Contemplative Ministry with Stuart Higginbotham

Episode 86 or Episode 5 of Season 2

Guest: Rev. Stuart Higginbotham, Episcopal Priest serving Grace Episcopal Church in Gainsville, Georgia. http://www.gracechurchgainesville.org. Full Bio below

 

Author of The Heart of a Calling

 

 

News

Commend to you the work of Dr. Martin Shaw. Martin is a storyteller and author. https://drmartinshaw.com

Stephen Jenkinson. He is a former Hospice and Palliative Care director in Toronto, Canada. Grief & Mystery. https://orphanwisdom.com

Dr. Fanny Brewster has a new book out titled Race and the Unconscious: An Africanist Depth Psychology Perspective on Dreaming 

August 4, 2023 Book Launch

https://www.pacifica.edu/pacifica-news/dr-fanny-brewster-book-launch/

Personal Updates

On Wednesday evening, September 13, I’ll be joined by local musician Mike Bussey for an evening called “Songs and Stories of Weird Wisdom.” Cross Mills Library in Charlestown, Rhode Island.

Write me at [email protected]

My Weekly Newsletter with an Essay on Mysticism and Psychology

https://jameshazelwood.substack.com/

 

Poem by William Stafford

The Way it Is

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn’t change.

People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.

Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

 

 

Stuart’s Bio

I began my cure as rector of Grace in early January 2014, after serving as Senior Associate at St. Benedict’s in Smyrna, Georgia, for over five years. Working with the entire leadership team at Grace, I have a particular passion for the intersection of contemplative practices and congregational development. Grace is an extraordinary community of nearly one thousand souls, and I feel blessed to live and pray among them as we prepare to celebrate our Bicentennial in 2028. I also serve as Assistant Professor in the Practice of Spiritual Formation and Ministry at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. At Candler, I focus on the contextual education of the Episcopal and Anglican seminarians, exploring the dynamics of congregational life in a “laboratory of spiritual imagination.”

Candler School of Theology Anglican/Episcopal Studies Program

My broader work as a priest, teacher, retreat leader, and author is grounded in the Christian contemplative tradition. I continue to share in ongoing conversations with friends from the New Contemplative Exchange, a fellowship first gathered by Thomas Keating, Richard Rohr, Tilden Edwards, and Laurence Freeman at St. Benedict’s Monastery in Snowmass, Colorado in August 2017. Since that time, I contributed to and co-edited the volume Contemplation and Community: A Gathering of Fresh Voices for a Living Tradition (Crossroad, 2019) and am the author of The Heart of a Calling: The Practice of Christian Mindfulness in Congregational Ministry (Crossroad, 2021).

Before “church life,” I studied in the pre-med program at Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas (B.S. in Biology, summa cum laude), and I did my initial theological studies at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia (M.Div, honors in spiritual formation). I also completed a certificate in Anglican Studies and the Doctor of Ministry degree from the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee Tennessee.

With the global contemplative community, I have worked with the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation, the World Community for Christian Meditation, Contemplative Outreach, the Candler School of Theology, Mepkin Abbey, and others. As well, I continue my practice and research into the connections between the Christian contemplative tradition and the Tibetan/Himalayan Buddhism, and I have a deep appreciation for the intersection of poetry and contemplative practice.

My wife, Lisa, and I have one daughter, Evelyn. We both grew up in Southeastern Arkansas, in the Mississippi Delta, with fried catfish, sweet tea, and mosquitoes the size of small birds.

                    

https://contemplativereformation.blog

 

Host: James Hazelwood

 

James Hazelwood, author, bishop, and spiritual companion, is the author of Weird Wisdom for the Second Half of Life and Everyday Spirituality: Discover a Life of Hope, Peace, and Meaning. His website is www.jameshazelwood.net