Keeping an Open Heart in Troubled Times

A workshop with The Rev. Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger.

This workshop will address the challenge of keeping your heart open with compassion while witnessing so much suffering in and around us.

How do we keep our spirits alive when:

• we are weighed down by the nightly news,
• we struggle to make a living while raising our children,
• we worry about the degradation of our food, air and water,
• and suffer unhealed trauma that we carry in our bodies and souls?

We will work from the inside out beginning with how we respond to losses of many kinds and discovering those people, places and activities that refresh our souls.

The purpose is to learn how to witness trauma and tragedy (our own included) and not be overwhelmed by fear, despair, hatred or addiction. We will draw from the deep wells of scripture paired with pertinent contemporary understandings from the field of psychology. Practical skills toward building individual and communal healing and resilience will be introduced. The workshop intends to be both experiential and interactive, as well as providing conceptual tools that will prompt deeper reflection on our lives.

The Reverend Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger, PhD, an ordained minister in the PCUSA, is a Spiritual Director at Princeton Theological Seminary, and Professor of Pastoral Theology Emerita. Originally trained as a pastoral counselor, Deborah taught courses in pastoral theology and pastoral care at Princeton Seminary for 25 years. Among her major publications are:

• Theology and Pastoral Counseling: A New Interdisciplinary Approach
• Pray Without Ceasing: Revitalizing Pastoral Care
• Transforming Church Conflict: Compassionate Leadership in Action
• Bearing the Unbearable: Trauma, Gospel and Pastoral Care

Deborah is married to theologian, George Hunsinger. They have two daughters and three granddaughters.