Living in an Icon - Facilitator Guide: Growing Closer to Nature and Closer to God

By Jerry Cappel and Robert Gottfried

This Facilitator Guide offers a framework for using Living in an Icon as a series of exercises and community building practices for small groups in various settings, from weekend retreats or study series, to a 21-week extended practice.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Church Publishing
• Release date: Aug 17, 2019
• ISBN: 9781640652392

Jerry Cappel

Jerry Cappel is an ordained Episcopal priest in the Diocese of Kentucky, currently serving as the Environmental Network Coordinator for Province IV of the Episcopal Church. He serves on the board of the Center for Religion and the Environment at the University of the South and as a fellow with GreenFaith. He lives in Simpsonsillve, Kentucky.

Book preview

Living in

an Icon

Facilitator Guide

A Program for Growing Closer

to Creation and to God

Jerry Cappel &

Robert Gottfried

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Copyright © 2019 Jerry Cappel and Robert Gottfried

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

The Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Church Publishing

19 East 34th Street

New York, NY 10016

www.churchpublishing.org

Cover design: Jennifer Kopec, 2 Pug Design

Interior layout: Beth Oberholtzer Design

A record of this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN-13: (9781640652385) (pbk.)

ISBN-13: (9781640652392) (ebook)

Contents

Introduction

The Exercises of Living in an Icon

Journey One: Waking Up

Journey Two: The Road to Kinship

Journey Three: Encountering the Burning Bush

Running a Living in an Icon Program

Appendix One: A Discussion Covenant

Appendix Two: A Primer on Asceticism and Natural Contemplation

Appendix Three: Additional Resources

Introduction

The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. —Benedict XVI¹

Living in an Icon: A Program for Growing Closer to Creation and to God addresses the deep problem identified by Pope Benedict by providing a structured program of spiritual development that not only helps participants grow closer to God but explicitly involves nature in the process.

Living in an Icon has grown out of years of experience working with the Opening the Book of Nature program.² Opening the Book of Nature typically occurs as a single experience over a weekend or several days. However, our experience shows that while participants find such a weekend experience valuable and potentially life-changing, they often desire a longer involvement with group support to more fully incorporate their experience into their lives once they go back home. Living in an Icon is our response to that need.

The Spirit moves strongly when individuals pray together. As Jesus said, Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there (Matt. 18:20). The mutual support that comes from sharing these experiences as a group also deepens learning and provides motivation to keep going. It’s all too easy to let the pressures and distractions of life intrude when one attempts to do this alone. Going through these exercises with other like-minded people creates a community of practice, something many find lacking in their church experience. As such, this program can serve as a key component of a church renewal program.

This is challenging work requiring sustained practice, and participants will need both guidance from a leader and support from their fellow pilgrims. While individuals can do this program on their own, they will benefit far more if practiced as part of a group. This facilitator’s guide will provide the background, concepts, and practices you will need to lead a small group of pilgrims on this journey.

A Wider Communion

Living in an Icon draws heavily on Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox spiritual practices as a sure grounding for these journeys. However, people from a wide variety of Christian and other faith traditions find them applicable to their own faith experience. While the practices in this program are intentionally couched in a Christian context, they are adaptable to people of wide religious experience and are helpful to participants from other faith traditions (or none at all). Therefore, the program should not be seen as appropriate for practicing Christians only. The basics of gratitude, listening, noticing, and recognizing the divine as present in all things are principles basic to all religious traditions (and common to all human experience). Nature’s beauty and interconnectedness is a common experience across all human experience, and Living in an Icon can serve as a program that unites people in a common journey of seeking God in deeper ways. These practices bring us together and foster love and respect for the whole diversity of creation, including human diversity.

Reflect on Community: Think back to points in your life when you experienced significant transformation or change in your personal journey. Who was there with you? What role did they play? How might a similar dynamic be important to the journey of a group gathered for Living in an Icon?

Learning from the Monastic Tradition

Classic monastic spirituality generally stresses two components of growth on the path to communion with God and the direct experience of God beyond words, thoughts, or images.³ One component is asceticism, which is the work of removing habits and approaches to life that hinder our relationship with God. These include attitudes such as impatience, resentment, anxiety, and self-centeredness. This work resembles cleaning the window of the soul so God’s light might shine through it more fully.