Kaleid Circles
Like a Kaleidoscope, when life shifts, new beauty appears.
Kaleid Circles let you experience the Kaleid community firsthand. Seasonally, we share opportunities to explore Seeing Ourselves, Seeing Others, and Seeing the City with greater clarity, together.
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Believing that growth involves being grounded in God's love (contemplation), being aware of what's true (learning), and being active through new habits (embodiment), Kaleid Circles foster these things as we seek new vision for engaging ourselves, others, and our city.
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In a Kaleid Circle, you will be with women experiencing shifts in similar directions as you. You may share passions, curiosities, or desires for impact in our city. A Kaleid Circle provides a space to the take the next step. Together, we learn and try new things, taking risks so that we may discover and create more expressions of God's Kingdom.
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Circles are led by the Kaleid Team, a Kaleid woman who has completed Foundations, or a partner practitioner.
To stay informed about upcoming Kaleid Circles, join our mailing list.
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Do Justice: Staying in the Race Conversation
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Dates: Weekly, beginning March 4, for six weeks (ending April 15, not meeting on April 8)
Time: 7:15 – 8:45 pm, via zoom
Cost: $49, includes in-person tour of Sweet Auburn area
Resource: Brenda Salter McNeil’s Becoming Brave
This Kaleid Circle is an opportunity for white women to continue to learn and practice justice when it comes to race, particularly as it pertains to white engagement with justice issues that have long affected our black neighbors.
Recognizing that many of us are new to the conversation, that we may have a desire to act on what we have learned in the past, and that we need the support of community as we grow, Kaleid is offering this Do Justice circle. Each week will have a different focus, with desired growth in several areas. We want to:
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Understand what it means to “do justice” in Scripture
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Better recognize our own cultural context and racial identity
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Learn from black voices about more than just race
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Become familiar with Atlanta’s racial past and present
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Practice being in spaces where we are the minority, noticing and learning as we do
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Form habits that will help us remain in the conversation and do justice in our daily lives
Kaleid women who join us can expect to have a mild amount of “homework” each week, probably 2 to 4 hours, depending on how you choose to engage. We also will use Brenda Salter McNeil’s book Becoming Brave as a companion reading.
Everyone is welcome—we would love to have a variety of perspectives, ethnicities, and races represented—but we will specifically be grappling with overcoming some of the barriers to enduring in this conversation for people from the majority culture.
Still wondering if this is for you?
Feel free to reach out with questions (info@thekaleidproject.com) or, if after watching this video or this video on doing justice, you want to be with other people as you grow in this area, then this is the Kaleid Circle for you!
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Spring 2021 Circles
Lent Contemplative Mornings
Dates: Weekly, beginning February 17, for seven weeks (ending March 31)
Time: 6:30 – 7:15 am, via zoom
Cost: $29 (scholarships available)
Come as you are!
If you have never experienced contemplative practices, Lent is a perfect time to begin the contemplative journey. It is a season in the Church calendar in which we are invited to grow deeper in our thirst for Jesus. Lent commemorates and invites us into Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness, and it is a time for us to engage in self-examination and reflection on our mortality, in preparation for the resurrection life of Easter. This series will provide gentle space within community to engage the Lenten season with our hearts, together.
Using Henri Nouwen’s book Can You Drink The Cup? as a guide, we will participate in a variety of contemplative practices together, including Lectio Divina, Visio Divina, Immanuel Prayer, and more.
[Umm, remind me again. What is Lent? We are glad you asked! The season of Lent is the forty days between Ash Wednesday, on February 17 and Easter, on April 4 this year. In the church calendar, a special meaning is attached to the forty-day period: it is a time set aside to connect with God. The forty days of Lent mirror the forty days that Jesus spent in the desert praying and preparing for his public work and the forty days that Moses was with God in the wilderness receiving the Law. (Sundays in Lent are not counted in the forty days because each Sunday represents a ‘mini- Easter’ during which the penitent spirit of Lent is tempered with joyful anticipation of the resurrection.)
Typically, people think of Lent as a time to give up something, like chocolate or binge-watching TV, but the big question is not what we will give up but, “How will I return to God with all of my heart?” Lent is a time of self-examination and the contemplation of our mortality. A time to come to a deeper understanding of ourselves. During this season of prayer, repentance, and contemplation, we are humbled and reminded that our life and our hope depend entirely on the power of God to raise the dead.]
Kaleid Spring Retreat
Dates: April 24-25, from late-afternoon Saturday until early-afternoon Sunday.
Cost: $189 (includes food, lodging, and supplies)
Location: The Ignatius House, 6700 Riverside Drive, NW, Atlanta, 30328
At the retreat, we will have opportunity for silence, stillness, and solitude, and we will also spend time in group sessions and contemplative exercises. This retreat will allow space for you to be with and hear from the Spirit, growing deeper into the soil of God's love as you consider new life in Christ during the season of Easter. We cannot wait for this opportunity to welcome God's new life within!
The Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center offers acres of outside space to explore, single rooms with private bathrooms, and plenty of space inside to socially distance—even at mealtime. To learn more about the Covid precautions and restrictions at the retreat center, visit this link: https://www.ignatiushouse.org/programs/covid-safety/
Scholarships are available if cost is an issue. All are welcome! Email info@thekaleidproject.com if you have questions!
We missed you! Below are past Kaleid Circles.
SEE YOURSELF
Advent Contemplative Series
Would you like to ground yourself in contemplative practices this Advent season and learn more about what Advent means? Join us for four Wednesdays, in the morning or the evening, as we experience contemplative times, together. Also, you will receive a recorded teaching about Advent ahead of our first meeting.
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​Content Provider: The Kaleid Team
Date: Four Wednesdays, starting 12/2, 2020, 6:30 - 7:15 or 8:30 -9:15 pm, via zoom
In-the- Moment Practices for Open-Hearted Service
Are you a woman wondering how to serve others without a sense of striving? Do you struggle with a disconnect between your inspirational morning devotions and the experience of serving others in your daily life? In this session, we’re going to examine ourselves to discover some common roadblocks and learn some helpful practices to integrate our service and our discipleship. (** Warning: if you attend, you may encounter some loaded words like privilege, mindfulness, fragmentation, co-dependency, and more, but in a safe and nurturing space to process them.)
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Date: Tuesday, June 11th 7-9pm OR Saturday July 20th 9-10:30am
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Kaleid Contemplative Summer
Would you like to ground yourself in the contemplative practices of lament, imaginative prayer, and centering prayer as you process the confusion and loss of the first half of 2020? Join us for nine Wednesday mornings of contemplative prayer. We will practice each type of prayer three weeks in a row, looking through the lens of see yourself, see others, and see the city as we go.
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Date: Nine consecutive Wednesdays, starting 6/10, 2020, 7:00 - 7:45 am, via zoom
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Kaleid Contemplative Community
For the Lenten season we are practicing Lectio Divina and The Prayer of Examen on Wednesday at 12:30 PM. and Thursdays at 8:30 PM via Zoom.
Content Provider: Kaleid Community Leaders
Date: Wednesdays and Thursdays, 12:30 - 1pm and 8:30 - 9pm, respectively.
Register: Drop in when you can!
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Spiritual Formation Throughout the Seasons of Life
Join Rev. Sharol Hayner as we are guided through a reflective workshop on the six streams of Christian practice-contemplative, holiness, charismatic, social justice, evangelical, and incarnational. We'll learn how practices from each stream provide a pathway to a richer spiritual journey and can be more relevant in different seasons of life.
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SEE OTHERS
On Being Pro Life
Do you feel like a political exile in 2020? Are you struggling with how to process issues that touch your faith and your community as you consider your vote in November? We will be hearing from six guest speakers whose work with those at the margins in Atlanta has helped to shape their views on what it looks like to promote life in relationships, in vocation, in ministry, and in politics.
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Join us as we process the hard questions of 2020 together. This is not a conversation where we seek to harden our political lines, but a place to listen, learn, and consider what it means to follow Jesus as a citizen in the kingdom of God and be a faithful citizen in the United States in this fraught election season.
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The Color of Compromise Book Club
The Color of Compromise takes readers on a historical journey: from America’s early colonial days through slavery and the Civil War, covering the tragedy of Jim Crow laws and the victories of the Civil Rights era, to today’s Black Lives Matter movement. Author Jemar Tisby reveals the obvious—and the far more subtle—ways the American church has compromised what the Bible teaches about human dignity and equality. Join us as we look specifically together at the last chapter that considers next steps.
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Dates: Either Live on August 23, 7-9 pm in Clarkston (TBA)
Or Virtually on August 26, 7-9 pm via zoom.
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Be the Bridge 101 Whiteness Discussions
Are you a white woman who struggles to engage conversations about race? Do you wonder "what can I do?" but recognize that "doing" may involve a season of learning and listening? Join us to participate in a "whiteness discussion".
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Date: Six consecutive Wednesdays, starting 6/17, 2020, 7:30-8:45 pm, via zoom
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Love Undocumented Book Club and Discussion with Author
Read the love story of author Sarah Quezada and her husband, Billy, and explore the complexities of immigration. We'll meet for dessert, wine, and discussion with Sarah.
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Date: Weds, April 10th 7-9pm
Location: Refuge Coffee in Clarkston
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White Awake On-line Book Community
Begin or continue your journey in understanding white culture and identity. We'll explore the seven stages to expect on our own paths to cultural awareness. Gain new perspective on being white and become a more effective agent of reconciliation in our increasingly diverse and divided world. This 5 week on-line community gathers virtually via Zoom. It will be a safe, closed community for questions, honesty and connecting with other women on this journey.
Content Provider: Peggy King, MELD Multi-Ethnic Leadership
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SEE THE CITY
Packing COVID Relief Food Boxes
Join other Kaleid ladies as we pack food boxes to share with residents in Clarkston who are experiencing economic distress due to COVID-19. Every Tuesday afternoon in October, gather with a small team of women to organize and pack food boxes and deliver them to local apartment complexes. This Kaleid Circle will meet virtually on 9/29 for orientation, and then we will serve together during the month of October. CLOSED
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Atlanta History Tour at Mason Mill Park...and BBQ
Join the Kaleid community for a tour led by professional storyteller Jonah McDonald. We will learn about the Native American history that has shaped our city today and consider how our own stories connect to out city's story. We'll enjoy BBQ together afterwards. Spouses are welcome at this gathering, too!
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Date: Saturday, April 27, 2019
Time: 3-5:30pm, dinner following
Location: Mason Mill Park
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Focused Community Strategies: Open House
Join the Kaleid community from around Atlanta to learn about and participate in one of the stories God is telling in the city. We are partnering with Focused Community Strategies, a Christian Community Development organization that has partnered with under-resourced Atlanta neighborhoods for over 40 years. FCS invests deeply in one-neighborhood at a time (for the past 16 years in South Atlanta), building upon the neighborhood's strengths to create flourishing communities in our city.
Kaleid women will attend this event together, followed by a Kaleid Community debrief coffee discussion.
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