Lisa Bonner is a long-time wisdom student and budding wisdom facilitator residing in Houston, Texas. Her connection with the wisdom tradition began in 2007.
In 2007, Lisa’s discontent with “questions that were not being answered” led her to Cynthia’s The Wisdom Way of Knowing through a random recommendation on amazon.com. “I highlight every book I read,” Lisa recalls, “yet I did not put a mark in this little book—my heart sang the whole way through!” Participation in a Wisdom School soon followed and “the teachings fueled my own work and were passed along to the groups I was leading. I understood kenosis experientially from the beginning.”
Lisa had already by that time begun facilitating groups as part of the Episcopal Church’s Education For Ministry program, a four-year theological program providing deeper resources for lay ministry. Her interest in the theological aspects of wisdom remains strong, and she is particularly drawn to understanding more fully Wisdom’s evolution within the Temple eras and Jesus’ life and times. The work of British scholar Margaret Barker, a translator and interpreter of the Dead Sea Scrolls and pioneering commentator on what is now called Temple Theology, is deeply informing Lisa’s understanding of the early times and the myths out of which the Christian era took root and flourished. “Personally I find the new discoveries and resulting deeper levels of meaning enrich everything that’s emerged. The ‘spiritual’ era has been flowering through the ages and now the fruit is ripening…and I think the ‘religious and spiritual’ arcs are weaving together more openly now in the Alpha to Omega Arc Cynthia focuses on…”
Lisa continues a faithful praxis of centering prayer and reading, incorporating both “a solitary focus and exploration” as well as “being part of a group both for study and community.” The practices she has integrated from many years of Wisdom School have become “essential tools that keep me connected to a deep inner sense of knowing that is the ground of my being. If I were not connected to that constant sense of YES, I would not stay committed to these resources. It’s a strong relationship with my own Inner Guide that draws me to these others for support.” She’s “learned to trust when/where I’m led.” After some major situational shifts, Lisa turned inward and found the ebb and flow rhythm is “a both/and reality that Wisdom helps us re-member”.
These days Lisa is turning her gifts and fruits of spiritual experience towards the newly opened Hines Center for Spirituality and Prayer (www.hinescenter.org) which provides opportunities and tools to navigate and find grace in modern life. She offers lectures and studies which include ‘Developing a Spiritual Practice’ and ‘Wisdom, Jesus, and the Timeless Path’ incorporating the Wisdom School teaching as well as that from other sources on what it means to ‘follow Jesus the Christ’- for both the Early Followers and those today- and possibly ‘What Does Spiritual Mean?’ She is introducing people to the contemplative world and sees herself “helping to move people onto the mesoteric bridge.” She hopes to help “connect the church itself with current available contemplative thought and practices by way of that same mesoteric bridge” knowing that wisdom will ‘flow through me, not from me.”
A task that needs doing, for sure! We wish you all the best, Lisa, and are grateful that you’re holding the post so gracefully down there in Texas!
More About Lisa Bonner
Email address: lisa.c.bonner@gmail.com
Mailing address: 4147 Lanark Lane
Houston, TX, 77025
Phone: 713-208-2213
‘Friend’ me on FB, both within the Wisdom School Community and also personally (I use my FB posts as much or more for sharing ‘spiritual’ offerings than personal ‘life events’ — though some of that is there as well… I really do appreciate the way it allows me to stay connected and share with people I’ve been with ‘on the Path’ for a long time and I like to think it has sparked others’ interest in finding out more… maybe some have taken first steps on that mesoteric bridge?)