Best-selling author and spiritual guide Mark Nepo to appear at Fountain Street Church

The Grow the Soul Ministries at Fountain Street Church is presenting  As Far As the Heart Can See: The Practice of Being Human, a public talk and workshop by acclaimed poet and teacher Mark Nepo at Fountain Street Church, December 2nd and 3rd. Nepo's spiritual daybook The Book of Awakening reached New York Times #1 Bestseller status upon becoming one of Oprah's Ultimate Favorite Things in 2010. "Mark Nepo is a poet," Oprah says. "He's an author and a philosopher and has been through two different cancers. So when he writes, he writes purely from the heart." 

The weekend begins at 7:00 pm Friday, December 2, with a reading, conversation, and signing of Nepo's most recent book, As Far As the Heart Can See: Stories to Illuminate the Soul. A collection of 45 stories ranging from ancient myths to passages from the author's life, each tale is followed by invitations for readers to discover their personal truths through journaling, conversation, and meditation on the deeper meaning of the parables shared. 

The book's format is the basis for Saturday's retreat, running from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Nepo frames the workshop this way: "...our task is to restore that freshness of being alive. How do we befriend the life of obstacles? How do we find a home between suffering and loving the world? How do we respond to the invitation to grow? In this workshop, we will enter these questions and work with stories and parables as a way to evoke the wisdom watching in our lives." 

Tickets for the Friday reading are $10.00, with Saturday workshop tickets at $90.00. (The $90.00 price includes free admission to Friday's reading.) Students with ID are admitted free to Friday's reading. Box lunches are available at FSC for Saturday's session. Advance tickets are available through the FSC Church Office at 616-459-8386, ext. 214, or [email protected], as well as Schuler Books.