A major Ghost Ranch event this
summer!
July 28 - August 3, 2008
Paths toward Peace and Justice:
Spirituality, Earth-Care, and the Prophetic Word in a time of
Violence
[2-7-08]
In partnership with the Witherspoon Society, the
Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, Presbyterians for Restoring Creation,
and the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program.
Jane Hanna, Coordinator
Come to Ghost Ranch for a revival of the old fashioned "cowboy
camp-meetings" of its history. Each morning will offer high quality
workshops on a wide variety of issues and artistic expressions
related to peacemaking, justice and earth-care. Afternoons will
include some activities and free time to enjoy Ghost Ranch. Nancy
Eng MacNeill and Mark Koenig of the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program
staff will offer an intergenerational activity each day after lunch.
One afternoon, they will also lead a workshop on the work of the
Kaleidoscope Institute, founded by Eric H.F. Law, that seeks to help
people become effective leaders in a multicultural community and
develop skills in building more inclusive communities.
Evenings will center on all-Ranch worship with former
PC(USA) Moderator John Fife and Rabbi Lynn Gottleib offering the
prophetic word in the beautiful Agape Center, looking out over the
valley toward Pedernal. This year there will be a concerted effort
to join the "arts" side of the program with the "seminar" side. Rev.
Carol Wickersham, founder of No2Torture, will design and coordinate
the worship experiences. Eric Choate, graduating senior from The AZ
School for the Performing Arts and pianist extraordinaire will
return this summer to bless our worship experience.
Families, note that there will be a special "Peace
and Justice Track" for high school students this year. Former Young
Adult Volunteer Andrea Leonard will team with the College staff to
build an experience that integrates the high school students into
the broader community and conversation. High school seminars will be
highly interactive, activity-based, and a lot of fun.
Rick Ufford-Chase and Gail Brown will reprise the
popular "camp culture" begun in 2007, offering a low-cost housing
and food option in the campground. Enjoy fellowship over shared
meals and late night campfires. Please choose the campground for
your housing option, and contact Rick to let him know that you hope
to participate in the meals (including prep and cleanup) in the
campground. Cost of food will be approximately $60 per person for
the meals Tuesday through Saturday. Campers are encouraged to eat in
the dining hall (pay as you go) on Monday evening and Sunday
morning.
For more information, and to
register,
go to the Ghost Ranch website
or to
the page for this week.
To join us, register for one of the
following courses:
The Covenant Community (Peace and Justice
Witness) PJ811a
Join Rick Ufford-Chase for a “focus group”
experience on developing a religious order that centers on a
vocational commitment to peace and justice work. What kind of
community might invite followers of Jesus into a total
re-orientation of our lives? How might such a dispersed
community offer the opportunity to deepen our spirituality,
hallow our life support systems, and invite us into meaningful
work in the world? This workshop will be highly participative,
and will include daily biblical study and small group sharing.
Rick Ufford-Chase, Tucson, AZ
Rick is the Director of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship,
Moderator of the 216th General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church (USA) and a volunteer with No More Deaths and Christian
Peacemaker Teams.
Faith, Workers and Economic Justice PJ811b
Are workers in your congregation or community
struggling to make ends meet or be treated with respect and
dignity? This workshop will offer an overview of the economic
challenges facing workers, concrete strategies for challenging
unjust treatment of workers, and hands-on practice in putting
our faith into effective action. Participants will share in
Bible study, personal reflections on work, group exercises and
discussion, and "real-life" experiences supporting Santa Fe
workers. Participants will gain organizing tools and resources
for engaging people of faith in economic justice campaigns.
Kim Bobo, Chicago, IL Kim
is the Executive Director of Interfaith Worker Justice and
co-author of Organizing for Social Change.
Trina Zelle, AZ Trina is a
Witherspoon Society co-moderator, Presbyterian Pastor and
Director of Arizona Interfaith Worker Justice.
Preaching the Prophetic Word in a Time of Fear
PJ811c
This workshop will be team-taught by
conference preachers Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb and the Rev. John Fife.
In this seminar, Lynn will focus on women’s
ways of speaking truth to power through the lens of the Jewish
tradition. Lynn uses the text, story telling, poetry, ceremony
and drum to help the participants experience women’s prophetic
voices that are woven throughout the Hebrew scriptures. One
session will focus on women in spiritual leadership in the
Quran. John will draw on biblical themes from both the prophetic
tradition and from the stories and teachings of Jesus. Together,
Lynn and John will help participants to find their own prophetic
voices in the midst of the empire.
Lynn Gottlieb, Ojai, CA
Lynn is a well-known peacemaker who has reached across many
barriers and divisions to work for peace and justice.
John Fife, Tucson, AZ John
spent his ministry calling his congregants at Southside
Presbyterian Church in Tucson and the surrounding community to
live into their calling as children of a God of justice. John is
retired and an active volunteer with No More Deaths, doing
search and rescue patrol for migrants at risk in the desert.
Singing Songs of Peace in a Turbulent World
PJ811d
This morning workshop will look at the rich
history of the music of peace from the great hymns of the church
to the plaintive folk songs of the Civil War to the rich songs
of protest that fueled the Civil Rights movement of the ‘60’s.
We will work together to craft music and words that help express
the human longings for peace. The workshop group will produce an
original piece to share with the entire group at the final
celebration of the week. Instruments are welcome but not
required.
Tom Zehnder and Tim Gibbs Zehnder, Los
Angeles, CA Tom Zehnder and Tim Gibbs Zehnder are
twins who currently compose, arrange, perform and record as an
independent duo based in Los Angeles. Tim plays bass and doumbek,
Tom plays guitar and djembe, and the two raise their voices
together in elaborate duets. Mostly self taught on their
instruments, Zehnder freely moved between the “ear-playing”
folk/rock world and a sight-singing, music-reading realm at
school. As their compositional voices grew, they pursued and
earned degrees in music composition from UCLA, both graduating
summa cum laude. For more information, see
www.ztheband.com
Restorative Justice: Building Peace through
Relationships PJ811e
Fundamental to peace building is the ability
to form mutually respectful relationships. This course will
explore and articulate the intersecting principles of a
continuum of peace building educational practices that are based
on relationship skills. Shared principles and skills from
emotional intelligence (EQ), the constructive engagement of
conflict (CEC), peacemaking circles (PMC) and restorative
justice (RJ) will be discussed and expanded. Faculty and
students from the United World College (UWC) whose mission is to
make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for
peace and a sustainable future will be featured in the weeklong
discussion.
At the intersection of these educational
practices is the assumption that relationships are fundamental
to all lasting and meaningful human endeavors. Based in the
humanistic movement, these practices share a multitude of
beliefs and we will examine, articulate and develop these shared
values, principles and beliefs. Intersecting principles include:
that all human beings have dignity and worth, that there is an
innate quality in humans that leads them to seek accord,
belonging and connection, that self-awareness is central to
conscious decision making, that there are multiple truths, that
relationships are more important than power, that story telling
is central to understanding and that the personal is the
political.
Central to this seminar is the belief that
sincerely promoting justice, inclusion, transparency, honesty
and collaborative communication is the most effective way to
build peace. We will explore and articulate educational
practices that invite and model integrity, innovation, wisdom,
compassion, hope, resilience, spiritual presence,
accountability, forgiveness and respect for the innate dignity
and goodness of all people.
As we strengthen relationships, we strengthen
peace. When conflicts arise in our families, our schools, our
communities and nations, we have mutually respectful and solid
relationships through which we can constructively engage in the
conflict in order to problem solve collaboratively.
These practices intend to co-create, through
education and practice, a world in which people have the skills,
understanding and commitment to make empathic and wise decisions
to create peace and prosperity in themselves, with their friends
and relations, communities and finally between nations.
Amy McConnell Franklin, Taos, NM
Amy is an educator and trainer in emotional intelligence. She
works with teachers, parents and students to create more
self-aware, intentional, empathetic, creative and resilient
individuals, families, schools and communities as a fundamental
path to peace. With a background in international public health,
Amy is involved with articulating and synthesizing the continuum
of peace building educational curricula in order to help raise a
generation of citizens schooled in the importance of mutually
respectful relationships, international interconnectedness and
planetary sustainability.
Prophetic Ministry in an Eco-Justice Frame
PJ811f
Throughout this class, practical strategies
for transformation will be combined with theological reflection
and ethical analysis about the environmental crisis. The hopeful
theological vision eco-justice "the well-being of all humankind
on a thriving Earth" will inform consideration of issues like
global warming and environmental racism. Recent research in
"strategic framing" will provide insights and tools for personal
and social change that are especially appropriate for
congregational programming. Clergy and laity will be empowered
for effective leadership in their churches and communities.
Rev. Peter Sawtell, Denver, CO
Peter is the Executive Director of Eco-Justice Ministries, an
ecumenical agency based in Denver, CO. He is prominent in the
faith-based environmental movement for his strong emphasis on
the distinctive role of churches, "as church," in providing
moral leadership. He taught at Ghost Ranch in 2004, led
workshops at the Churchwide Gathering of Presbyterian Women in
2006, and has been a presenter at many other ecumenical and
denominational conferences. Peter is widely known for his
Eco-Justice Notes commentaries. He is an ordained minister in
the United Church of Christ, has served as co-pastor of
congregations in Iowa, and is a volunteer member of the
Environment & Energy Task Force of the national UCC.
Creating a Culture of Peace: Nonviolence
Training for Personal and Social Change PJ811g
Strengthen your spirit and your skills for
peacemaking! Gain a holistic and practical foundation in the
spirituality and practice of active nonviolence --- the peaceful
ways of engaging in situations of violence, injustice and
conflict. You will explore the nature of violence, analyze the
stages and roles of peaceful personal and social change, and
learn about building communities of trust and support for the
work of justice and peace. You will practice planning concrete
peacemaking projects.
In the innovative tradition of popular
education which draws upon the wisdom, knowledge and experience
of participants, you will tell your own stories and listen to
the stories of famous and ordinary peacemakers. This
interactive, experiential retreat will relate to many issues in
your world, such as war and militarism, domestic violence,
environmental destruction, discrimination, poverty, community
and school violence, and dealing with controversy. Join us in
this CCP training for reflection and skill building, and depart
with renewed energy to cultivate change in your world. (NOTE:
This is a prerequisite course for CCP).
Janet Chisholm, Bangor, PA
Janet coordinates peace and justice programs at Kirkridge
Retreat Center and the national CCP training program which she
developed. She is an engaging and inspiring trainer. At FOR,
Janet served as executive director and training coordinator, and
is the past chairperson of the national Episcopal Peace
Fellowship. Janet is an activist and popular speaker and writer
on active nonviolence with experience in religious education,
anti-poverty programs, and teacher education. Her academic
degrees are in Religion and Human Development.
Poetry of Protest A811f
In this workshop we will look at poetry as a
strategy for speaking out about the ideas and issues which
matter most to us. Audre Lorde wrote that poetry is a way to
"predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change,
first made into language, then idea, then into tangible action."
Whether it’s the war in Iraq, the crisis in the environment, the
proliferation of violence, or what happens in your office, we
will open the door to expression and discover how to turn anger
into art, perspective into poetry.
This course will be open to those who would
like to read and discuss protest poetry, but especially to those
who would like to write in this area. We will interpret both the
terms "poetry" and "protest" broadly, allowing us to examine
parts of letters and essays that use poetic language, prose
poetry and song, and we will consider protest to be both
political and personal, public and private. Examples and models
will be both historical and contemporary.
Anita Skeen, Okemos, MI
Anita is the Arts Coordinator for the Residential College in the
Arts and Humanities at Michigan State. She is the author of five
books of poems and has taught at the Ranch in the Creative Arts
Festival and Fall Writing Festival for 29 years.
"Do Not Forsake Us in Our Time of Conflict"
S811
NOTE: Participants in this course will not be
housed at Casa del Sol.
The Casa del Sol Prayer of Jesus expresses the
vision and commitments of the young Community of Casa del Sol
and its spirituality center in the high desert of New Mexico.
One of the prayer’s phrases, "Do not forsake us in our time of
conflict," speaks of the pain of our brokenness as an earth
community and our desire for peace and commitment to
relationship. This integrated week between Casa del Sol and the
Ranch (allowing for up to 50 participants) will consist of
meditative prayer at the beginning and end of each day, of
teaching and sharing in the Agape Center in the mornings, of
rest and silence in the afternoons, and of further reflection
and embodiment of our week’s theme in the evenings.
The week will be led by J. Philip Newell
(Companion Theologian for the Community of Casa del Sol), Alison
Newell (Teacher of Spiritual Direction in Scotland). Rabbi Nahum
Ward-Lev of Santa Fe, NM, will be joining us, as well as a
representative of the Islamic Community of New Mexico.
J. Philip Newell is a poet, a scholar
and a teacher. Formerly Warden of Iona Abbey in the Western
Isles of Scotland, he is currently Writer Theologian for The
Cathedral of The Isles on Cumbrae and Companion Theologian for
the Community of Casa del Sol. He is internationally acclaimed
for his work in the field of Celtic spirituality, including his
best known titles Listening for the Heartbeat of God and his
poetic book of prayer Sounds of the Eternal. For more
information see
www.jphilipnewell.com.
Ali Newell is a Church of Scotland
minister who works as a spiritual advisor for the Ignatian
Center of Spirituality in Glasgow. She and her husband have four
children and live in Edinburgh.
Nahum Ward-Lev, Santa Fe, NM Nahum is a
rabbi who has taught scripture at synagogues, churches, and
retreat centers across the country, including Ghost Ranch. He is
also the Scholar-In-Residence at Temple Beth Shalom, Santa Fe.
Guest leaders
For more information, and to register,
go to the Ghost Ranch
website
or to
the page for this week.
