Source: Spirituality and Practice
“Becoming a Wise Elder with Angeles Arrien” is an 18-part e-course in Spirituality & Practice’s Elder Spirituality Project. It is based on the realization that the skills developed during the first half of life are not adequate for the frontiers crossed as adults age. The attitudes, disciplines, and life skills that elderhood demands are completely different. Many world tales and perennial wisdoms point to eight gates through which adults must pass in order to fully develop into wise people. Each has its own gift, task, and challenge. They include:
• facing new experiences and the unknown,
• discovering one’s true face or authentic identity,
• exploring relationships from the crucible of love, intimacy and forgiveness,
• approaching service, creativity and generativity from a place of legacy,
• developing character and deepening wisdom,
• opening to the presence of grace,
• moving into surrender, acceptance, and equanimity,
• practicing non-attachment and letting go.
The leader for this online course is Angeles Arrien, Ph.D., a cultural anthropologist, award-winning author, educator, and consultant to many organizations and businesses. She is the President of the Foundation for Cross-Cultural Education and Research and regularly lectures and conducts workshops worldwide, bridging cultural anthropology, psychology, and comparative religions. She is the author of seven books including The Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom, winner of the 2007 Nautilus Award for Best Book on Aging. She is profiled as one of the Living Spiritual Teachers at Spirituality & Practice.
For this e-course, Angeles Arrien explores the eight gates to becoming a wise elder in 18 emails. Each contains a short essay and suggestions for applying this wisdom in your own spiritual journey, including:
• practices in how to trust the new and unfamiliar,
• how to create openings and initiate ways to collaborate and unify,
• how to resolve inner and outer conflict,
• time-honored skills that foster a clear mind, an open heart, a strong spirit, and courageous action in the world.
(6 CEHs for Chaplains available.)
Disclaimer: Sacred Space Online Learning (SSOL) seeks to provide individuals with information about religious, spiritual, or faith-based online resources from a variety of sources. Sacred Space Online Learning does NOT claim ownership over this online course or online offering. Sacred Space Online Learning is also NOT responsible for the accuracy of the materials, the content, the way they are advertised or taught, or the costs associated with this online course or offering. The views and opinions expressed in this online course or offering are those of the creators and/or the persons appearing in the online class or offering. They do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of SSOL, the OFLD, or MCC. If you have any questions or concerns please contact the creator(s) of the given online course or online offering.
Sacred Presence with the Dying (Spirituality and Practice)
Source: Spirituality and Practice
Megory Anderson, PhD, is a theologian and teacher, who has vigiled with over 300 people as they lay dying. Her use of ritual, of creating sacred moments, of calming fear and hurts, has brought comfort and peace to both the dying and their loved ones. She is the Executive Director of the Sacred Dying Foundation, headquartered in San Francisco, and the author of Sacred Dying and Attending the Dying, both of which deal with pastoral and ritual care of the dying. She is known internationally for her expertise in the End-of-Life arena.
In this new e-course, she will help guide you through what is for many is unfamiliar territory — the death of a loved one. The focus is entirely on how to create a peaceful and sacred environment for the person dying. These twelve sessions are designed for family members, loved ones, and end-of-life practitioners, and will cover:
- Listening to the dying and what they want and need
- Tools to use in the vigil space — music, candles, touchstones
- How to create a calming presence
- Prayers and meditations for letting go
Uniquely, this course will help enable you to focus on the needs and wants of the “other,” bringing your own gifts of sacred presence to the experience.
You will receive:
- Emails containing stories, spiritual readings, and suggested tools for each lesson.These can be scheduled at the pace you choose.
- Special suggestions for your own practices, journal reflections, and vigil arrangements.
This e-course is both practical (removing clutter from the deathbed room) and reflective (how to sit quietly for several hours). It gives insights and advice for the one vigiling, yet with the focus always being on creating a sacred dying.
Many are watching parents and loved ones become ill, age, and die. Now is the time to learn the art of accompanying them in vigil as they take their journey into the next life. This is also a wonderful opportunity to learn and share with those who have already been present at a death. It’s in learning together that you can offer your best for those in your care. (4 CEHs for chaplains available.)
Disclaimer: Sacred Space Online Learning (SSOL) seeks to provide individuals with information about religious, spiritual, or faith-based online resources from a variety of sources. Sacred Space Online Learning does NOT claim ownership over this online course or online offering. Sacred Space Online Learning is also NOT responsible for the accuracy of the materials, the content, the way they are advertised or taught, or the costs associated with this online course or offering. The views and opinions expressed in this online course or offering are those of the creators and/or the persons appearing in the online class or offering. They do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of SSOL, the OFLD, or MCC. If you have any questions or concerns please contact the creator(s) of the given online course or online offering.
Boomers Ministry Basics (United Methodist Church)
Do you have a lot of Baby Boomer members in your church but do not have a clue about what they want or need? Have you considered starting a targeted Boomer Ministry but do not know how to get started? This webinar is a quick look at the opportunities provided by this rapidly aging cohort as they enter the last quarter of life and experience aging. This webinar looks at the various types of Boomers, their differences with prior generations, and how to engage them.
This webinar will provide participates with a Boomer Ministry reading list, selected training resources, and a best practice catalog in Boomer Ministry. It will focus on two common but competing models of Boomer Ministry though look at several others. It will also glance at issues like the Non-Affiliated/ Nones/Spiritual but Not Religious Boomer, Activism/Volunteerism as a recruitment strategy, Caregiving Sandwiches, Retirement/Migration, plus Health and Wellness.
*NOTE: In order to view the on-demand webinar you need to register with your name, email address, and state. You’ll may also be prompted to install the Cisco WebEx add-on in order to view the recording.
Disclaimer: Sacred Space Online Learning (SSOL) seeks to provide individuals with information about religious, spiritual, or faith-based online resources from a variety of sources. Sacred Space Online Learning does NOT claim ownership over this online course or online offering. Sacred Space Online Learning is also NOT responsible for the accuracy of the materials, the content, the way they are advertised or taught, or the costs associated with this online course or offering. The views and opinions expressed in this online course or offering are those of the creators and/or the persons appearing in the online class or offering. They do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of SSOL, the OFLD, or MCC. If you have any questions or concerns please contact the creator(s) of the given online course or online offering.
The Blessings of Aging (Spirituality & Practice)
Source: Spirituality & Practice
There is a difference, Joan Chittister notes, between age, aging, aged, ag’ed, and ripened. Through this program, Chittister reframes aging and encourages us to discover through reflection and practice what new perceptions and attitudes about growing older can mean for our own lives.
Joan Chittister, now in her 70s, has been a Benedictine nun for 50 years and is the founder of Benetvision: A Resource and Research Center for Contemporary Spirituality. One of their projects was the basis of the S&P retreat Creating a Monastery of the Heart; this monastic movement now involves 7,500 seekers from around the world. Profiled as one of S&P’s Living Spiritual Teachers, Chittister is the author of 40 books, including The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully (see below). For this online retreat, themes she introduced in that book become the launchpads for further reflections by Chittister.
Universal themes to be explored include:
• common challenges such as regret and fear;
• the quest for meaning as the passageway from doing to being;
• time as the crucible of maturity and the advantages of having a beginner’s mind;
• the joys of appreciation, understanding, and choices;
• the satisfaction and serenity of tasting the spiritual dimensions of life;
• spirituality, wisdom, and legacy.
Participants receive:
• 12 emails with links to other course content.
• Video messages from Joan Chittister.
• Additional wisdom, spiritual practices, journal prompts, and creative exercises to ground the teachings in an elder’s everyday life.
This is a glorious spiritual workshop for elders who are ready to complete in themselves all that has been neglected and postponed when they were younger — and it is for anyone of any age who is ready to embrace a vision of elderhood as a blessed time to be fully alive.
(4 CEHs for Chaplains available.)
Learn more about this course and register on Spirituality & Practice
Disclaimer: Sacred Space Online Learning (SSOL) seeks to provide individuals with information about religious, spiritual, or faith-based online resources from a variety of sources. Sacred Space Online Learning does NOT claim ownership over this online course or online offering. Sacred Space Online Learning is also NOT responsible for the accuracy of the materials, the content, the way they are advertised or taught, or the costs associated with this online course or offering. The views and opinions expressed in this online course or offering are those of the creators and/or the persons appearing in the online class or offering. They do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of SSOL, the OFLD, or MCC. If you have any questions or concerns please contact the creator(s) of the given online course or online offering.
