SUMMER INSTITUTE IN SPIRITUALITY AND THE ARTS
June 9-12, 2009

• Are you needing time to nourish your soul this summer?
• Are you looking for a Continuing Education opportunity close to home?
• Are you a religious leader wanting an opportunity to renew your ministry skills?
• Are you seeking an educational opportunity as part of a sabbatical or study time?

 The Summer Institute in Spirituality and the Arts provides a place to expand your awareness and knowledge about the intersections of art and religion. Participants are offered an opportunity to explore those intersections in their personal lives and faith communities.

WORKSHOPS

1) Bibliodrama

            2) Exploring the Landscape of Art and Reconciliation

            3) Playing with Art to Create Poems of Vision and Spirit

            4) Creating Significant Worship: Weaving Together Imagination and Practical Skills

FORMAT

The Summer Institute format is a four-day event (Tuesday-Friday). For full-day attendance, participants select one of two morning workshops and one of two afternoon workshops. For half-day attendance, participants select either one morning workshop or one afternoon workshop. The theme of the workshop(s) selected indicates the theme for all four days of study. 

COST*

 Full-Day Registration 

Regular  – $225

Early – $175 (before May 15)

Student – $75 (full-time seminary student)

Half-Day Registration

Regular – $150

Early – $125 (before May 15)

Student – $50 (full-time seminary student)

• There is an additional $15 supply fee for the workshop Exploring the Landscape of Art and Reconciliation.

Please visit our website for more information, or to register:

http://www.unitedseminary.edu/CommunityPrograms/summerinstitute.asp

or you may call:

Cindi Beth Johnson

Director of Community Programming in the Arts, Religion and Spirituality

@ 651.255.6137

From the Pew Forum on Relgion and Public Life:

Americans change religious affiliation early and often. In total, about half of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives. Most people who change their religion leave their childhood faith before age 24, and many of those who change religion do so more than once. These are among the key findings of a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. The survey documents the fluidity of religious affiliation in the U.S. and describes in detail the patterns and reasons for change.

The reasons people give for changing their religion – or leaving religion altogether – differ widely depending on the origin and destination of the convert. The group that has grown the most in recent years due to religious change is the unaffiliated population. Two-thirds of former Catholics who have become unaffiliated and half of former Protestants who have become unaffiliated say they left their childhood faith because they stopped believing in its teachings, and roughly four-in-ten say they became unaffiliated because they do not believe in God or the teachings of most religions.¹ Additionally, many people who left a religion to become unaffiliated say they did so in part because they think of religious people as hypocritical or judgmental, because religious organizations focus too much on rules or because religious leaders are too focused on power and money. Far fewer say they became unaffiliated because they believe that modern science proves that religion is just superstition.

Continue Reading…

The alt7 Conference, designed for clergy under the age of 40, is slated at Montreat (N.C.) Conference Center June 8-11. Conference literature notes that clergy under the age of 40 are younger than the average Presbyterian, adding, ” We may be online, energized, underpaid, frustrated, creative, isolated, prophetic, weary, traditional, misunderstood, innovative, disillusioned, post-modern, hopeful, or all of the above.”

The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, moderator of the 218th General Assembly, is one of the conference leaders. Information and registration materials are available at www.montreat.org/current/2009-alt7-conference.

  “CREATING A CULTURE OF PEACE: INTERFAITH RETREAT IN ACTIVE NONVIOLENCE”
Sponsored by MN Fellowship of Reconciliation; and the St. Paul Interfaith Network

June 12-14, 2009
Hospitality Place Retreat Center
Circle Pines, MN
Friday, 5pm – Sunday, 2pm

for information contact:  Rev. Don Christensen at 651-690-2609; rachelanddon@msn.com
Enrollment limited; registration deadline, May 22, 2009

  Prayer Vigil on the First Anniversary of the Immigration Raid in Postville & in Remembrance of Raids Throughout Minnesota
Ramsey Adult Detention Center
425 Grove Street
Saint Paul, MN
Tuesday, May 12   6:00 PM

As people of faith, we stand in solidarity with our immigrant brothers and sisters and their families as many gather for this nationwide day of remembrance to promote awareness of the devastating effects of raids across the country including raids here in Minnesota.
 
This event is a unified call for humane and comprehensive immigration reform, just labor practices, family unity, and an end to raids of all kinds.
 
For more information contact:
Rev. Loren McGrail at lorenmcgrail@mac.com
Interfaith Coalition on Immigration