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Advances
Moving Forward Not Backward
Read the Gospel of Mark. In many ways the gospel is organized according to the "advances" Jesus took. Count the number of times Mark says "And Jesus came apart."
Now look deeper into where Jesus "came apart":" the mountains, the desert, and the water. Three different bons vaux, sacred spaced, landscapes of the sacred. The three natural places which have the power to help restore us to physical, mental and spiritual harmony. Your soul needs three sacred spaces. Which one depends on the state your soul is in.
In creating SpiritVenture Ministries, Len, Elizabeth and their partners are building a decentralized model of "advancing" (a mountain advance, an island/water advance, and a desert advance).
The Mountain Advance is in Canaan Valley, West Virginia.
The Water Advance is on Orcas Island, Washington.
The Desert Advance is TBD (to be determined).
At each one of the "advances," you will not find a motel-like (centralized buildings with square-box accommodations linked by long narrow corridors and wide parking-lots) spaces. Instead SpiritVenture Ministries is bringing back the old-fashioned, decentralized get-away-cottages you used to see all along US America's blue highways -- except each one of these cottages is more "English cottage" in size, luxury-class in appointments, and future-fitted with what you need for a healthy mind, body and soul. See www.northshore4kiss.com for more details.
*The cost of each Advance includes all registration fees and six meals for the two days. Each Advance begins with breakfast on the first morning, and concludes with supper and after-dinner conversation on the second evening. You are responsible for your own housing, although we are available to help you find lodging and make recommendations.
Karen Swallow Prior is professor of English at Liberty University. She earned her Ph. D. and M. A. at the State University of New York at Buffalo and her B. A. at Daemen College. She is a member of the graduate faculty and teaches British literature primarily, with a specialty in eighteenth century British literature, which she loves for its emphasis on philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, and community, and the “middle way.” Her scholarly work has appeared in 1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era; The Shandean; and The Scriblerian. She is a contributing writer for Christianity Today, The Atlantic, and Think Christian and the author of Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me (T. S. Poetry Press, 2012). Her writing has also appeared at Comment, Relevant, Books and Culture, and Salvo. A biography of the nineteenth century social reformer and abolitionist Hannah More is forthcoming from Thomas Nelson in 2014. Karen is a member of the Redbud Writers Guild and the Faith Advisory Council of the Humane Society of the United States. She lives in rural Virginia with her husband and sundry dogs, horses, and chickens.
