Listening
to the
Land
AN ECO-SPIRITUAL RETREAT
FACILITATORS:
Rev. Payton Hoegh, Program Director of The Center for Spirituality in Nature
Rev. Vincent Pizzuto, Ph.D., Vicar of St. Columba’s Inverness
I want creation to penetrate you with so much admiration that wherever you go, the least plant may bring you a clear remembrance of the Creator. . . One blade of grass or one speck of dust is enough to occupy your entire mind in beholding the art with which it has been made.
- St. Basil
There is an unassuming thread woven through the teachings of Hebrew and Christian scripture. Quietly insistent, it grounds the creation narrative, animates the instruction of prophets, and blossoms in the teachings of Jesus. The consistent refrain: Look to the earth, it will teach you.
This contemplative retreat offered through the Council for Ecological Discipleship invites participants to rediscover this instruction and its gifts for a time where such wisdom is much needed. Rooted in eco-spirituality and drawing on disciplines of the Christian contemplative tradition, we will spend time in quiet reflection, mindful practice, and communal conversation to examine what the land and local sacred ecosystems tell us about living faithfully in times of challenge and participating in systems of healing and wholeness that serve all creation.
When we are still and quiet, when we listen, what might the land teach us?
Rev. Payton Hoegh is an ordained priest in the Diocese of Los Angeles, and Program Director for the Center for Spirituality in Nature. He is passionate about community weaving, ecology, environmentalism, agriculture, justice, and equity. He holds a Master's of Divinity from the Claremont School of Theology and is a certified California Naturalist.
In the past decade, Payton has worked as a chaplain, coordinator, and director of a faith-based young adult service program as well as a communications professional specializing in creative digital design and storytelling for church and non-profit partners. His recent work as a retreat leader facilitating “eco–retreats” focusses on contemplating and experiencing the natural world to deepen our wonder and awe at the presence of the Divine.
Payton’s personal spiritual journey and his work in ministry are centered on connecting with the Divine in nature. He is an avid reader, hiker, trail-runner, and climber. Payton grew up splitting time between the creeks and forests of South-Eastern Virginia and the sprawling green fields of Iowa. Payton now lives with his wife, Jazmin, and cat, Zooey, in a tiny home on the outskirts of the Angeles National Forest.
Payton writes extensively, including contributing two sessions for the Episcopal Church's Love God, Love God's World curriculum, and presents on various topics related to spiritual ecology, faith and environmental action, and nature-attuned contemplative practice.
Father Vincent Pizzuto, PhD is Professor of New Testament Studies and Christian Mysticism in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the (Jesuit) University of San Francisco. He received his doctorate in New Testament Exegesis from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (2003) and has since published and presented internationally in the areas of New Testament christology, ecological discipleship, marriage equality, inter-religious dialogue, Christian mysticism and contemplative Christian spirituality. In 2018 he published his second book, Contemplating Christ: The Gospels and the Interior Life with Liturgical Press; translated in Spanish, Contemplar a Cristo: Los Evangelios y la vida interior, (Desclée de Brouwer) in January 2022. As an Episcopal priest Fr. Vincent serves as Vicar of St. Columba’s Episcopal Church and Retreat House in Inverness, California. Working for the advancement of contemplative Christianity, he has reinvigorated the mission and ministry of St. Columba’s through the introduction of contemplative eucharistic liturgies, public lectures, online courses, directed retreats, thought provoking sermons, and an online blog. He founded the Council for Ecological Discipleship in 2018 and has regularly preached and led retreats with leaders on issues to address climate change, and on environmental issues and faith, including Bishop Marc Andrus, The Rev. Dr. Ambrose Carroll and Dr. Brian Swimme.
