February 3: Metaphor as a Tool for Discernment

How do individuals and churches collectively discern what choices to make? And how can metaphors, such as pottery, help with the process?

In Fall 2020, the Collegeville Institute’s Communities of Calling Initiative gathered leaders from the 13 participating congregations for the virtual Treasure in Clay Jars retreat. Designed by project director Rev. Dr. Jane Patterson and program associate Jessie Bazan, the retreat invited participants to play with the metaphor of pottery as a way of reflecting on their individual and congregational callings.

In this Collegeville Connections presentation, Jane and Jessie will explore the value of metaphor as a tool for discernment and use the metaphor of pottery to reflect with some Communities of Calling Initiative participants about their recent experiences in congregational life.

Wednesday, February 3, 2021
12 – 1 PM, CST

Did you miss this event? Watch a recording below or on Facebook:

Resources mentioned:

• The Collegeville Institute’s Communities of Calling Initiative resources on discernment
• The Saint John’s Pottery website
• Communities of Calling Fall 2020 retreat materials about the metaphor of pottery, including a PDF of the booklet containing prayers referenced by panelists
• Richard Bresnahan: The Taste of Clay
• More about The Saint John’s Pottery on YouTube
• Collegeville Institute summer 2021 writing workshop on vocation (applications are open until February 21, 2021)

The Rev. Dr. Jane Patterson is Project Director for Communities of Calling Initiative at the Collegeville Institute. She is Associate Professor of New Testament at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, where she also serves as Director of Community Care. In addition to Biblical Studies, she teaches in the area of Christian formation, where her work focuses on vocation and Christian practice. She is a contributor to Calling All Years Good: Vocation Across the Lifespan (Eerdmans, 2017) and the author of Keeping the Feast: Metaphors of Sacrifice in 1 Corinthians and Philippians (SBL Press, 2015).  With John Lewis, she is a Co-Director of St. Benedict’s Workshop, a ministry devoted to helping laity live their faith in daily life, and serves the Diocese of West Texas as a member of the Discernment Committee. She is active as a preacher, teacher, and parishioner at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in San Antonio, Texas.

Jessie Bazan is the Program Associate for the Communities of Calling Initiative and the Collegeville Institute Seminars. Jessie Bazan earned her Masters of Divinity degree from the Saint John’s University School of Theology and Seminary and her Bachelor of Arts from Marquette University. In addition to her work with the Collegeville Institute, Jessie writes regularly for U.S. Catholic magazine. She is the editor and co-author of Dear Joan Chittister: Conversations with Women in the Church (Twenty-Third Publications, 2019).