Reflection Group: This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us, by Cole Arthur Riley
Beginning on November 2 and continuing until just before she leaves on sabbatical, Amy will be leading a reflection group on the book This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us, by Cole Arthur Riley.
With each chapter, Riley (who is also the creator of Black Liturgies) explores a different topic with a vivid essay, rich in personal detail and spiritual exploration, and infused always with a passion for making a better world. To enable us to also explore these topics, all participants need the book ahead of time.
- Before each session, the members of the group will write / draw / sculpt / dance / [insert preferred method of exploration here] private reflections on the topic of the upcoming chapter. This can be as structured or as free-form as you like (think “free writing,” as described by Natalie Goldberg). But please do it before reading Riley’s own thoughts on the subject.
2. Then, we will each read the chapter.
3. And finally, we will come together to share deeply about that topic, in a session guided by Riley’s meditations and our own. We will share our writing only if we want to.
To be ready for our first gathering, please buy or borrow the book. It is available at Kepler’s. If that is not feasible for you, please let Amy know confidentially; she and Cat have a fund for this purpose.
“Welcome the rising of Arthur Riley’s astonishing voice. This is a gorgeous and muscular work.”
Krista Tippett, host of On Being and New York Times bestselling author of Becoming Wise
The sessions are 7-8:30 pm on the first, third, and fifth Wednesdays; please note two skipped days.
November 2 dignity
November 16 place
December 7 wonder
(no meeting on the 3rd Wed. in December; Winter Solstice service)
January 4 calling
January 18 body
February 1 belonging
February 15 fear
March 1 lament
March 15 rage
(no meeting on the 5th Wed. in March; spring break)
April 5 justice
April 19 repair
May 3 rest
May 17 joy
May 31 memory
June 7 liberation
Our format is hybrid: join us in person, or via Zoom.
Meeting ID: 854 2357 7619
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“A wonderfully winsome, heartbreakingly honest, and ever-poetic work of spiritual biography and theological reflection . . . While some theologians will talk in the abstract about ‘incarnation,’ ‘enfleshment,’ or ‘embodiment,’ Arthur Riley’s book is a lesson in concreteness, in Black theology, in seeing a body, being a body, being a person rooted in time, space, stories, and very particular flesh.”
Library Journal (starred review)