An online program with Barbara Birch
over six Tuesdays:
February 2, 9, 16 & 23; March 2 & 9, 2027
11 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. PST

In this six-week online series, participants will learn to use Lectio Divina (reading and writing together in a worshipful, contemplative setting) to explore Thomas Kelly’s essay “The Eternal Now.” Kelly was a Quaker educator and mystic, and The Eternal Now is one of the essay’s in his 1941 classic A Testament of Devotion. In it, he lays out a Quaker theology of Nonviolence, and describes Truth, Embodiment, Power, Testimony, Community and Suffering.

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The  possibility  of  this  experience  of  Divine  Presence, as  a repeatedly  realized  and  present  fact,  and  its transforming  and  transfiguring  effect  upon  all  life — this  is  the  central  message  of  Friends.  Once  we discover this  glorious  secret,  this  new  dimension  of  life,  and we  no  longer  live  merely  in  time  but  we  live  also  in the  Eternal.  

About the facilitator. Barbara Birch has been a Quaker for over 35 years and she is a member of Strawberry Creek Friends Meeting in Berkeley, California. She is a retired professor of Applied Linguistics specializing in reading and writing. Identifying as both liberal and Christocentric, she is passionate about understanding early Quaker embodied spirituality and its relevance to modern Friends. Barbara is a member of the board of the Ben Lomond Quaker Center, where she has offered several online programs, book groups and more. She has written articles for Friends Journal and Western Friend. Barbara is also a wife, a mother of three daughters, and a grandmother of two.

Barbara has recently written a short book about the practice of Lectio Divina. It is part of the Quaker Quicks series from John Hunt Publishing, titled Lectio Divina: Revelation and Prophecy. You can order it from Pendle Hill and other booksellers.

It is not necessary to read the book in order to attend this program. No experience is necessary, and all are welcome to participate.

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: $100-250.
Welcome rate: $50-75. 

You can learn more about Quaker Center’s program costs here.

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Any questions about Quaker Center and our online programs? Send an email to mail@quakercenter.org or give us a call at (831) 212-2631.