On-going weekly conversations about loss, life transitions, and the preciousness of life.
With Chris Flynn and Endel Kallas
Beginning April 17, 2022
Held the 3rd Sunday of Every month from 3:00 to 4:30pm
$10 per session
Please join the Christine Center spiritual community for meaningful conversations about loss, life transitions, and the preciousness of life. While death is inevitable, it is most often a taboo subject. It is not a comfortable, everyday topic of conversation and it is sometimes hard to know with whom, and where, we can have these tender conversations freely.
In this community of sacred space, we will discuss what death can teach us about living life fully, forging an authentic and meaningful life.
2022 Sessions: The First Invitation: Don’t Wait
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September: Chapter 1 The Doorway to Possibility “When we embrace impermanence, a certain grace enters our lives.”
October: Chapter 2 At Once Here and Disappearing “The beauty is that our impermanence binds us to every other human being.”
November: Chapter 3 The Maturation of Hope “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”
December: Chapter 4 The Heart of the Matter “Forgiveness. Love is what allows us to let go. Loving and letting go are inseparable. You can’t love and cling at the same time.”
“Death is not waiting for us at the end of a long road. Death is always with us, in the marrow of every passing moment. She is the secret teacher hiding in plain sight.” Frank Ostaseski, The Five Invitations.
The good news is that we don’t have to wait until the end of our lives to reveal the wisdom that death has to offer.
About Chris Flynn
Chris has been facilitating heart-centered groups for over 50 years.
She creates Sacred Spaces where people feel safe and comfortable expressing and sharing what’s in their hearts and minds.
From the Consciousness Raising of the 60’s, to The Course in Miracles of the 70’s, all the way up to present day, she has always invited participants to get out of their heads and into their hearts, and to speak from their own personal experience.
In the 1980’s she worked as a lay-minister and outreach coordinator for several Unity Churches. In the 1990’s she completed her Masters in Metaphysical Pastoral Counseling and was ordained as a non-denominational minister. She founded Conscious Connections Community, where she facilitated weekly groups and retreats. Her groups and workshops were closely affiliated with Unity, Unitarian, and Science of Mind churches.
For many years, Chris volunteered on the Suicide Prevention hotline. Then, in 2014, Chris joined her local Hospice Grief Support team. Seeing the need for community, beyond what Hospice could provide, she formed the New Horizons Community for widows and widowers. This group has been meeting via Zoom for three years. Her groups have included: Loss in the Second Year, The Five Invitations, Friday Family Check-in, Grief in the Time of Covid, The Artist’s Journey through Grief, Grief in the Holidays, and It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again.
As a Catholic youth, Chris had the ability to “blur her eyes,” and see what the priests and nuns really meant. Now, at 75, and a student of the Tao, those early perceptions have come full circle, fortifying her concept of creating Sacred Spaces for personal and group growth.
From The Tao of Leadership: Verse 37.
Doing Little. Selfless gives one center.
Center creates order.
When there is order, there is little to do.
Chris lives in the California Redwoods with her husband and Saint Bernard. Six years ago, while visiting her Wisconsin relatives, she discovered the Christine Center and immediately found her spiritual home. She has attended many of the Christine Center’s virtual classes, the weekly Tao group, plus, last year she attended in person, The Tao in the Summer. Through ‘Quantum Connecting via Zoom’ (thank you Sr. Gabe), Chris enjoys her deep connection with the Christine Center community.
About Endel Kallas
Endel is an inaugural graduate of the CAC/Rohr Institute’s Living School for Action and Contemplation, and has extensive experience in the men’s movement including leading Men’s Rites of Passage (MROP) processes.
He brings a unique emergent perspective to retreat facilitation while seeking a holistic approach to compassionate activism and inclusive environmental education in his pursuits.
Drawing across a number of disciplines, he is a creative practitioner of Integral Knowledge Management who has applied collaborative practices to build personal and organizational capacity. His recent service includes initiatives aimed at narrowing the knowledge gap across diverse learning styles.
His interest in partnering with the Christine Center reflects a “second half of life” effort to realize a life-long pursuit seeking to integrate the natural sciences, humanities, and the social sciences through spiritual practice.
His general intention is to share developing and evolving an ever more expansive awareness of an emergent and inspired consciousness while building local and extended community.