2009 Courses

The Australian Quaker Centre invites you to be part of the 2009 course program, designed to deepen your spiritual life and preparedness for your life in the world.

The Centre runs on a rhythm of prayer and work. We are a community. We encourage you to join us for a week or two if possible, because we feel that a commitment to such a time period is part of the process of commitment to inner growth. A Quaker Resident Elder will be living there, to hold all of us and our work in the Light, and be available for one-on-one spiritual accompanying on a regular or occasional basis.

An Indigenous presence will be with us, and you are invited to participate with this person to deepen your understanding of Indigenous spirituality and of the issues we have yet to deal with in Australia.

Courses will generally extend over six days, starting with arrival and an introductory session on the Sunday and with final session and departure on the following Saturday. Each week, formal course teaching will be Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. A typical day will consist of:

6.30am	Personal prayer or activity
7.30am	Breakfast
9.00am	Meeting for Worship
10.00am	Study course
12.30am	Lunch
1.30pm	Work, rest and reflective time
3.30pm	Study course
6.00pm	Dinner
7.00pm	Study course or personal time
9.00pm	Epilogue

The principal course time will be in the morning and late afternoon, with a session for study after dinner if required. On Sunday late afternoon there will be a course welcome and venue orientation.  On Saturday morning, there will be a course celebration and farewell.  Participants will be welcome to stay at the centre before and/or after their course, if there is a vacancy.

Every Wednesday will be an intentional, non-contact, quiet day – an opportunity for a day of intense interiority in silence and communal solitude.  This can be the time when a great deal of inner transformation takes place.  In Tagore’s words:

I dipped the vessel of my heart into the Silence and brought up Love.

The work will involve food preparation, gardening, maintenance, cleaning or service projects. We cater for those with dietary needs.  Once a week there will be a Meeting for Reflection in which all are invited to participate to share experiences and raise issues for consideration.

Indigenous Spirituality—a stream of events and sharing

To live by our principles of respecting all people equally, nurturing peace and integrity, and caring for the natural environment, we need to learn much that Indigenous Australians can teach us about the land we love.

Guided by visiting Indigenous elders, this theme will be foundational through the program, helping us to learn about Indigenous relationships with the spirit, with land and water, wildlife, family and community; the ways Indigenous Australians have dealt with colonisation and acted to create a different future.

Details of courses and events on Indigenous Spirituality are being discussed with Elders of the Ngunnawal People and other Indigenous Australians, and will be publicised when ready.  It is intended that each week will have study and sharing in the Indigenous Stream.

The courses and the leaders

(A1) 6-12 September 2009
(A2) 13-19 September 2009
Dale Hess: Lives and writings of early Quakers

This informative course will explore the lives and convincements of Quaker men (first week) and Quaker women (second week), and their roles as Quaker leaders, publishers, prophets, public ministers and Mothers in Israel. There will be daily sessions with Dale and material for reading, reflection and discussions: a chance to explore both Quaker history and the possible lessons for our own lives and witness.

Dale Hess has been presenting a series on Quaker Heritage in Melbourne for several years, with the aim of examining Quaker history, theology, testimonies, and identity.  He is the author of A brief background to the Quaker peace testimony and has also written articles on peace-related issues for the Australian Friend, Friends Journal and On the Road (ournal of the Anabaptist Association of Australia and New Zealand).

(B1) 6-19 September 2009
Sheila Keane: Contemplative Traditions, Discernment and Responding to Call

This is designed as a 2-week course with an option to exit after the first week. The course introduces the monastic theme of unknowing as way of “sinking down to the seed”, drawing parallels between the silence of the Quaker spirituality and of the contemplative traditions.

The emphasis of the first week will be on renewal and re-energising our spiritual lives through contemplative practice. Course topics (week one): Sabbath, the Desert Tradition (“Flee, be silent, and pray”), Monasticism & Quakerism, Community and the “Life of the Meeting”.

The second week will encourage participants to consider what it means to “be called” particularly in the sense of discerning and nurturing spiritual gifts amongst Friends. Course topics (week two): the Spiritual Journey and Being Called, Spiritual Disciplines, Discernment of Gifts, Eldering, Clearness, Sense of the Meeting, and Discipline & Authority.

As the course is cumulative in nature, participants will need to get prior approval to attend only the second of the 2 weeks. It would be much better to attend both weeks if possible.

Some advanced reading will be suggested to prepare participants for the course. Sheila will provide the reading materials during the residential retreat.

Sheila Keane is a School of the Spirit graduate and spent a year at Pendle Hill as part of the “On Being a Spiritual Nurturer” program. Sheila’s Pendle Hill pamphlet, “Prayer – Beginning Again” arose from this experience, and she wrote the Australian Quaker Basics course shortly after her arrival in Australia in 1999. Sheila has a deep interest in the spiritual nurture of Friends, and especially the value of the contemplative prayer as a way of building a deep relationship with God.

(B2) 20-26 September 2009
(B3) 27 September-3 October 2009
Frances Thorsen: Paths into Eldering

Two similar 6-day courses are based on readings from Quaker and other sources on the nature of spiritual formation, and especially how elders might engage with their members and meetings to care for the spiritual life of individuals and of the Meeting. There will be four to eight 90-minute sessions for reflective sharing and discussion on readings undertaken by participants. Frances will provide the readings.

Frances will offer guidance for 24-hour and 4-day Silent Retreats and also provide one-on-one spiritual accompanying on a regular or occasional basis, during her time at the Centre:  6 September-7 October and 18 October-6 November.

Frances Thorsen is the 2009 Resident elder at the AQC. After participating in the School of the Spirit at Pendle Hill (USA), Frances returned to Australia and led the development of the Meeting for Learning and Care 1995 - 2002, a program of retreats and study which has had a profound effect on many Australian Friends. She has been part of the Wellsprings Centre for training spiritual directors, worked for many years as a psychoanalytic psychotherapist for individuals and couples, specialising also in parent infant work, and has written widely on religious experience, Quaker leadings and vocation.

(A3) 20-26 September 2009
Helen Bayes: Elijah and Quakers: lessons in prophecy

This course will explore our great prophetic heritage, from the engrossing story of Elijah's relationship with God (Kings 1 and 2), to the expanding compass of Jesus and the radical action of George Fox and early Quaker women, men and young people. We will discuss the lessons we can learn from our prophetic ancestors drawing on Helen’s 2009 Gardner Lecture to Canada YM, on ‘Prophetic Community’.

With a background work experience in social policy, Helen devoted many years to protecting the human rights of children.  She spoke of her sense of being led in the 2002 Backhouse Lecture.  She explored her concern further by researching early Quakers and their children as Eva Koch Fellow, at Woodbrooke.  In 2007-8 she worked with Katherine Purnell on Quaker Voices in the C21st.  She is the inaugural Director of the AQC for 2009.

(C1) 27 September-3 October 2009
Mark Macleod & Jean Talbot: Creative writing

Mark and Jean offer a week within a prayerful community amid the spacious landscape at Silver Wattle for those seeking to develop their creative writing from a spiritual base, no matter what the genre, in prose or poetry.

Mark Macleod lectures in English and has published many books, especially in Children’s and Indigenous fiction. Mark was a key person in establishing the Karuna Writers Centre in the Blue Mountains, NSW.

Jean Talbot lectured in English literature to mature-age students at the University of Newcastle over a period of 30 years. She helped to co-ordinate and conduct writing workshops for the University’s Dept of Community Programs. She has had many poems published, including in a collection ‘Layers of Meaning’ with Shiela Morgan.

(B4) 10-18 October 2009
Barbara Rautman: Silent reflective retreats

Barbara will offer guided retreats of 2, 5, 7 or 9-day duration during this period, with maximum of 6 retreatants at any one time. The retreats will be silent and contemplative so that each participant may become more fully present and aware of the experienced presence of God/Spirit and of what is happening in her/her.  There will be Meeting for Worship each morning and evening, Friendly listening/ spiritual direction and  varied resources to aid reflection will be available.

Barbara Rautman is an experienced retreat leader and has led many Quaker retreat and she is a qualified and experienced spiritual director. She spent two semesters at Pendle and she has studied Christian theology and worked as a school chaplain and a teacher.

(A4) 5-11 October 2009
Gerry Guiton: The Quaker peace testimony – past and present

This course explores the spiritual and historical foundations of the Quaker Peace Testimony and their importance for the modern world. Early and current Quaker writings, and selected Scripture, Christian and non-Christian, will be studied interactively. Gerry will draw on a deep knowledge of the early Friends in asking how we can best respond to conflict as it affects humanity and the Earth

(A5) 11-17 October 2009
Gerry Guiton: The rule or covenant of love

The Rule (or Covenant) of Love is Gerry’s re-titling of the traditional term the ‘Kingdom of God’. In examining this concept which is central to Friends he will draw on the writings and practice of early Friends and their re-discovery of the revolutionary way of Jesus. The course will include in-depth discussions, time for reflection and prayer, his popular lecture at YM 2009, and will examine lessons for the Future of Quakerism.

Gerry Guiton has published ‘The Growth and Development of Quaker Testimony’ (Dec. 2005) and leads workshops throughout Australia. His new book, provisionally titled ‘Revolutionary Kingdoms’, is near completion. He is passionate about the need for modern Friends to acquaint themselves with the often misunderstood and yet revolutionary theology of the early Quakers.

(C2) 5-11 October 2009 
Tess Edwards: Creative art workshop

Using any combination of painting, collage, monoprinting or drawing, on paper or books, each participant will be encouraged to explore their creativity as a spiritual journey.  Through music, silence, worship and sharing, this will be 6-days of creating, simply and purely for the joy of self-discovery.

Works by Tess Edwards can be seen on www.lloydgodman.net/INDICIACD/
More information is on www.baldessinpress.com

(C3) 11-17 October 2009
Lloyd Godman: Ephemeral sculpture

Sculpture in, with and for Nature.  Working outside in the natural surroundings with found objects, this is a meditative process of aligning oneself with Nature, finding the point of dialogue between imposing one's will/ego/ideas upon nature and allowing. The Scottish artist Andy Goldsworthy is well known for his exquisite zen-like interventions in nature, and it is this work which will be the main inspiration for this 6-day session.

Lloyd's own work with Light & Photosynthesis can be seen on www.lloydgodman.net
Some examples of ephemeral sculpture work can be seen on www.baldessinpress.com

(B5) 18-24 October 2009
(B6) 25-31 October 2009
David Johnson: Spiritual disciplines and practices

This is a 1 or 2-week course, which can be attended for either of the weeks or both. David drew attention to the need to maintain some disciplines to support our spiritual journeys in his 2005 Backhouse Lecture “Peace is a Struggle”.  He will share some writings of early Friends and others with respect to four disciplines - Daily Prayer, Fasting, Attentiveness, Minding the Light.

David Johnson is an earth scientist with a deep interest in the spiritual journey. He has been a campaigner against the arms trade and for the abolition of landmines, and compiled the Nonviolence Calendar (www.nonviolence.quakers.org.au). David is also a war tax resistor.

(C4) 18-24 October 2009 (1st week)
(C5) 25-31 October 2009 (2nd week)
(C6) 18-31 October 2009 (both weeks)
Helen Gould: Recognising creativity and the inward Light

A program of alternating days of yoga/breathing and of light groups based on the work of Rex Ambler. Helen intends to encourage and help people to start singing their own prayers or devotional texts, to music that comes to them. You can join the group for the first or second, or for both weeks.

Helen Gould has followed her call to ministry in leading light groups with many meetings in Australia. She delivered the 2009 Backhouse Lecture on “The Quaking Meeting”. Helen draws on her knowledge of yoga and of Jewish spirituality and practices, to encourage Friends to give voice to our own prayers.

(U1) 1-28 November 2009
Unprogrammed residential community

You can stay at the Centre for as many nights as you like, on a bed-and-beakfast basis, ie. self catering for lunch and dinner (either cooking at the Centre or eating at local restaurants and cafes, 15 minutes by car).

Contact

AQC@quakers.org.au