Bringing our Bodies to Quaker Center
and the Bible
with Dorothy Henderson and Nora Lisette
an in-person program
Sunday, December 28, 2025,
to Thursday, January 1, 2026
Click here to register
Grounded in Romans 12:1-2a, we will bring our bodies and the Bible to the year-end retreat at Quaker Center. We will explore being fully present in the Casa, the labyrinth, our sleeping space, the Orchard and Redwood lodges, the waterfall, the Redwood Circle. Sinking down to Spirit within our bodies in these beloved spaces, we will bring our curiosity to the Bible as a possible guide to transformation and worship in our everyday lives.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Remaining open to continuing revelation, we imagine exploring daily practices to deepen our body consciousness, daily activities to bring us fully into the spirit and places of Quaker Center, and invitations to daily Bible readings integrating and deepening our experience of our bodies in this place and this moment – what does this experience have to tell us?
Some activities will include mindful walking in groups and alone, reading select Bible passages within a worship sharing format, practicing breath and grounding exercises in chosen Quaker Center places, responding to select Bible passages in journal writing, or offering of a Bible reading for first thing in the morning and the last thing at night.
We hope that questions, wonderings, and challenges about the Bible will be a part of our daily journey together. Through all of these practices in our bodies in the spaces of Quaker Center, the Bible will be offered as a guide, a friend, an instigator, a troublemaker, and a continuing source for waking up to what is Holy.
No previous experience with the Bible is needed or expected. We will all come anew to the Bible.
Click here to register!
Those who wish to arrive a day early on Saturday, December 27th, will be welcome. We will not have meals or activities planned until the Retreat begins with registration on December 28th, Sunday afternoon, and dinner at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.
Childcare will be provided for kids 4 and up during the program sessions, and children are welcome to come along for free.
About the program leader: Dorothy Henderson. I am a member of Grass Valley Friends Meeting. At age 78, I understand that my biography has been built in community. My Monthly, Quarterly and Yearly Meetings sustain and inspire me. I have been in the presence of and studied the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and Marshall Rosenberg. I have attempted to live their teachings and have taught Marshall’s Nonviolent Communication over the past twenty years. I am an elder, and a member of the Eldering Subcommittee of the Ministry Committee of Pacific Yearly Meeting. My teacher for that pioneering practice is Elaine Emily. Stephen Matchett introduced me to the Bible as a Quaker, and his teachings have guided my offerings of Bible Study over the past ten years. I only recently understood that Jesus has come to teach me himself. I am currently writing a book about the experience of walking with Jesus. My time as a Kenneth L. Carroll Biblical Scholar during the 2024 Spring Semester at Pendle Hill has helped me integrate these teachings into my writing. My early morning conversations with my husband, Doug Hamm is helping me integrate these teachings into my life. My four adult children bring me continuing revelation.
Program cost
Like all Quaker Center programs, this program is priced along a sliding scale – we encourage you to contribute an amount that you are comfortable with and that enables you to attend. We hope the suggested cost ranges below will help you to do this.
Standard rate: $200-400.
Welcome rate: $75-150.
You can learn more about Quaker Center’s program costs here.
Click here to register!
