The
Path of this Day ApartRetreats
Please click on one of the below retreats for more information:
Contemplative Day Apart
Creating the Poem of Your Life
Praying With Icons, Ancient
and Natural
Reflections on Living Water
About The Presenter
Contemplative Day Apart: Photographers, how we see our world and our lives
The
Path of this Day Apart
Beauty is one of the many paths to the Beloved One. The beauty of nature is often the wisest balm, for nature's beauty gently relieves and releases our caged mind. The Beloved One surrounds us with beauty for our journey. Beauty's calmness flows in and washes away our anxiety and worry.
In the morning we will discover the principles that guided the photography and the lives of Sam Abell, a National Geographic Photographer and Dorothea Lange, who is best known for her love and photography of the "dirt poor" farmers and families who migrated from the dust bowl Midwest to the west coast in the l920's-30's.
John will teach from the photography of these two remarkable and spiritual artists, as well as the reflections and images of two painters, Emily Carr and Georgia O'Keeffe.
"I myself see things, many things, many things that I never would have seen had not some people who lived with cameras in the world showed me, brought it to me, gave it to me," Anne Whistler Spirn, biographer of Dorothea Lange, a photographer herself.
On the essence of a photograph, Dorothea Lange writes, "What is it in the end? It is a mounted piece of paper with a photographic silver image on it. But in it there is an element which you can't call other than an act of love. That is the tremendous motivation behind it. And you give it. Not to a person, you give it to the world, to your world, an act of love—that is the deepest thing behind photography."
Sam Abell writes, "Once again something had stopped me. I'd taken it in, composed, and waited, then photographed. These small sequential acts amount to a transaction between two lives—the external life of encountered experience and the imaginative inner life of the individual photographer."
Sam Abell goes on, "That photograph of my father watching a train depart in Ohio, is also a picture of his soft-spoken words to me about picture taking—look for strong diagonals, take a low angle, keep the sun to your side, bad weather makes good pictures, and most influentially, compose and wait."
"This picture of my father waiting for the train to depart opens the door on memory, and for this reason the picture has had a long life. One can't ask for more than that, unless the same picture is also the foundation upon which a life is built."
"When I was 16 I entered the picture in a contest. It won the smallest prize. But I wasn't unhappy. Someone other than me cared about a picture I'd made. The photograph had a life and so did I."
The Schedule of the Day Apart:
Saturday –– (9:00-3:00)
Details:
Presenter: John Holliger
Lunch: provided
For: Persons who'd like to learn about two thoughtful photographers; how they saw their world and were shaped by what they were led to see. Bring your camera, lenses, laptop(if you use one) with your camera, a few images on a flash drive you really love and discover how differently we each see this earth. Photographers from "point and shoot" to professionals with too much to do and too little time for reflection on what is most important in God's universe. No need to expect a miracle. This will be a non-competitive experience. Please be already familiar with your camera and how it works.
What to Bring:
Your camera, laptop, lenses, tripods, casual dress, walking shoes. A flash drive with 1-3 of the photographs you love the most.
Suggested Donation: $15 to cover lunch and materials which will be waiting for your arrival.
Presenter:
John Holliger is an Episcopal priest, a commercial and a nature photographer, creator of the business A Contemplative Nature. John has been an Episcopal priest for more than three decades, serving parishes in Connecticut and Ohio.
A graduate of Oberlin College with a major in history, a participant in the life of the Oberlin Conservatory, a graduate of Yale Divinity School with a Masters in Divinity, and the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge Massachusetts, he is also a published, professional photographer, a member of Professional Photographers of Central Ohio, awarded Photographer of the Year 2007-2008.
He has led retreats at the Christ Church Cathedral, Lexington Kentucky, the Hermitage on Beaver Run in Warsaw, Cedar Hills Conference Center, Canterbury Club at Kenyon College in Gambier, Forest Hill Presbyterian Church, Cleveland Heights, and he has presented at the Ohio Diocesan Mission and Ministry Conference.
Creating the Poem of Your Life,
Through Nature’s Images, Poems, and Earth Songs
The
Path of this Day Apart
“I think you create a good poem by revising your life… by living the kind of life that enables good poems to come about.”
“If you are writing and you get stuck, lower your standards and keep going. And my standards can get really low…” “When you are writing and it gets hard, don’t stop. It’s hard because you are doing something original.” William Stafford, Dad.
“To lower one’s standard comes from medieval warfare. It was a signal for a truce. To raise your standard meant to attack. To declare a truce as a writer is to be utterly ready for what comes.” Kim Stafford, Son.
In this Day Apart we will signal a gentle truce with ourselves, so we may be ready for what comes to us about revising our lives, allowing our lives to unfold as the good poems they are already.
Through the poetry of William Stafford, lovely images of the rhythms of nature, the music of laments and joy of streams, frogs, birds, and whales, meandering walks, and stillness, we will practice listening and looking for the poems and gifts that are being born within us.
My hope for you in this brief respite:
1. You will see what you have
not looked for…
2. You will hear what you have not listened for…
3. You will practice wearing the world like a loose garment…
4. You will practice watching for what unfolds next…
In any house there should be
much reading [writing] that has never been published, that is in all
states—notes, a start, a stop, the pieces that got said without presuming to be
more than they are. Most things aren’t finished, and most things haven’t yet
found their right beginning. Beyond poetry there is a prose of the way things
happen.
From “Paragraphs to Tack on the
Wall” William Stafford
Praying With Icons, Ancient
and Natural
Doorways to the Heart of the Beloved
Using several striking, ancient icons, and captivating images from the natural world, with quieting music and inviting poetry, John invites us into new ways of praying, where gazing is prayer.
In Part One we meet ancient icons as doorways or gates, pointing beyond themselves to the beauty of the heart of God, coming to us through these beautiful images. We learn the symbolic and spiritual intent of several remarkable icons and the story of the anonymous monks who painted them. Following a liturgy of centering prayer and simple chants inviting our open-heartedness, we rest with our companions, the Holy Trinity and the Christ, in new ways, where gazing is our prayer.
We experience gazing as prayer with these icons: Christ the Pantocrator, Teacher,
The Trinity by Rublev, The Trinity in Galaxies, ancient sandstone, Mountain Laurel,
John leaning on Jesus: Leaning, Jesus behind barbed wire fence: openings and closings,
Christ breaking the doors and locks, coming for all in darkness; So fully alive and whole, we are "blown away." Transfiguration; Paradox: The Beloved like a child grasping his mother in delight; the mother saddened by what lay ahead; Icons of suffering, gentleness, mothering, hope in despair by a Southwest artist.
Reflections: How do we resist? What becomes compelling? Is there a thread that draws us forward?
Notes of the history and ways of praying with Icons which John Holliger has compiled are available as a PDF or word document by emailing: johnholliger@acontemplativenature.com.
“This as the MOST amazing, valuable seminar I have been to in several years. The richness of the material, the flow and availability of contemplative time impacted me deeply.”
“I have a peace and understanding I didn’t have before. It was perfect.”
You may contact John to schedule this retreat through his email: johnholliger@acontemplativenature.com.
The Path of this Retreat
We gather in the morning for quiet music interwoven with silence and reflections on the multi-layered meaning of Living Water in Isaiah, the Gospel of John, Psalm 23, the poetry of David Whyte and Mary Oliver, and prayers of the New Zealand Prayer Book.
You will experience photographic images of Living Water--oceans, hidden streams, cascading waterfalls, still water, and fountains.
Following the first session participants choose one of the photographs to be their companion for a time apart to journal, meditate, or take a walk. Upon our return we’ll have a conversation about what we’re experiencing. Some find that silence is the better way for them.
After lunch we will consider the compelling lament from the River Runs Through It, followed by John of Patmos’ hope-filled vision of the River of Life and the Tree of Life from Revelation, interwoven with music, stillness, and a concluding conversation.
What inspired these Reflections on Living Water?
“Living Water” in Greek, zao hudor, is sparkling, bubbling water; leaping, jumping water; kissing, blessing everything.
My first memory of living water is as a small boy, exploring the huge, soft shouldered boulders of the Little Pigeon River in the Great Smoky Mountains. I experienced newfound freedom as I rock-hopped from boulder to boulder. I crouched down between rocks to touch the bubbles of tiny waterfalls and listen to their songs. My hands stroked the clear water flowing over curving stone shapes. Swirling water sang with quiet confidence.
I caressed the soft, wet, green mosses on shaded boulders. Standing like a giant I took huge boy strides in slow motion onto the next boulder. I jumped like an Olympic star onto a wet mossy boulder and careened feet first into the pool below, falling hands-forward soaked, frightened, and excited for more. Out of breath I listened to different songs arising everywhere around me.
Years later I had such fun showing my daughters the joy of rock-hopping. We were Olympic gymnasts slipping off the high beam onto wet mossy boulders below, laughing, excited to be wet and free and alive.
“All my life I have journeyed up the chanting river of life to find the Source...
Searching for the One who is just around the next boulder…
Then to glimpse that One already flowing within me as the River of Life.
You in me and I in you.”
John Holliger
What participants have said
“I loved the theme—living water
was such a rich metaphor with so many meanings to explore. The photography,
poetry, & music all worked together to create a meditative atmosphere.”
“I enjoyed it immensely and I thought the planning was excellent.”
“I normally think of retreats that explore one angle of spirituality—like love, suffering, etc. but I liked that living water was an image that branched out into many associations.”
“I really liked the unhurried pace of the day and that we were offered many images to chew on."
You may contact John to schedule this retreat through his email: johnholliger@acontemplativenature.com.
The Rev. John Holliger is an Episcopal priest and a nature photographer who created of A Contemplative Nature. John has been an Episcopal priest for more than three decades, serving parishes in Connecticut and Ohio.
A graduate of Oberlin College with a major in history, a participant in the life of the Oberlin Conservatory, a graduate of Yale Divinity School with a Masters in Divinity, and the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge Massachusetts, he is also a published, professional photographer, a member of Professional Photographers of Central Ohio, awarded Photographer of the Year 2007.
He has led retreats at the Hermitage on Beaver Run in Warsaw, Cedar Hills Conference Center, the Day Spring Retreat Center in Wellington, Canterbury Club at Kenyon College in Gambier, Forest Hill Church Presbyterian, Cleveland Heights, and he has presented at the Diocesan Mission and Ministry Conference.
John currently exhibits his photographic images at the Sacred Path Gallery at the Cathedral in Cleveland, and the Not-on-the-Corner Gallery in Delaware.