Welcome to Clergy Writing Circles 2022. I’m excited to offer you what I hope will be intimate communities of care, support and nourishment, to be held in safety by Derekh Associates and the other colleagues in your writing circle. To support and facilitate your soul-work and self-care, we will be emailing you a new set of writing prompts at the beginning of each of the four weeks of the course, stirring your memory and helping you to engage this summer with a process of gentle turning as you move toward the Yamim Noraim.

The individual writing you will do over the course of each week and the sharing within groups will allow you to dig deep, looking back on the year which is ending and reflecting on how you lived it, discerning what can be learned from high moments and painful moments, and then mindfully visioning how you might continue becoming in the year ahead, aligning your day-to-day life with the center of who you are.

Let me also say that while the primary focus of this writing is exploring your own inner life, those clergy who have worked with me over the years know well that their personal seeking is precisely the source of their deepest teaching. Therefore, I hope this writing will have a secondary value in perhaps uncovering or sparking ideas, words, stories that you will decide to share with those whom you lead, in the form of divrei Torah, sermons, thoughtful congregational discussions.

Advice – in advance of the start of your workshop, buy a new notebook, one with pages large enough to stretch out thoughts and feelings. Why a notebook? Why write by hand? I’ll explain that along the way.

Each week you will receive a variety of prompts – you may write on just one prompt or all, you may write once or twice during the week or each day – the choice is yours. You may want to do this writing solo, or perhaps, as a supplement to your writing circle, you may decide to choose as chevrusa a friend or colleague with whom to process, to listen and be heard.

May this summer writing be a source of rich introspection and self-exploration for you. Blessings to you on this journey.