THE HUMAN & THE HOLY

~ A  SPIRITUAL FORMATION COMMUNITY ~

♦ Beginning Our 16th Year Together ♦
NOTE: WE’VE BEEN ON HIATUS SINCE 3/2020 DUE TO COVID.
WE HOPE TO CONTINUE EITHER IN-PERSON OR ONLINE.
STAY TUNED.
SPIRITUAL GUIDE: DAN MILLER, Ph.D.

WHAT IS THE HUMAN & THE HOLY (H&H)? H&H is an intentional, continually emerging community who come together once a month from September to May to explore the deeper meanings and implications of Jesus’ invitation to abundant life. We encourage one another to live significant lives marked by contemplative awareness and compassionate action. 

WHAT BRINGS US TOGETHER? H&H has three primary goals: first, to encourage seekers and practitioners of faith to move beyond the rudimentaries of religion and to go deeper in their understanding and lived experience of Christian spirituality; second, to create a learning community of spiritual practice and mutual care united by the common desire to listen and respond more fully to the presence of God in their lives and in the world today; and third, to support each other in ongoing personal transformation while encouraging each other to practice tangible ways of participating in the dream of God, social justice, and the well-being of the earth.

WHAT WE DO WHEN WE GATHER Each gathering includes most of these characteristic movements:

(1) simple ritual and/or communal movement,
(2) thoughtful presentations,
(3) silence for personal reflection and prayer,
(4) generous listening and reverent dialogue in companion circles, and
(5) a spiritual practice, for example, lectio divina, art as meditation, circle dance, examen, journaling, etc.

WHO COMES TO H&H? While grounded in the life and teachings of Jesus, H&H is inclusive in spirit and progressive in perspective, honoring and welcoming both Christians and those walking other spiritual paths. Like you, we are both overwhelmingly ordinary and astoundingly extraordinary. We love newcomers. All genuine seekers, apprentices, and artisans of faith are welcome as we strive to honor each person’s sacred journey regardless of race, creed, age, gender, or sexual orientation.

WHAT WE VALUE? Over the years we have grown in our appreciation of genuine, reverent dialogue, striving to listen as much as we talk. We value deep questions more than stock answers, the silence and the struggles from which they emerge, laughter as well as tears, shared stories along with shared concerns, and faith that connects contemplative prayer and compassionate action. We tend to understand faith less as assent to propositions than as an unfolding mystery and a chosen way of being in a world both filled with heartache and dipped in grace.

THE KINDS OF TOPICS WE HAVE FOCUSED ON? H&H  began in 2003. Here is a list of themes for the years 2005 – 2018:

2020 Wt/Sp   Quiet in Heart and In Eye, Clear (CANCELLED due to COVID-19)
2018 – 2019   Year Off
2017 – 2018   The Blessed Tension: Holding the Truths of Meaningful Differences
2016 – 2017   From the Inside Out: Living a Significant Life
2015 – 2016   A Rabbi, a Priest, a Poet, and a Tenderheart Walk into a Bar
2014 – 2015   Embracing Life, Engaging Death
2013 – 2014   How I Pray Is Breathe
2012 – 2013   Listen Loudly
2011 – 2012   Wellsprings of Wisdom
2010 – 2011   Poetry for the Sacred Journey
2009 – 2010   Practicing Resurrection
2008 – 2009   Living the Beatitudes
2007 – 2008   The Life & Writings of Abraham Heschel
2006 – 2007   Formative Figures
2005 – 2006   Faith & Film

WHERE AND WHEN DO YOU MEET? We meet from September to May the 3rd Sunday of the month from 1:30pm – 5:00pm at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Pomona, CA.

OUR SPIRITUAL GUIDE Dan Miller, Ph.D. is a spiritual guide, teacher, retreat leader, and writer. He received M.Div. and Th.M. degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from the Claremont School of Theology. Dan trained as a spiritual director in the late 1980’s at the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation and more recently has done work with the Animas Valley Institute. Dan has been a creative leader, catalyst, guide, and companion for persons and communities for over thirty -fiveyears. His commitment is to support persons and communities to live lives of spiritual depth and daring by encouraging them to discover what it means to enact a spirituality that lovingly, compassionately, and responsibly tends to oneself, others, creation, and the Divine.   

FOR THIS YEAR’S THEME click here.