Ellen Bass: The Intimate Web of Humanity, Healing, and Hope
THURSDAY, MAY 1, 2025, 7–8:30 P.M., in Bloedel Hall and online via Zoom; registration required (note change of location)
Join bestselling writer, poet, and educator Ellen Bass for an evening of poetic exploration of themes of healing, hope, life and intimacy as part of the Wisdom School at Saint Mark’s Cathedral. With a disarmingly deft touch and piercingly intimate voice, this sage offers poetic balm and a buoying lightness amidst the vagaries of life, connecting the humble to the luminous. She will share selected poems and thoughts as manna for the journey with good humor and much grace before engaging those present for Q&A and book signing.
Fee: $10 fee for in-person, $15 for livestream access.
Register using this link. Deadline to register: MONDAY, APRIL 28, 5 P.M.
RETREATS
WOMEN'S RETREAT ON HOOD CANAL
How We Learn to Be Brave
FRIDAY–SUNDAY, MAY 30–JUNE 1, 2025, at Sacred Waters Center for Restoration and Retreat in Union, WA (also known as St. Andrew’s House)
UPDATE (4/1): At this time the retreat is at capacity and no further registrations are available.
Saint Mark’s women will gather at the new Sacred Waters retreat center on the Hood Canal for a weekend of play, rest, and spiritual reflection. We’ll base our reflections on Bishop Mariann Budde’s 2023 book How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith. As always, there will be plenty of time for connecting with new people and deepening existing friendships, as well as exploring the beautiful setting. Participants will have the opportunity to create art, try out new spiritual practices, and share their stories with one another.
Registration is now open a first-come, first-served basis. Now that St. Andrew’s House and Harmony Hill have combined to form Sacred Waters, more space is available for our use. We can now accommodate up to 35 people.
Fee: $295 double occupancy, $325 single. Fee includes two nights lodging and all meals Friday dinner to Sunday lunch. Partial scholarships are available. A $100 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your space. Registration is now closed. Contact the Rev. Canon Emily Griffin at egriffin@saintmarks.org to join a wait list.
MEN'S RETREAT AT CAMP HUSTON
The Art of Forgiveness
FRIDAY–SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15–17, 2024, at Camp Huston Retreat Center in Gold Bar, WA
LED BY DEAN STEVE THOMASON
This weekend retreat is designed to create the space for quiet reflection, time away from the burdens of daily life, spacious time in nature, conversations with other men of faith, and worship. It will be a time of spiritual reflection and renewal with focused reflections and conversations related to forgiveness as the catalyst for healing and hope. Steve Thomason, Dean of Saint Mark’s Cathedral, will facilitate the weekend to which men of all ages are welcome.
Space is limited to 30, available first-come, first-served. Fee: $295 double occupancy, $325 single; includes two nights lodging and all meals. Partial scholarships are available. A $100 non-refundable deposit is required to hold your space. Payment in full is due October 15, 2024. Contact Dean Thomason sthomason@saintmarks.org to reserve your spot.
Pádraig Ó Tuama: The Better Angels of Our Nature
THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2025, 7–8:30 P.M., in person in the cathedral nave and livestreamed.
UPDATE: Due to the number of registrations, this event will be offered in the cathedral nave rather than Bloedel Hall. A livestream will be available to registrants as announced previously.
We live in fraught times when violence seems to be the common denominator in a calculus based in mistrust and misanthropic othering. An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind… Drawing on inspiration from his work with language and religion, conflict and peacemaking, this truth-teller of our time will draw us into an orbit of soulful wisdom and poetic grace.
A Brush With God: An Icon Workshop
THURSDAY–SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13–15, 2025.
LED BY ICONOGRAPHER PETER PEARSON
Icons have served since the earliest days of Christianity as spiritual aids, and they have enjoyed something of a renaissance of spiritual purpose in recent times. Byzantine Iconography is a highly structured and disciplined art form which combines prayer and painting techniques to create serene images of Christ, Mary, the angels and the saints following centuries old guidelines.
Peter Pearson, a Franciscan, has been studying and painting icons for more than fifty years and teaching others to do so for over half that time. No previous experience or natural talent is required. We paint, pray, and follow the contemplative process, step by step, guided by Peter. Participants will be invited to envision and paint an icon image of Christ (guided by a prototype of Peter’s). Learn more here
NOTE: Peter Pearson also participates in a number of other offerings while in Seattle:
- a Cathedral Commons forum on Wednesday, February 12
- a guest sermon at the 9 and 11 a.m. services on Sunday, February 16
- an informal "Friends Talking" Sunday Morning Forum with Dean Thomason Sunday, February 16.
In addition, the Saint Mark's Visual Arts Ministry installed an exhibition in Compline Corner of 18 sacred icons by Fr. Pearson in the weeks before his visit. They remained on display until Ash Wednesday.
The Spiritual Approach to the Enneagram: A Map to Inner Wisdom
FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 2025, 6:30–8:30 P.M.
and SATURDAY, JANUARY 11, 2025, 9:30 A.M.–2:30 P.M., in person and via Zoom.
A WEEKEND WORKSHOP LED BY JOSEPH BENTON HOWELL, PH.D.
This two-part workshop will approach the Spirituality of the Enneagram in ways we have not previously considered in the Wisdom School. Friday evening’s session will use the foundational concept of the soul child to describe the nine types with specific egoic reactions that come when disconnected from our original goodness. We will explore each type’s pride, virtue, avoidance, trap, and passion as portals into the spiritual journey of life. Saturday morning will explore inner dynamic flow, wings, and levels of consciousness, and we will delve into experiential exercises with our respective personality types. After lunch, participants will explore the soul’s essential qualities for spiritual development through guided meditations and interactive exercises. This last part is highlighted in Dr. Howell’s latest book, Know Your Soul. Learn more here.
UPDATE: a complete video and slides from this presentation are now available here.
Walking the Emmaus Road: A Journey from Lament to Hope
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2024
LED BY DEBIE THOMAS
Though Christians are called to be an “Easter people,” a people of good news, joy, and resurrection, we are also called to live and speak with authenticity in a world that is not yet what it should be. Sometimes, that call requires us to walk the Emmaus Road, an ancient road that begins with lament before it carries us to hope. Neither despair nor whining, lament is an honest cry from our heart to the heart of a God who weeps over the world’s brokenness, and then offers us a grounded, reality-based hope that does not require denial. In this half-day workshop, we explored lament as a healing, justice-oriented practice that will help us find our way to the fullness of resurrection hope. Our time together included meditation, teaching, journaling, and conversation.
UPDATE: a complete video from this presentation is now available here.
Meeting God In Our Busy Lives: The Theology and Practice of Zimzum
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 25, 2024
FACILITATED BY THE RT. REV. PHIL LABELLE — BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE OF OLYMPIA
With overly-packed schedules, many of us wonder if we’ll ever be able to live the lives we yearn for. A life with space for the important things. With a connection to God, others, and the natural world. Jewish mystics suggest that God’s first act of creation was zimzum, a sacrificial self-withdrawal. God needed to open up space within God’s self before God could call forth the cosmos. What might that concept mean for us who are made in the image of God? Join the Rev. Phil LaBelle for an exploration of the Jewish mystical concept of zimzum, and what it can mean for us today.
OPENING PLENARY
A Spirituality of Hope and Healing
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2024
LED BY THE VERY REV. STEVEN L. THOMASON
Drawing on his decades of experience as a hospice physician and parish priest, Dean Thomason will explore a spirituality of hope, as a virtue worthy of practice especially in challenging times, and a spirituality of healing, as the prevailing gift of peace that comes to those who lean into newfound creativity and freedom.
WISDOM PRACTICE DAYS
Three half-day retreats on the cathedral campus spanning the arc of the Wisdom School year with thematic elements related to the season (daily living, Advent Hope and Preparation, Lenten Fasting and Prayer). The rhythms of each day will be guided by a range of wisdom practices designed to deepen the contemplative spirit of individuals and community.
Each half-day retreat is limited to 35 participants; registration required. In lieu of fee, a freewill offering of $15 is invited.
COMING UP:
Wisdom Practice Day in Lent—A Different Kind of Fast
SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 2025, 8:30 A.M.–12 P.M., registration required
FACILITATED BY THE REV. DR. HILLARY RAINING AND DR. DARLENE FRANZ
One of the most ancient spiritual tools used across religions and cultures is fasting. Jesus himself used fasting as a way to prepare for his ministry, and his 40-day fast in the wilderness is the basis for the Christian season of Lent. In this workshop we will examine the biblical tradition of fasting and give you some modern tools to help you engage in this embodied prayer practice, which is about more than just giving up food. It is a way of letting go of the distractions and cravings that impede our spiritual journey, creating space for sacred Wisdom to speak into our lives anew.
The Rev. Dr. Hillary Raining will join us via Zoom to guide us in a reflection on the spiritual practice of fasting, and local musician Dr. Darlene Franz will be present to invite us into Wisdom Chant across the morning, all as we seek to unfold to new spiritual awareness shaped by questions such as “What is my true hunger?”
PAST OFFERINGS:
Wisdom Practice Day in the Fall—Marking Sacred Time
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2024, 10 A.M.–2 P.M.
Drawing on traditional cyclical wisdom that holds seasonal, weekly and daily rhythms as sacred, how we mark time matters, and it informs the ways we live intentionally in the ordinary routines of daily life. Guided by contemplative practices that help us align with the rhythms of the natural world, those gathered will prepare and share a meal as a way of framing our lives by rooted intention.
Wisdom Practice Day in Advent—Silence, Stillness, Solitude: Ancient Monastic Practices for Bearing Advent Hope in a Modern World
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2024, 9 A.M.–12 P.M., capacity limited; registration required.
FACILITATED BY THE REV. SR. MIRIAM ELIZABETH BLEDSOE, OSH
In a world of constant commotion, what does it mean to practice silence? In a culture of shifting change, how do we practice stillness? In the crowds of everyday life, where do we find solitude? While silence, stillness and solitude have long been foundations of living for those in monastic life, such practices are available to everyone. These wisdom practices can open in us hospitable space to welcome the Christ Child and bear hope into the world. The Rev. Sr. Miriam Elizabeth Bledsoe from The Order of Saint Helena, an Episcopal monastic order for women in South Carolina, will join us in exploring how these ancient practices can shape our lives for bearing hope in a modern world.
The Center for Spirituality and Action
Our life in Christ is grounded in community and mutuality, and we need companions along the way as we seek to deepen our relationships with God, others, self and creation. Drawing on tried-and-true monastic rhythms of prayer and service, Saint Mark’s is launching a new venture inviting individuals who seek to go deeper in their spiritual practices to form intentional community. Participants will form mutual commitments to daily prayer, regular gatherings for worship and spiritual formation, occasional retreats, and spiritual direction—all of which informs our service in the world, which in turn informs our prayer life.
Leffler House on the Cathedral campus will serve as base camp for The Center for Spirituality and Action: a place of gathering, space for individual retreats, spiritual direction, and intentional community.
If you’d like more information about this new offering visit: saintmarks.org/csa
PAST OFFERINGS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS
Information about previous years' Wisdom School offerings, including links to complete videos and other resources when available, can now be found on the Wisdom School Archive Page.