The Australian Christian Meditation Community National Conference

Date/Time
1 Nov 2013 until 2 Nov 2013
7:30 PM - 9:30 PM

Location
Sydney Church of England Grammar School (SHORE)

Category(ies)

• Conference

More Details:

One in Christ: The contemplative heart of Christianity must guide the Churches’ institutional direction. As Christians enter a new era the practice of meditation at all levels and all ages offers the hope of renewal from the roots of our faith.

About the Conference

• Advance bookings essential. Payment in full is required by 23 October 2013.
• Contact Janet Sorby (jsorby@tpg.com.au) for registration forms and payment.
• BYO lunch. Tea, coffee, water will be provided
• Book Sales available
• Limited Parking on site
• Close to public transport – bus and train.
• For Accommodation enquiries contact Judi Taylor palmy@ozemail.com.au

About speaker Laurence Freeman OSB

Laurence Freeman OSB is a Benedictine monk and the spiritual guide and Director of The World Community for Christian Meditation a contemporary, contemplative community. Born in England, he was educated by the Benedictines and studied English Literature at New College, Oxford. Before entering monastic life Laurence Freeman had experience with the United Nations, in banking and journalism.

Fr. Laurence travels widely as an international speaker and retreat leader. He has conducted dialogues and peace initiatives such as the historic “Way of Peace” with the Dalai Lama and is active in inter-religious dialogue with leaders of other faiths. In 2010 he was awarded the Order of Canada in recognition of his work for dialogue and the promotion of world peace.

Fr. Laurence encourages the teaching of Christian Meditation to children and students and the recovery of the contemplative wisdom in the Church and in society at large.

He is the Director of Meditatio the outreach of the community to the wider world. Meditatio host seminars, forums and resources on the themes of Education, Mental Health, Business, Addiction and Recovery, Interfaith and other topics.

Laurence Freeman is the author of many books and writes for journals and magazines and is a regular contributor to The Tablet. He is also the principal editor of John Main’s works.

Books include, Light Within, Selfless Self, Your Daily Practice, The Inner Pilgrimage, Jesus: The Teacher Within and First Sight: The Experience of Faith.

About Christian Meditation

Meditation is a Universal Tradition found in all the great religions. As such, it offers an important common ground for interfaith dialogue and a basis for peace in the world. Many Christians have been helped to recover contact with their own tradition of meditation, or contemplative prayer, because of the work of Fr. John Main, who is the inspiration of the World Community. His teaching of this ancient tradition of prayer is rooted in the Gospels and the early Christian monastic tradition of the Desert. Meditation helps people of all ages and cultures to find a simple, practical and meaningful way to awaken and deepen their spiritual life.

Many people believe that John Main’s greatest legacy was his rediscovery of the practice of pure prayer, or Christian meditation, as the birthright of all believers, not just for those in monasteries and convents. In 1975 John Main began the first weekly meditation groups at his monastery in London and then in Montreal. Now, countless meditators and hundreds of weekly meditation groups around the world carry on the tradition and spread the teaching in various ways.

The World Community for Christian Meditation

The Community is a kind of ‘monastery without walls’, a family of national communities and emerging communities in over a hundred countries. The spiritual foundation is the local meditation group, which meets weekly in homes, parishes, offices, hospitals, prisons, schools and colleges – pretty well everywhere, that people live and seek. The World Community is ecumenical and serves a universal ‘catholic’ unity in its dialogue both with Christian churches and other faiths. We encourage and try to support the daily practice of meditation, knowing its power to change hearts and so to transform our world. As a global spiritual community it took form in 1991. But it continues the 30 year long work begun by the Benedictine monk John Main. His legacy is found in his teaching Christian meditation as part of the great work of our time of restoring the contemplation dimension of Christian faith in the life of the church.

Visit these websites for more information:

International website: www.wccm.org

Australian website: www.christianmeditationaustralia.org