Sophia Circle
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“Dare to declare who you are.
It is not far from the shores of silence
to the boundaries of speech.
The path is not long, but the way is deep.
We must not only walk there,
we must be prepared to leap.”
(Hildegard of Bingen)
Women of Plymouth, you are invited to participate in a bold and engaging ongoing study and conversation that will explore the multi-faceted and historically overlooked spirituality of women.
Welcome to “Sophia Circle!”
2nd & 4th Tuesdays at 7pn
We will meet by Zoom. Watch for emails with Zoom link. We are still reading The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd.
If you are not on the email list, contact Jane Anne.
We will form this group out of sharing stories and prayers, gathering questions and discussing brief readings for four weeks. At the end of these four weeks we will decide how to continue and how often to meet. There are several excellent books we can study together.
However our time will always include prayer and sharing our spiritual journeys. Come to as many of these first four sessions as you can to explore and add to the formation of this group. Shared leadership of the group will be Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister and Storyteller, and Dale Grenfell, Storyteller and Storytelling Teacher. Dale is also a former retreat house director, retreat leader, women’s worship community leader and she regularly attends our 6 pm service.
Below are just a few of the directions we can go in for conversation, spiritual discovery and deepening our relationships with one another and with the Holy One.
We often puzzle and search to discern the answers to spiritual questions, questions of identity as women, that we aren’t even sure how to formulate. And….that is a great place to begin!
Welcome to “Sophia Circle!”
2nd & 4th Tuesdays at 7pn
We will meet by Zoom. Watch for emails with Zoom link. We are still reading The Dance of the Dissident Daughter by Sue Monk Kidd.
If you are not on the email list, contact Jane Anne.
We will form this group out of sharing stories and prayers, gathering questions and discussing brief readings for four weeks. At the end of these four weeks we will decide how to continue and how often to meet. There are several excellent books we can study together.
However our time will always include prayer and sharing our spiritual journeys. Come to as many of these first four sessions as you can to explore and add to the formation of this group. Shared leadership of the group will be Jane Anne Ferguson, Associate Minister and Storyteller, and Dale Grenfell, Storyteller and Storytelling Teacher. Dale is also a former retreat house director, retreat leader, women’s worship community leader and she regularly attends our 6 pm service.
Below are just a few of the directions we can go in for conversation, spiritual discovery and deepening our relationships with one another and with the Holy One.
We often puzzle and search to discern the answers to spiritual questions, questions of identity as women, that we aren’t even sure how to formulate. And….that is a great place to begin!
- Who is “Sophia” -- the most fully developed female image of God in the Wisdom literature of ancient Israel. She is found in Proverbs and the Wisdom of Solomon.
- What is “Sophia wisdom? What is “feminist spirituality?” Does it matter that I know? Should I care?
- Reflecting on my own spiritual journey.....how much of it has been influenced by the myth of a “male deity,” a Father God and religious institutions historically dominated by male clergypersons, policy makers and leaders?
- How have the stories, wisdoms and spiritual experiences of women been lost, ignored and denied as religious faith communities have developed over the ages?
- The Woman from Magdala. Women at the Crucifixion. Leaders in early Christianity? Did you know that the earliest Christian church in Rome had a woman bishop? What do they tell us? Is there a WomanChrist in each of us? What could that mean? What might it look like?
- Why is the spiritual experience of women, now more than ever, critical to healing ourselves, our communities, our political and economic systems and our Mother Earth?
- Who are the feminine mystics (yesterday and today) who provide us with guidance and encouragement to speak, and when required, to confront those systems and venues that seek to exclude the voices of women?
- What have been the mysteries, truths and graces shared in menstrual season “red tents” that women have occupied in pre-modern cultures and even some cultures to this day?
- Do earth-based, goddess and native spiritualities have something to say about a woman’s experience of spirituality? Are we reluctant to explore them as Christians? Why?
- The wise-woman circle of strength: grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters and aunties, wise friends. How do we learn from one another? What are we doing to help strengthen the next generation and prepare them to navigate a complex and still very male-dominated world? How to we teach them balanced and holistic (whole and holy) theologies and the need for co-creating the world we live in? How do we instill spiritual leadership?