Next weekend religious and spiritual leaders from several faiths will be featured at a Christian Spiritual Formation conference at Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church in East Cobb.
“Exploring the Richness of the Christian Faith” will take place Friday-Sunday Sept. 20-22. It’s the fourth annual conference in the series, and this year the specific theme is “Ancient and Modern Voices: Salvation, Sanctification & Theosis.“
The program “explores the connection of modern Protestant reformers with ancient Christianity and how these connections affected their theologies” and participants “also will explore how their theologies compare with Eastern Orthodox and Western Christian theologies (both Catholic and Protestant).”
The work of the English cleric John Wesley will be featured at the conference, which takes place from 7-9 p.m. Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20-22. According to the conference flyer:
“The goal of this series of Conferences is to help participants discover or get back in touch with our Christ-centered spirituality and also learn spiritual exercises and disciplines to strengthen and encourage our spiritual resilience in our journey to God’s Kingdom.”
The presenters include:
- Dr. Roberta Bondi, Emory University
- Dr. Robin Darling Young, Catholic University
- Dr. Gary Moon, Richmont Graduate University
- Dr. Charles Nienkirchen, Ambrose University
- Rev. Dr. Panayiotis Papageorgiou, Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church
- Rev. Joshua Toepper, Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church
The cost is $50 for the full weekend, or daily rates of $10 for Friday and Sunday and $30 for Saturday. Holy Transfiguration is located at 3431 Trickum Road.
For more information about the conference or to register online click here.
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Salutations to the Divinity within of those who organized the conference, which is much needed. Christian mindfulness is being present, being aware of our thoughts and how they affect our life as a clear mind pulls us together and makes us more effective in the here and now. The closer we get to our soul the closer we get to salvation welling up within us as the Hebrew word “yesha” is the basis for the name of Jesus and Joshua, which means freedom from what binds and restricts us in the manner of salvation and deliverance. Our Christian leaders claim Christianity has cornered the truth and control it because they want a monopoly on Christian minds, but when their cartel is exposed Christians realize that we are the soul beyond theology and the mind. Jesus is our example of the self beyond the self where we identify with the Divinity within and not our mental identities but the Divinity that gives rise to many possibilities. The Christ in Christianity is daring us to go beyond the mind, beyond the words to the beneficent force of love that connects us to God where everything is fresh and new, not just following rules conditioned by people who have a narrow experience of who God is. Christ aligned himself with the Father and he is a model for us Christians to remove partitions within ourselves that mis-align our minds in a misleading, deceptive mis-alignment. May we all trust and appreciate our own divinity as it is our connection to nature, everyone and everything as it teaches us that the universe is playful if we are spirited like a child.