Center for Prayer & Spirituality (CPS)
Our Mission Statement
To reawaken an interest in Christian spirituality and to integrate mind, body and spirit by offering contemplative practices, classes, lectures, workshops and spiritual direction to foster connection, understanding and compassion for self, others and the mystery that beautifully and expansively holds us all.
The Quiet Garden Movement
The gardens at St. John’s Cathedral are registered with the international Quiet Garden Trust and throughout the year host regular opportunities for hospitality and prayer. The Quiet Garden Ministry began in 1992 with the first Quiet Garden in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, England. At the heart of Christianity is a treasure to be unearthed: the treasure of contemplative prayer and quiet resting in silence reaching back to Jesus himself, who regularly took time out to pray in solitude and in still places. The Quiet Garden Movement rediscovers these riches and makes them accessible to a spiritually hungry world by providing contexts of natural beauty and stillness where we may refresh our soul. St. John’s Cathedral supports this mission and ministry, eagerly offering its Quiet Gardens to feed the soul of the hungry searching for places of quiet and prayer.
Director
Owene Courtney
[email protected]
Board
Susan Bancks
Megan Cochran
Gregory Curry
Lisa Duncan
Liesl Gavronsky-Howsare
Joe O'Shields
Holy Week Offerings
Daily Office Morning Prayer
Monday – Friday
8 am
Cummings Chapel
Guided Labyrinth Walk
Thursday
4 – 5 pm
Talliaferro Hall
Children’s Stations of the Cross
Friday
10 am
Sanctuary
Save the Date for Gladdening Light Symposium 2019!
February 1-3, 2019
at Rollins College
The Science of Love
with Owen & Moley Ó Súilleabháin and Nóirín Ní Riain
The two keynoters are giants of creation spirituality, excited to be presenting together for the first time. Beginning with his groundbreaking book, Original Blessing and continuing with a host of others translated into sixty languages worldwide, Matthew Fox has embraced creation spirituality, mysticism, spiritual activism and the affirming presence of God within us. This will be his second appearance at GladdeningLight, our only such repeat keynoter. And though Ilia Delio has been a scientist and religious scholar for decades, her two recent books—Christ in Evolution and The Unbearable Wholeness of Being—deeply resonated with spiritual seekers around the world. An authority on the works of the pioneering French Jesuit Teilhard de Chardin, Ilia Delio is perfectly suited to herald the Cosmic Christ and the science of divine love.
GladdeningLight welcomes back the musical artistry of Owen & Moley Ó Súilleabháin and sounds of their Irish homeland by way of their beloved mother, Nóirín Ní Riain, from her monastic residency at Glenstal Abbey. The three singers will conduct a morning celtic program, an evening celebration soundscape in honor of St. Brigid and frame each event with wondrous theosony.
This is exciting…stay tuned for further details. Registration begins mid-summer!
New Class Offerings for Lent
Discover the Joy of Writing Icons
Thursday, February 15 and Friday, February 16
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Practice the Lenten discipline of creating a small icon of an angel or Christ during this two-day workshop. Be with friends, new and old, listen to quiet contemplative music, and pray. Bring your lunch and willing spirit. No previous painting experience necessary. All materials will be supplied. You will leave with a beautiful icon to contemplate during this Holy season. Cost is $75. Please call Sharon Millan at 904-716-2300 for further details and to reserve your spot. Have a blessed Lent!
Guided Spiritual Life-story Writing Group
Five weekly meetings: 90-minutes each
Thursdays in Lent, beginning February 15th and ending March 15th
2:30 - 4 p.m. Room 305, Center for Prayer and Spirituality
Periodic Offerings
Eleventh Step Meditation: A Way to Transformation
On the second Saturday of the month we gather for meditation and reflection formed by Lectio Divina
9:30 a.m., Room 301 Cathedral House
Led by Dianne Larson and Tim Lynch
Spiritual Companioning
Based on ancient tradition, the Center offers to link interested seekers with trained spiritual companions/spiritual directors who are members of the cathedral parish. All is confidential. If interested please contact one of the following:
Susan Bancks • [email protected]
Claudia Milligan • [email protected]
Joe O’Shields • [email protected]
Susan Woods • [email protected]
Quiet Spaces in the Center for Prayer and Spirituality, 3rd Floor Cathedral House
The Rev. Bernie Dooly Lending Library and The Chapel of the Transfiguration are available.
Please check in with the cathedral receptionist.
Weekly Offerings
Tuesdays:
Yoga
Gather in the late afternoon in the beauty of a sacred space for yoga practice, concluding with prayer. Cummings Chapel.
5:45 pm - 7:00 pm.
(Enter on Duval Street)
Led by Megan Cochran
Fridays:
Contemplative Eucharist
Conducted by cathedral clergy and lay leaders, this service combines contemplation and holy communion in a warm, welcoming worship service. Cummings Chapel, 12:10 pm.
Weekly e-Words
E-mailed quotations from works of religious leaders, inviting personal reflection and prayer.
Lectionary Bible Study
Join us for an informal but informative hour at 10 a.m. in Ingram Lounge each Friday. We read and study the readings, Old and New Testament, The Psalms and the Gospel for the upcoming Sunday and sew the thread of the theme together to have a better understanding of the Biblical times and how they apply to our lives today.
Led by Selecia Young-Jones
Sundays:
Centering Prayer
Readings, reflections and centering prayer in community.
The Chapel of the Transfiguration, Room 306 Cathedral House
Sundays 10:00 am
Led by Barbara Vorpe
Church on the Mat
Using the principles of yoga, professional teachers will lead a gentle class integrating body, mind and spirit with the reading of Scripture. Bring your yoga mat. 10 a.m. Cummings Chapel
Center for Prayer and Spirituality Program Offerings 2017-2018
Quiet Garden Mornings
Mornings of holy silence with spiritual reflections, readings and prayers. Quiet Garden Mornings are held on the grounds of the Cathedral, including Ingram Lounge, Cummings Chapel, and the Gardens.
Held on Saturdays, 9:30 am - 12:00 pm
15 September 2017
Postponed: Telling Our Stories: My Story, Our Story, The Story
The Rt. Rev. Porter Taylor
21 October 2017
Be Not Afraid: Yogic Wisdom for the Body of Christ
Megan Cochran
18 November 2017
Praying with Icons
The pictures are not there just to be looked at as though the worshipers were in an art museum; they are designed to be doors between this world and another world, between people and the Incarnate God, his Mother, or his friends, the saints.
Sharon Millan
16 December 2017
Advent Visitations
Joy Carol
20 January 2018
Fearless Faith, Boundless Love
Revival with Presiding Bishop Michael Curry
Honey Creek , Diocese of Georgia
3 February 2018
Lent: Mary Magdalene and the Inner Workings of the Mind
The Very Rev. Kate Moorehead
3 March 2018
Lent: Via Dolorosa
The Rev. David Slaght
Cummings Chapel
21 April 2018
Poetry of Eastertide
The Rev. Douglas Dupree
19 May 2018
Praying with the Psalms
Joe O’Shields
Seasonal Services
Advent Quiet Day
Saturday, December 9, 2017
9 am - 12 pm
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
Green Cove Springs
Hosted and facilitated by the Reverend Celeste Tisdelle and supported by the Center for Prayer and Spirituality
Lenten Daily Office of Morning Prayer
Tuesdays, starting February 20
8 a.m.
Cummings Chapel
Lenten Quiet Day
Saturday, March 10, 2018
9 am - 12 pm
St. Mary’s Episcopal Church
Green Cove Springs
Hosted and facilitated by the Reverend Celeste Tisdelle and supported by the Center for Prayer and Spirituality
For more information please contact: Owene Courtney, Director.
Related Posts
