From Sacred Text to Sacred Song
Unknowing, Lectio Divina, Chanting, & the Joy of Divine Presence
Join Carmen Acevedo Butcher for an experiential exploration of the down-to-earth wisdom and unknowing prayer at the heart of the anonymous Cloud of Unknowing, one of Centering Prayer’s great spiritual wellsprings.
Through lectio divina—a gently repetitive prayerful steeping in sacred text—we’ll explore how words can bring us beyond words and into the healing presence of God. As we listen deeply to a sacred passage, we’ll also explore how a simple chant or song may emerge, further deepening the text’s movement from the mind into the heart, body, and our lived experience.
Join us for this Contemplation Day of sacred reading, silence, contemplation, and joyful, communal unknowing.
Carmen Acevedo Butcher is an internationally acclaimed speaker and award-winning translator, author, poet, teacher, and workshop leader. Her translation of The Cloud of Unknowing was a Georgia Author of the Year Awardee, and Martin Laird calls her translation of Brother Lawrence’s Practice of the Presence “the new standard.” She has also been interviewed by the BBC, NPR, and many podcasts.
She earned her MA and PhD in Medieval Studies at the University of Georgia and was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of London, where she worked with monastic manuscripts. Carmen teaches at the University of California, Berkeley, and is core faculty and Dean at the Center for Action and Contemplation.
She is often found in the marsh chanting Psalm 46:10 in Old English.
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