We have just launched Dreams and Divinity: What God Tells Us Through Our Dreams with Carrie Graves For Individuals and For Groups.

The Rev. John Sanford called dreams “God’s Forgotten Language.” Dreams are a critical component to the spiritual journey in scripture but we have long lost the practice of using dreams ourselves to discern God’s purpose in our lives and who God is calling us to be.

Science has shown that every creature that has eyelids, dreams – experiences R.E.M. sleep. Most of us have observed a dog or cat when they are dreaming, paws twitching, whimpering or growling. Something is happening. The brain is processing, and this processing is as integral a part of our well-being as breathing.

Dreams are symbolic and metaphorical. When we are asleep the logical, linear parts of our brains “turn off, opening access to parts that are most open to God and the language of metaphor and symbol. Like the many symbols of our faith, our dream images are icons upon which we can gaze to discern meaning in our lives, to discern who God has created each of us to be. Nightly dreams are calling us to growth, healing and wholeness so that we might be the best version of ourselves to better live as Christ in the world.

In this class, Carrie Graves, Canon for Communications in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and trained dream group leader through the Haden Institute, discusses the principles of dream work in a congregational setting and as part of our individual faith journeys. Carrie guides us through an overview of the spiritual practice of dream work in a group setting and offers suggestions on how we can bring dream work back into our lives and back into the life of the Church.

This course is ideal for anyone interested in learning more about how understanding our dreams can enhance our spiritual lives. For a preview of the course, please click below.

We just launched My Take on the Trinity with Wayne Jacobsen For Individuals and For Groups.

The concept of the Trinity is ancient and fundamental to Church history, but scripture does not offer details about early Church debates on this doctrine. Instead, scripture describes the persons that make up the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, as a community within God, in relationship with one another.

In this class, Wayne Jacobsen, an author and spiritual leader who co-wrote The Shack, presents the Trinity, not as a mathematical formula, but as an interrelated community. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three parts of whole, but only exist as God in relationship with each other. Wayne describes how each part of the Trinity holds a specific purpose and how they each can help us enter into life with God. We are always invited if we only have eyes to see, ears to hear, and mouths to ask.

In this course, Wayne takes us on a journey through understanding the three persons of the Trinity, their special purposes and how we can engage each of them in our prayer lives and, in turn, be invited into life within the Trinity, with the Divine.

This course is ideal for anyone interested in learning more about the divine mystery that is the Trinity. For a preview of the course, please click below.