Virtual Gospel of Thomas Groups
I am so very pleased to announce expanded opportunities for those on the Wisdom path to participate in ongoing Gospel of Thomas groups. Having worked on a deepened lectio divina process for the past dozen years, I have recently guided and prepared fourteen seasoned practitioners and group facilitators to organize and run their own Gospel of Thomas groups. For now, most of these new opportunities will utilize the technology of Zoom.
Rather than following an educational approach to an academic understanding of the text, these groups will allow the Gospel of Thomas to serve as a living text that will deepen the sharing and interaction among the participants. Moving beyond a more traditional model of lectio, the work has proven essential in deepening and integrating the spiritual transformations of the group members.
The group organizers, then, rather than being academic experts, are facilitators who will guide these groups in their inquiries and their interactions. Having experienced the power of these conversations themselves, they will work to facilitate the group process. The alchemy comes from the container of trust and safety which allows the participants to risk sharing their authentic reactions and their deepest ponderings. Rather than pointing forth a point of view designed to convince others, rather than finding forced agreement, and rather than posturing in any way—the participants are encouraged to listen deeply and without judgment and to risk being authentically real. This is what deepens the integration of Wisdom.
Most of the facilitators listed here will be running Gospel of Thomas groups that will meet weekly for 90 minutes. The facilitators will generally run a series of 10 to 12 weekly sessions, which we call chapters. Participants will be asked to commitment to a full chapter—although there is generally no expectation that everyone will be able to attend every group session. Between chapters there may be a break of some duration. Participants can then choose to stop at that point or to continue in the next chapter. Generally, new participants are brought on board at the beginning of a chapter.
With each facilitator listed will be a probable day of the week and a general time of day as well as an approximate starting date for his/her group. In this way, potential participants will be able to pick days, times, and starting dates that will be desirable.
Many of the groups will have a small charge per chapter (approximately 10 to 12 sessions). Because each facilitator will handle this matter uniquely, the information can and will come directly from them. Indeed, sign up and further information about each facilitator’s group can be done through her/his direct E-mail.
I am privileged to continue to participate through ongoing support of the group of facilitators.
Monday Gospel of Thomas Group
We are a group of seven who have just finished exploring the Gospel of Thomas for the first time and unanimously decided we want to explore it again. We rotate the leadership of the group each week. We find this deepens our own awareness of the logia and allows our own gifts to enrich the group. We follow the Lecio Divina format.
Our group is open to welcoming new members.
Time: Monday 9:30-11:00 am EST on Zoom
Contact person: Dianne McAuliffe
If you are interested in joining our group please contact me at diannemcauliffe@comcast.net
Carol Tolonen
When our Gospel of Thomas group was first forming in the spring of 2022, I wrote that my goal in facilitating the group was “to help co-create a small community within our growing Wisdom Community that will nurture the spiritual growth of each of us as individuals, strengthen our larger community, and enhance our capacities to live our daily lives out of the perspective we are gaining from our ongoing Wisdom transformation.” The community that has developed and continues to evolve has more than met my hopes and expectations. As we share our individual responses to the often enigmatic sayings of Jesus recorded as the Gospel of Thomas, we find ourselves clarifying and claiming our own Wisdom voices and at the same time expanding our perspectives as we listen receptively to the perspectives of one another. And as we share examples and questionings from our everyday lives, we feel heard and supported by each other in a way that can only occur because of our common commitment to the spiritual journey. Our experience together repeatedly affirms the Wisdom principle that we are all interconnected and thus the spiritual journey requires community.
We meet weekly on Mondays from 12 to 1:30 Eastern time. Our concept of “chapters” is rather loose and we are almost always open to new members.
If you would like to hear more and discern whether joining us is the right step for you right now, please email me at caroltolonen@gmail.com.
Edie Kausch
If you are considering joining a Gospel Of Thomas Group then I bid you a warm wholehearted welcome.
As human beings, we have a longing to belong to a loving community that can see and accept us as we truly are and we feel blessed and honored when others in that community gift us with their own deep authenticity. This is what a Gospel Of Thomas Group can offer to you.
With the Apostle, Thomas, as our guide, let us begin a journey to explore the vast uncharted regions of our hearts through the secret sayings of Jeshua. Experience how each Logion reveals itself though your own life and circumstances. Watch how your own wisdom voice evolves as we affirm and resonate with your growing sense of wholeness. Let us feast in the joys of learning to lovingly tend to ourselves and each other in life-giving ways. Let us begin to drink from our true Source.
I would love to begin this sacred journey with you and possibly 8 other people starting this 10 week session from April 7 – June 9. We will meet on Zoom each Thursday at 6 am. (PT) Pacific Time (I live in California). To join this group or if you have any questions, you can email me at: growingdiva@gmail.com
Elizabeth Combs
Have you ever planted flower bulbs without knowing what color they will be until they blossom? Or come upon a high mountain hut in the most unlikely (and completely welcome) spot? Or been surprised by a moment of stillness in seemingly unending motion -- the water drop in the cascade? Gospel of Thomas groups in a wisdom format can be like that: equal parts hospitality, patience and wonderment, all in the service of LOVE.
The text itself is a living participant in our group; Yeshua is a living presence of wisdom-transformed love on Earth. We are accompanied. We arrive. We sense into our grounded and centered presence together. We gaze at each other. We listen with all aspects of our being. And the colors become more luminous with our gazing, the silence more resonant with our listening, within us individually and as a group. The blessings flow.
Elizabeth is taking a pause at this time.
Heather Vesey
Relating with the Gospel of Thomas lectio divina-style, has been one of the most profound and rewarding practices for me in recent years. Engaging with the text in community – with a bunch of ten or so people – is what makes this practice so multi-layered for me, where we are able to weave together our insights, experiences and perspectives, always with the purpose and intention of helping each other to deepen in love. And so it is this – the desire to help facilitate and cultivate a deeper way of being, knowing and loving, that brings me - and you! – to Bill’s website and to this opportunity. What’s most exciting of all, is having Yeshua (through and with the words of Thomas) – in our midst, knowing that his Presence is informing our insights and our sharing.
I don’t currently have an opening, but will possibly start a new group in the new year. If you’re interested, I’d love to hear from you: heather@vesey.net
Martha Eskew
I am a curious pilgrim. Curiosity about what makes a person tick is what makes me tick. I was sent by Richard Rohr and faculty from the Living School into the university of ‘The Great Unknowing’, in October 2021. In my 2 years in the Living School, I learned that Love was what makes us all tick. And that love even though it resides deeply in our own hearts it lives and expresses most fully in community. Yeshua is the master teacher of Love; He was love incarnate. The Gospel of Thomas is our guide today. I have been a consultant about human relation issues, marrying people into organizations; a coach, helping people integrate into their own self, their life, and their work; a teacher of servant leadership and the Enneagram. Now I am called to delve deeply into the teachings of the great master of Love with a community. Perhaps we will all learn something about ourselves, the ways we move in the world, the ways we love ourselves, love others and allow others to love us. I look forward to meeting a few of you to respond to the Gospel of Thomas together.
I have found this practice of Lectio Divina life giving, fun, and the best way to familiar yourself with the contemplative or wisdom life.
A commitment to make the meetings is the way we can come into community but don’t worry if you miss one or two here and there, you are welcome here.
Please contact me directly with interest and questions: marthairis@mac.com 404-786-0262
Martha is taking a pause at this time.
Melissa Auten
It is with great joy and deep humility that I approach this new venture to begin sharing The Gospel of Thomas in a Lectio Divina style group with interested wisdom seekers. This gospel offers us a unique opportunity to wrestle with a little known wisdom text that was largely lost to humanity until the 20th century. Written by Thomas, disciple of Jesus, this unique gospel allows for spacious reflection that requires all of our centers- cognitive, heart, and body in order to sense meaning and application to our own lives and lived experiences. Sharing in community is the very best way to approach Thomas, as it is in the midst of us where the Spirit breathes, enlightens, and enlivens each perspective causing something akin to a new arising to occur. If you are interested in joining such a group, please contact me at: auten.melissa@yahoo.com
Details: 10-week chapters with reset periods in between where participants can decide if they wish to continue on or take a break.
Wednesday evenings: 6:30-8 pm
Suggested donation: sliding scale $50-100 per “chapter”
Mary Travis
Wisdom calls us into a willingness to encounter and experience a new way of knowing and an ever-deepening experience of wholeness and community. As we share our individual thoughts and the ways a logion resonates in our heart/body/soul together, a beautiful thing happens, we grow together. There are no right or wrong interpretations in a Gospel of Thomas. As we each share our thoughts, sometimes quite different from that of others, our collective understanding grows along with our sense of our own wholeness and that we are part of the whole.
My experience with the Gospel of Thomas is that its logia work with us, a deep inner work that continues in daily life beyond our time together. My own profound experience of participating in a Gospel of Thomas group led by Bill kindled a desire to facilitate a Gospel of Thomas group, to create a safe space of acceptance and inclusion. A space where the practice of Lectio Divina is complimented and strengthened by sharing and exploring together how a logion resonates (or doesn’t :) within each person. A safe container where we experience the truth that we are part of each other’s growth and unfolding!
For more information, please contact me at marydtrav@gmail.com
Mary is taking a pause at this time.
Pam Butler
Welcome fellow wisdom seeker and thank you for considering a Gospel of Thomas group.
My experience in a Gospel of Thomas group has led me to deeper places in ways of being, of knowing, of loving and of living. I am amazed how the text speaks to each member in such a unique way, as the spirit moves in this open and safe space in which to share. As the logion is read out loud, members respond with words or phrases followed by feelings and thoughts that bubble up, so to speak. As a result, the gospel becomes a living text to be experienced together.
Finding this connection in community has been an important step on my wisdom journey and one that I would like to share. It would be my pleasure to walk along this path exploring the Gospel of Thomas with you.
Details: 10-week chapters with 6-8 participants
The idea is to commit to all 10 sessions (a chapter), but if you must miss one or two, not a problem. Sessions will be recorded on Zoom and sent out to the group.
At the end of each chapter, with the groups input we will take 2-3 weeks off, allowing participants the chance to take a break or to conFnue with the next chapter.
Time: Wednesday 9-10:15 am EST via Zoom
If you are interested in joining this group or if you have questions, please feel free to contact me at:
butlerpw711@gmail.com
Peggy Greenwald
Are you curious about the Gospel of Thomas? Have you been looking for a group of people with whom you can explore it? My own journey to Thomas took time. I had been exploring various spiritual teachers for many years, until I found Bill Redfield’s programs in late 2019 and his approach spoke to my heart. Then, I was privileged to find an opening in an ongoing Gospel of Thomas group. Meeting together over the months, we shared thoughts, feelings and life experiences related to the Logions. In the process, I began to find my voice. I guess my excitement about the group experience was infectious because some of my friends began to ask if we could create our own group.
We started as a few like-minded people who wanted a safe and loving space to talk about God in a real and personal way. The group has now been meeting for about a year. We are a smaller group, some with a depth and background in the Wisdom Community, others for whom the Gospel of Thomas has provided their introduction to Wisdom. Yeshua and Thomas guide us, but our lives provide the basis for our discussions.
We meet Thursday evenings from 6:30-8:00 PM ET on Zoom. We have space for a few new people. If you think you might like to join us, you can contact me at Margaretsgreenwald@gmail.com
Ellen Gottmann Kulik
Hello. My name is Ellen Gottmann Kulik. I was raised in the Christian faith and had a firm faith footing when the tragic death of my 10 day old son rocked my world. Not only was I cast into a world of unfathomable pain and grief, but the platitudes of formal religion failed me as I grasped desperately to make sense of the profound presence of God in my deepest suffering. While it’s too long of a story to post here, I will say that my searching and the persistent nudging of the Spirit and some faithful spiritual companions gradually led me to the Christian Wisdom path, including the Gospel of Thomas. For me, the Gospel of Thomas has been a unique bridge between the canonical Gospels and the Wisdom path. During a time of questioning and moving into the unknown, my Gospel of Thomas group served as an anchor in the storm. I have both participated in and facilitated Gospel of Thomas groups in person and on-line. I would be honored to walk this path with you whether you have never studied the Gospel of Thomas or are an old friend of Thomas. Together, we will open our hearts to meaning of text and see what wisdom Thomas, and one another, have to offer. The group meets on Tuesday evenings from 7-8:00 P.M. EST on Zoom, and runs for 10 weeks. If you would like to join or need more information, please contact me at ellen@leavealittlemark.com.