A Special Weekend with Douglas Christie

In Search of a Way: Walking the Spiritual Path

At the very heart of Christian spirituality stands the image of a path: the hodos or “way”; a key to understanding both the identity of Christ (“I am the Way”) as well as the life of faith (“the Way, the truth, the life”) and the meaning of community (Christians were often known simply as “people of the Way”). Walking or journeying have remained in the Christian spiritual imagination. Not only among those who take up pilgrimages but also for those who envision the encounter with God – in prayer and in community living – as a kind of path or journey: the early monks’ journey into the desert; the long, difficult passage through the darkness envisioned by Gregory of Nyssa, Bonaventure, John of the Cross, and Teresa of Avila. There is a recurring sense here that walking, of following a path, traveling along a route both familiar and strange, is somehow essential to our capacity to grasp the meaning of our own spiritual experience, to help us know who we are in God. We will reflect on how learning to “walk the path” can draw us closer to God and one another in love.

Schedule

Friday evening: May 16:
6:30-7:00 pm CDT: Centering Prayer
7:00-8:00 pm CDT: Conference 1

Saturday, May 17:
8:30-9:00 am CDT: Centering Prayer
9:00-12:30 pm CDT: Conferences 2 and 3 and Q&A

Attend in-person or online