Click here to download a list of events taking place from July to September 2025 that are related to the values and ideas behind Living Spirituality Connections.
Click here for a list of regular events.
Living Spirituality Connections Events
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Monthly online Deep Abiding Prayer groups
The first Thursday of each month 7.30-8.30 pm
Living Spirituality Connections event
in partnership with St James’s Church Piccadilly.
Deep Abiding Prayer is a healing prayer of the heart and of the Spirit. Its sources are in the Bible and in the Christian Contemplative tradition.
We pray for individuals and communities, as well as for those parts of ourselves that need healing. We open ourselves to become channels for healing peace, by letting go of outcomes and trusting the action of the Holy Spirit through our prayers. We hear words of medieval and modern contemplative writers, do a calming breathing practice, and have time in breakout groups to reflect on our experience.
To read a short Introduction to Deep Abiding Prayer go to:
https://www.livingspirit.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/What is Deep Abiding Prayer.
For the Zoom link and to be sent the accompanying booklet please email: petragriffiths@livingspirit.org.uk
The monthly Deep Abiding Prayer Zoom practice sessions 7.30-8.30 are on the first Thursday of each month.
Petra is coordinator of Living Spirituality Connections www.livingspirit.org.uk and of Deep Abiding Prayer Practice. She is Pastoral Care Coordinator at St James’s, as well as being active in the Eco Church Group.
Past events:
Creative Connections – A Renewal Space for Summer
Thursday 11 May 10-1
Led by Linda Courage. St Bedes’s Pastoral Centre, York.
Run in collaboration with Living Spirituality Connections.
Booking: https://www.stbedes.org.uk
Some time apart to gently reconnect to ourselves and restore our vitality and aliveness.
Each session has a similar structure and uses a similar range of creative activities for different purposes. No experience of using the arts is necessary. The sessions will feature heart-centred meditation alongside some input, time for creative activities, and gentle reflection and sharing. The creative activities typically include making a collage, creative writing, using timelines, capturing responses to nature…
Those already familiar with the approach are welcome to simply come along and use the activities to explore whatever is in their hearts and minds. See also 1 March Day event.
Linda is a member of the Abbey of the Arts and is Arts & Spirituality Coordinator for Living Spirituality Connections. She has a heart for encouraging and guiding others in practices which help to reconnect us to ourselves and restore our vitality and aliveness.
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Creative Connections Day
Wednesday 26 April 10 – 3.
with a Summer theme
Led by Linda Courage.
At St Bede’s Pastoral Centre, York.
In collaboration with Living Spirituality Connections.
Booking: https://www.stbedes.org.uk/
Similar in structure and purpose to the Renewal Spaces (see above), these longer sessions will give the opportunity to focus more fully on participants’ responses to a guided meditation at the beginning of each day. The creative activities will focus on using one main medium. The theme for this Spring day is looking for beauty…we will use felt as a focus to explore this theme.
Linda is a member of the Abbey of the Arts and a coordinator for Living Spirituality Connections. Linda has a heart for encouraging and guiding others in practices which help to reconnect us to ourselves and restore our vitality and aliveness.
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The Artist’s Rule. Nurturing your creative soul with monastic wisdom.
A twelve session fortnightly programme on Zoom to explore together how the contemplative and creative parts of ourselves meet.
Start day: Thursday 3 November 2022
Led by Linda Courage.
Twelve Thursdays fortnightly 03/11, 17/11, 01/12, 15/12, 29/12, 12/01, 26/01, 09/02, 23/02, 09/03, 23/03, 06/04. 3-4 pm and 5-6 on Zoom. 4-5 pm is for private reflection and creativity.
Fee: £150.00.
Booking:
St Bede’s Pastoral Centre (stbedes.org.uk)
This course is run in partnership with Living Spirituality Connections.
Drawing on the insights and practices of Benedictine spirituality we will explore together the interplay between contemplation and creativity. Each two-part session will be offered on zoom with the hour between for private reflection and creativity. An information sheet giving more detail about the program is available from the St Bede’s Pastoral Centre office.
You will need to purchase our primary text for the programme – The Artist’s Rule by Christine Valters Paintner.
Previous events
Introductory course in Deep Abiding Prayer
Photo by Mabel Amber from Pexels
Tuesdays 3 – 31 May 2022, 7.30 – 8.30 pm via Zoom
(to be repeated at a later date)
Led by Petra Griffiths.
Deep Abiding Prayer (DAP) approaches contemplative prayer of the heart as a spiritual practice occurring in silence, and also as a way of being while living everyday life. The heart is seen as the seat of compassion, and the prayer is at the intersection between contemplation and action.
Petra Griffiths is Coordinator of Living Spirituality Connections in the UK and Pastoral Care Coordinator at St James’s Church Piccadilly.
For the course outline and the sources of the prayer, go to: https://www.livingspirit.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/deep_abiding_prayer_course_may22.pdf
To book email petragriffiths@livingspirit.org.uk. Donations welcome.
The Deep Abiding Prayer course is offered jointly by St James’s Church Piccadilly and Living Spirituality Connections.
Living Spirituality Connections Event
in York
Creative Connections Day
Saturday 13 July 2019, 10-4
St Bede’s Pastoral Centre, York
Facilitated by
Linda Courage and Julia MacDonald
A day to resource & connect people with an interest in the
Arts and Spirituality
The day included… Presentations + Exhibition space* + Expressive art sessions + Time to discuss, share & exchange
Key note speaker: Colin Black of Seek Art School.
Colin offered reflections on the theme of ‘Creative Connections’ and will facilitate one of the creative workshops exploring this idea.
All with an interest in the arts & spirituality were welcome – no prior experience necessary, just an openness to the value of creativity.
Hosted by St. Bede’s Pastoral Centre, York in conjunction with Living Spirituality Connections
21 Blossom Street, YO24 1AQ
(5 min walk from train and bus stations)
Brighton:
Human Flourishing on a Flourishing Earth:
Finding a Way Together.
Saturday 8 June 2019 10.00 – 4.45pm
Brighthelm Centre, Brighton BN1 1YD
Keynote speaker: Award-winning environmentalist
Nicola Peel
In the light of the challenges facing us from the impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, we will explore our spiritual sense of connectedness to the earth and the actions we can take to contribute to earth and human flourishing. You are warmly invited to attend this interactive event where we will draw upon the wisdom of all as well as hearing from experienced leaders in the field.
Nicola Peel is a winner of the People’s Environment Award, filmmaker, speaker and ‘solutionist’ who has been working in the Ecuadorian Amazon for 18 years. She is passionate about biomimicry, which shows that nature is our greatest teacher. Nicola will show us examples of solutions to environmental problems, found in tandem with local communities. These not only provide solutions to the issues, but also enable communities to flourish. Nicola will also address a range of practical actions that we can all take in our daily lives to contribute to the solutions rather than continuing the damage humans are inflicting on our life systems.
Workshops
Participants were invited to attend two out of four of the following workshops:
1. Green Grace. Facilitator: Rev Philip Roderick, founder of Contemplative Fire and the Quiet Gardens movement
2. Top tips for taking personal action to protect the earth. Facilitator: Nicola Peel (see above)
3. “Saving the world is a spiritual matter“. Facilitator: Rev Alex Mabbs of Brighthelm’s Earth Church project.
4. The Great Water Challenge. Facilitator: Sandy Elsworth, geologist.
Printable leaflet with more details here: https://home-5016243824.webspace-host.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/leaflet_brighton.pdf
This event was put on by Earth Church at Brighthelm, Brighton, https://www.brighthelm.org.uk/earth-church;
Living Spirituality Connections https://home-5016243824.webspace-host.com/wordpress;
and Spirit of Peace http://www.spiritofpeace.co.uk.
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Christian Faith and Ecology in an Unfinished Universe
Eco Church Lecture by Professor John F Haught
Sunday 2 June 2019 1.50 – 3.30 pm
John F Haught is Distinguished Research Professor at Georgetown University and author of many books including The New Cosmic Story. Inside our Awakening Universe and The Promise of Nature: Ecology and Cosmic Purpose.
John Haught speaks of a sacramental approach to Christian ecological theology. This now requires a whole new interpretation of what it means to be Christian. In the face of the environmental crisis it will not do simply to take more seriously our inherited texts and teachings. These are still important, but they must be carefully sifted and reinterpreted in terms of a cosmological, relational, non-hierarchical, nonpatriarchal, non-dualistic, and more organismic understanding of the universe. We must pay more attention to the sacral quality of the universe. This new outlook accepts the doctrines of the creed but gives them a cosmological interpretation.
This event is put on by Eco Church at St James’s Piccadilly and Living Spirituality Connections.
Location: St James’s Church, 197 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL.
Inside Our Awakening Universe: The New Cosmic Story and the Meaning of Faith.
Awakening to a New Consciousness Lecture
By Professor John F Haught
7pm, Wednesday 29 May 2019
Scientists now know that the universe is a story still unfolding. From the perspective of physics the cosmos may look like a process of heat exchanges and energy transformations, but if we look deep inside we see that the universe has also given rise, at least on Earth, to beings eager to understand where they came from, where they are going, and what they should be doing with their lives. From this “inside” perspective, then, the universe is a story of awakening. But how are we to read the story? Is its awakening a mere departure destined for an eternal sleep?
This lecture examines three distinct ways of answering these questions, and in doing so it offers a new understanding of the spiritual life.
John F Haught is Distinguished Research Professor at Georgetown University and author of many books including The New Cosmic Story. Inside our Awakening Universe and The Promise of Nature: Ecology and Cosmic Purpose.
Living Spirituality Connections is visiting this event which is put on by the Institute for Theological Partnerships. LSC is also offering a historic tour of Winchester and a visit to the University’s Cosmic Walk prior to the lecture. All are free of charge.
Time and Venue of lecture (free of charge): 6.30pm for 7pm, Winchester University, Winton Building 5, King Alfred Quarter, Sparkford Road, Winchester SO22 4NR
To book: email Joanna.Wilson@winchester.ac.uk
If you are interested in the afternoon historic tour and Cosmic Walk visit email petragriffiths@livingspirit.org.uk.
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Saturday 13 April 12 – 2.30pm. Midlands LSC group. Location: The Warehouse Cafe, Birmingham City Centre. The group will discuss Richard Rohr’s book “Falling Upward”.
The group will be meeting at the Friends of the Earth Cafe where you can buy lunch and/or drinks:
https://www.thewarehousecafe.com/ The cafe is a short walk from Moor St and New St. Railway Stations. All welcome.
Enquiries to Anne Gardner: a.gardner@me.com
Saturday 12 January 2019, 12.30 Birmingham Living Spirituality Connections meeting.
Anne Gardner, our Living Spirituality Connections contact for the Midlands, is organising a second meeting to discuss forming a Midlands group e.g. for Spiritual Journeying / Living Conversation / Spiritual Book Reading. They will meet again at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery Victorian Tea Room from 12.30 for refreshments and conversation.
All welcome. Contact Anne Gardner to book a place: a.gardner@me.com
20 November 2018 10 – 4. Creativity and Reflection – a taster. Location: York
For thirty years Linda Courage has used the arts to access parts of herself that the intellect can’t. She wonders if others might benefit from trying some of these ways and invites you to come and see. No experience of the arts is a benefit!
After a long and varied career in nursing, Linda is a bank Staff Nurse in Outpatients, a member of the Abbey of the Arts http://www.abbeyofthearts.com, and co-ordinator for the Arts and Spirituality Special Interest Area within Living Spirituality Connections www.livingspirit.org.uk/sia/arts-and-spirituality She has run expressive arts workshops and spoken of her approach at health and spirituality conferences.
Booking: http://www.stbedes.org.uk
Sunday 4 November 2018 1.45 – 3.30. Incarnation. A new evolutionary threshold. Talk by Diarmuid O’Murchu.
Incarnation signifies embodiment, reminding us that God’s creativity throughout creation is mediated through bodies, from the vast universe right down to subatomic particles. This understanding requires a fresh appraisal of the conventional Christian understanding in which Incarnation focuses on the person of Jesus. How the expanded vision can be integrated with our Christian story is the topic for this lecture.
“God’s revelation is considered to be in the whole of creation. Divine revelation is mediated primarily through the embodied processes that facilitate growth and flourishing.”
A Living Spirituality Connections event, in partnership with St James’s Church Piccadilly and Spirit of Peace.
www.livingspirit.org.uk www.spiritofpeace.co.uk www.sjp.org.uk
Feedback on the talk by Diarmuid O’Murchu included:
“Inspiring – really good to feel part of a spirited embodied community.”
“Really, really good. We need more talks like this!”
“Absolutely brilliant. Very thought-provoking.”
“Thanks for setting up that wonderful talk. I felt hugely encouraged by it after rather a sterile time spiritually.”
Saturday 19 May 2018 – Working with Emergence event.
In the face of growing complexity and diversity in our local and global communities, and our increasingly unsustainable way of life, we need a new form of intelligence, and related skills and tools, to enable us to be effective agents for change. We will explore how working with emergent processes can help us become more effective in working for a world where all can flourish. We will also look at the skills we need to develop to work with emergence.
Keynote Speakers
Chris Mowles, Professor of Complexity and Management, University of Hertfordshire – Working with Emergence.
Rev. Dr Terry Biddington, Dean of Spiritual life and lecturer in Practical and Eco Theology, University of Winchester – The Emergence of Interiority and the Development of Religion in an Evolving Universe.
Venue: King Alfred Campus, University of Winchester
The event leaflet can be downloaded here – www.livingspirit.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/working_with_emergence.pdf.
The event poster can be downloaded here: www.livingspirit.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/emergence_poster.pdf.
A short article on ‘Working with Emergence’ can be downloaded here: www.livingspirit.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/emergence_article.pdf.
The event was organised by the Institute for Theological Partnerships at the University of Winchester in association with Spirit of Peace and Living Spirituality Connections.
Sunday 12 November 2017 – Searching a Communal Heart: Earth Literacy, Ecology and Spirituality. St James’s Church, Piccadilly, London.
Speaker: Professor Ursula King, who is Professor Emerita of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Bristol. She has published widely on gender issues in world religions, interfaith dialogue, spirituality, and on the resonance today of the work of Teilhard de Chardin.
This was our annual partnership event with St James’s Church, Piccadilly.
Saturday 25 November 2017 – Towards Human Flourishing. University of Winchester.
In the face of growing divisions in society – politically, socially and economically – the event explored:
- what do human beings need to flourish?
- how do we create a culture of human flourishing for all?
- what is the relationship between human and planetary flourishing?
The speakers were Diarmuid O’Murchu on Human Flourishing: A New Evolutionary Threshold and Professor Lisa Isherwood on Earth Flourishing.
Organised in conjunction with the Institute for Theological Partnerships and Spirit of Peace.
9-11 June 2017 – Living Spirituality Creative Conversations workshop. Thirsk, N. Yorks.
In this workshop we explored how we become aware of the creative nature of conversations in our daily lives and in the lives of those we engage with. Starting with our own story, we used creative arts, liturgy and reflective engagement to find fresh ways of developing communities of creative conversation. The Holy Rood gardens played a part in the event, as well as a visit to the hills at Sutton Bank.
25 September 2016 – Living Spirituality Connections annual partnership event with St James’s, Piccadilly, London W1: launch of Experiencing Music – Restoring the Spiritual: Music as Wellbeing by Rev Dr June Boyce-Tillman. Rowan Williams has said: “This book is an astonishing achievement ….. Learning to sing is ….. connecting with the world we inhabit in a fresh and life-giving way. A deeply enriching study.”
The event included some singing and refreshments afterwards.
Towards Human Flourishing events
You can find events that are relevant to the Towards Human Flourishing Special Interest Area here – www.livingspirit.org.uk/sia/towards-human-flourishing.
There were three Spirit of Peace events run in February by LSC Steering Group member, Heather-Jane Ozanne.
Introductory events for Pathways for Human Flourishing training: Sunday 5th February, 2.30-5pm, in Stroud, Gloucestershire; and Tuesday 7th February 2017, 6.30-9pm, in Gloucester.
Spirit of Peace Community Bring and Share Supper: Monday 6th February, 7.00-9pm, in Gloucester.
More details for all these events can be found here – www.livingspirit.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/spirit_of_peace_events.pdf.
Previous listings
Additional events in September and October 2014
