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The Art of Spiritual Conversation

John Biersdorf

These sessions will explore how God is moving in our lives and our life of prayer: examples of spiritual guidance in Christian history and focus on theological and practical methods of spiritual conversation in words, images, scripture and bodily energy.

John Biersdorf has been a spiritual counselor and taught prayer and meditation and spiritual guidance for many years.  He is ordained in the United Church of Christ and has served as a parish pastor, seminary professor, as Director of the Department of Ministry at the National Council of Churches, and as founder and president of the Ecumenical Theological Seminary in Detroit.  He is the author of several books, the most recent being How Prayer Shapes Ministry.

Spirituality in the Midst of Woundedness

Minerva Carcano

All of us carry wounds from our past, and experience new wounds as our lives continue.  These sessions will be a consideration of how to deal with our spiritual journey even and especially in the midst of our alienation and woundedness.  Through community experience we practice being agents of God's reconciling love.

Minerva Carcano in an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church and has served local churches in Texas and California as well as helping organize an ecumenical parish in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  She was the first female District Superintendent in the Rio Grande Conference and was Director of the Mexican American Program at Perkins School of Theology, Dallas Texas.  She was elected and is currently serving as a Bishop in the United Methodist Church.

The Nebraska Five Day Academy for Spiritual Formation is sponsored by the Board of Laity and Discipleship of the Nebraska United Methodist Annual Conference under the authority of The Upper Room.

Last modified: 09/23/09