reduction to increased creativity. Putting our thoughts to paper helps organize our lives, clarify our feelings, and often becomes a first step towards setting a goal.
But could we also use journaling as a spiritual practice to deepen our understanding or relationship with God? If we put our egos aside and ask for guidance from our creator while we write, might the spirit find a welcome space to work within us?
Artist and writer Julia Cameron writes, “When we ask to “listen,” we create works worthy of being heard, and we ourselves hear the heartbeat of our common humanity, which is grounded in divinity…”
Journaling through the Psalms will explore this experience.
Over six sessions, we will cover the five books of the Psalms, often celebrated as the most poetic book of the bible yet not without their share of challenging prose.
During the first session Deborah Foster will share a brief history of the Psalms, their intended use, and authorship. We will then use the contemplative practice of Lectio Divina to meditate on the scripture while journaling. There will be opportunities to share our writing experiences, but this is not a critique group. Conversations will focus on the shared experience of writing as a meditative process, not on the written word.
Zoom Details are as follows:
For more information contact Natasha at the office: scadmin@shaw.ca
Please Bring
- A translation of the Psalms for reference
- A journal
Suggested reading Psalms for Praying:
- An Invitation to Wholeness by Nan Merrill
- Praying the Psalms: Walter Brueggeman
- Lectio Divina: The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart Centered Prayer by Christine Valters Paintner
- Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg and Julia Cameron