Experiencing the Psalms with our Whole Selves
Michiana/Northern Indiana
How can we love God and attach to him more fully?
Most of us long for a closer relationship with God. We know we fall short. We know that at times we’re more likely to run away from God than run toward Him. Many of us struggle with believing we are fully forgiven and fully loved. Many of us struggle with meaningful prayer. How can we draw near to this God who sometimes feels so far away? The Psalms will show us!
As the prayer and song book of the church, the Psalms illuminate more than any other book in the Scriptures what it looks like and sounds like to be in an intimate relationship with our loving God. No human emotion, no experience, no story is beyond the realm of the Psalms and the Psalmists, which means that no experience or heart-cry of our own is beyond the ear or heart of God.
But the Psalms are more than an ancient song book. “Sing to the Lord a new song,” David, the most prolific psalmist writes at the opening of Psalm 96. David begins another psalm with the same inviting command: “O sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things!”
“Sing a new song!” is an invitation for us as well. In this Nearing God Gathering master teacher Leslie Leyland Fields will lead us in
*Discovering our own voice and story within the Psalms, as they invite us
*Exploring five different forms of the Psalms—lament, wisdom, confession, creation, and praise
*Practicing transformative writing and prayer exercises that engage our whole brain and body
*Drawing near to God in our best and worst moments, in moments of joyful praise as well as in moments of abandonment and grief
Leslie is thrilled to offer this book and this Gathering to readers and retreat-ers, which is rooted in twenty years of her own transformative immersion in the Psalms. She desires to lead you where God has led her: into the heart of the Psalms and near to the heart of our Father.
Meet Leslie
Leslie Leyland Fields is an international speaker and award-winning author of 14 books including Your Story Matters: Finding, Writing and Living the Truth of Your Life; Crossing the Waters: Following Jesus through the Storms, the Doubt and the Seas (winner of Christianity Today's Book of the Year in Christian Living) and Forgiving Our Fathers and Mothers. Her books have been translated into 10 languages. Her newest book Nearing a Far God: Praying the Psalms with Our Whole Selves (Navpress) releases in March 2024.
Leslie also teaches a popular online Memoir Masterclass and leads spiritual writing workshops around the world. In the summer, she leads two writing workshops in Alaska, where she lives: the Your Story Matters Retreat on Kodiak Island, and the Harvester Island Writers’ Workshop. (Past guest writers have included Philip Yancey, Ann Voskamp, Bret Lott and many others.) Her ongoing passion is to help others find their voice, share their story, and renew their faith.
Judy Mandeville came to faith, dancing in 1968, and has been moving through her faith ever since! Mentored, and taught by legendary Sacred Movement Pioneer, Dr. Margaret Taylor Doanne, Judy has translated that pioneering spirit into many arenas.
Judy taught "Physicality and Spiritual Formation" for 26 years at Whitworth University, where her students, who learned to experience prayer, praise and scripture with their entire beings, discovered how transformational that can be! She also utilized movement therapeutically, at Sacred Heart Medical Center, in the pediatrics oncology unit and adolescent and adult mental health units.
Judy believes that all of who we are is designed to honor and communicate with our living and loving God, and has "preached the Gospel" through movement and posturing as far away as Lithuania, Malaysia, Kenya and Norway. She is also a speaker and currently designs and facilitates embodiment exercises for a variety of topics, including: leadership, creation care, team building and special needs. Judy's approach is inviting, non threatening and filled with delight.
Key Details
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April 18 - 20
Begins Thursday @ 7 pm
Ends Saturday @ noon -
RESToR Church, Goshen, Indiana
43 miles from South Bend, IND
2.5 hour drive from Chicago
2.5 hour drive from Indianapolis
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$250
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Welcome Bag (with Nearing a Far God book & journal)
Snacks/beverages
Thursday 7pm catered dessert
Friday catered dinner
Saturday catered lunch
Based on her forthcoming book Nearing a Far God: Praying the Psalms with our Whole Selves (Navpress, 2024)
Dare to come near and join Leslie in this fresh journey into the Psalms, where we’ll find our truest voices and encounter the intimate God who responds.