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Whale Spouts

Belly of the Whale

Spiritual Direction & Retreat Ministries

monthly newsletter


August 2024

August 11, 2024

Greetings Friends,


Last Sunday I was driving home from a week-long silent retreat at Mercy by the Sea on the shores of Connecticut. It was a wonderful culmination to the month-long celebration of Belly of the Whale's 10th Anniversary full of mandalas galore, gifts, conversations and our signature 3 day/3 night silent, guided retreat! What an incredible blessing it has been to share a decade of spiritual adventures together with you!


And now as we ease into August we slowly start to shift gears...back to school preparations, vine-ripened tomatoes from my own garden, subtly shorter days in the Northern hemisphere, and some exciting program planning for the year to come. The earth keeps spinning around the sun and we are blessed to pray and play another day.


Here is what you will find in this August edition of WhaleSpouts...

  • Spouting Off Blog - The Long Island Sound of Silence
  • Manda-palooza Gratitude - Celebrating 10 Years of Ministry Together!
  • Save the Date - Belly of the Whale Retreat - July 13-16, 2025
  • Prayer for the season - Deep Listening


I look forward to our next decade together as we continue praying, laughing, coloring, zooming, retreating, silencing, sharing, labyrinthing, loving & nurturing spiritual vitality in everyday living!  


With strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

Sharon


Sharon Seyfarth Garner, Founding Director

Belly of the Whale Ministries

sharon@bellyofthewhaleministries.net


In addition to your ongoing prayers of support and encouragement, if you are in a position to make a financial gift to help sustain Belly of the Whale Ministries, your generosity would be deeply appreciated! Thank you!

Click Here to Make a Gift

SPOUTING OFF BLOG

The Long Island Sound of Silence


For the past few years I have enjoyed the spiritual practice of discerning a "word for the year." Among others, my words have included fallow, dance, Jesus, play, and trust. My word for 2024 is SILENT and I have thoroughly enjoyed leaning into this invitation to be more quiet, still and present in my daily life.


In keeping with my word for the year, my Belly of the Whale 10th Anniversary gift to myself was a week-long SILENT retreat at Mercy by the Sea Retreat Center on the Connecticut shore of Long Island Sound. I love to play with words and was especially delighted by the opportunity to embrace a "silent" retreat on the "sound" ... a place to dive deep into the "sound of silence!"


Another play on words that I have been enjoying is that SILENT and LISTEN are born of the same letters, just dancing together in a different order. In this day and age of constant cacophony, bitter sound bites, and the acceptability of insults, the reminder to be silent and to listen is especially poignant. We are born of the same sacred DNA, dancing to different music, and yet still standing together on sacred ground - if only we open our eyes and ears to that reality.


What would happen if we intentionally took just one minute of silence before entering into a conversation... one full minute to remember that we are sacred siblings created in God's image? Might that change the way we connect with one another? Of course we can still disagree... but perhaps we can do so without being so disagreeable.


In the United States we are entering into the final days of a bitter and contentious election season. Let's not give in to the narrative of nastiness and negativitiy. Instead, let us be silent and listen before we speak. Then maybe, just maybe, we will have eyes to see and ears to hear that of God in one other as we walk together toward the polling stations in November.


The video below is an invitation to share a minute of sacred silence together. Feel free to play this any time you need a gentle nudge to pause before you speak.


Be still and know that I am God.

Psalm 46:10

MANDAPALOOZA GRATITUDE


Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to all of you who participated in Belly of the Whale's 10th anniversary Mandapalooza celebration last month! Whether you colored mandalas, sent cards or made a donation... thank you! And a huge shout out of congratulations to Patty Fallon as the grand prize winner of the Paloozatastic Contemplative Coloring Kit!


Below you will find a montage of all the wonderful prayer mandalas that so many of you colored and contributed to the mandapalooza celebration. I am deeply grateful to my daughter's boyfriend, Ethan Lassey, who created the video and my son, Timothy Garner, who provided the music. Enjoy!


As I look toward the next 10 years, the word that keeps rising in my heart and soul is COLLABORATE.


Let's collaborate! I would love to share my books, retreats, and prayer workshops even more widely and create opportunities to meet even more of you in person! If you are interested having me come share some of these spiritual growth opportunities together with your group, let's collaborate!


EMAIL me and we can brainstorm ways to collaborate & share in this sacred ministry together.

~ SAVE THE DATE ~

July 13-16, 2025

Belly of the Whale Silent, Guided Retreat

Belly of the Whale's signature 3 day/3 night silent, guided retreat this summer (July 7-10, 2024) was a tremendous blessing. We gathered in the sacred space of the Jesuit Retreat Center (Cleveland, Ohio) for abundant silence, reflections on Jonah, creative prayer practices, a candlelight labyrinth walk and much more. Click here to see a gallery of pictures (including the many different altar decorations that change regularly throughout the retreat).


I am delighted to share that I am now able to take this deeply meaningful Belly of the Whale retreat experience on the road!! I already have two additional retreats booked for private groups over the coming year. If you are interested in bringing this powerful spiritual renewal retreat experience to your group, let's talk! I can adapt the content to whatever works best for your community (2 hours, 1 day, 3 days or a full week!) and it can be done as a silent or spoken retreat.


The Belly of the Whale Spiritual Renewal Retreat (silent or spoken) would be a fantastic spiritual growth/group-building experience for your staff, clergy cohort, women's/men's/youth group, family, volunteers or retreat center.


Contact me and I would be honored to share this Jonah-inspired spiritual rest & renewal opportunity together with you!


Pic: #cheeseandrutabaga with Belly of the Whale Silent Retreat - Class of 2024

A PRAYER FOR THE SEASON

Deep Listening by Jay McDaniel

In this century and in any century,

Our deepest hope, our most tender prayer,

Is that we learn to listen.

May we listen to one another in openness and mercy

May we listen to plants and animals in wonder and respect

May we listen to our hearts in love and forgiveness

May we listen to our deep spirit in quietness and awe.

And in this listening,

Which is boundless in its beauty,

May we find the wisdom to cooperate

With a healing spirit, a divine spirit,

who beckons us into peace and community and creativity.

We do not ask for a perfect world.

But we do ask for a better world.

We ask for deep listening.


Our retreat leaders, Andrea Minelli and Carol Villagio, shared this poem with those of us gathered for the Sabbath retreat at Mercy by the Sea. We agreed to pray with these words regularly as we approach the November election. I invite you to do so as well. We ask for deep listening indeed!

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