Wisdom Council 2022

Wisdom Waypoints, (previously named Northeast Wisdom) is governed by a small group of active participants selected from our Wisdom network.

At present our Council includes Cynthia Bourgeault; Marcella Kraybill-Greggo (President and Co-chair); Laura Ruth; Bob Sabath; Jeanine Siler Jones (Co-chair); Mary Ellen Jernigan; Benjamin Thomas; Heather Ruce.

Read our Highlights from prior year below!

Cynthia Bourgeault

Cynthia Bourgeault is an Episcopal priest, writer, an internationally acclaimed retreat leader, and our guiding teacher and advisor. She divides her time between solitude in her seaside hermitage in Maine and a demanding schedule traveling globally to spread the recovery of the Christian contemplative and Wisdom paths. She is an emeritus faculty member at the Center for Action and Contemplation, and the founding director of an international network of Wisdom schools, uniting classic Christian mystical and monastic teaching with contemporary practices of mindfulness and embodied presence.

For more about Cynthia go to Wisdom Waypoints Meet Cynthia Bourgeault, or to her Cynthia Bourgeault website.

Marcella Kraybill-Greggo

Marcella Kraybill-Greggo offers her time as a Seminary Director of Spirituality Programming, a local Wisdom Community facilitator, a Spiritual Director and a mom. She lives in Bethlehem, PA with her husband, daughter, and their Westie, Kiwi. She has been an active participant in the Wisdom community since 2013, both as student and teacher, assisted in facilitating multiple Wisdom schools, regularly offers an 8 month ‘Training in the Practices of Wisdom’, facilitates Law of Three midwife groups, and loves all things embodied (trained as an InterPlay facilitator). She joined the Wisdom Waypoints Council in 2017.

For more information check out Marcella’s Profile and her website Living Wisdom.

Laura Ruth

Laura is dedicated to an embodied, practical Wisdom, awake and alive in daily life in her inner life and outer work, whether it is in her one-with-one private practice or with the Wisdom Waypoints Living Wisdom groups and book circles. She is a member of the Wisdom Waypoints Council, and was Community Program Coordination and Publishing staffperson until June 2021 all of which cultivated in her a particular love for the Wisdom community.

Laura lives in Vermont on the land of the Abenaki people, with her dear husband, near their sons, two grandchildren and her mother.

Blessed by the shuffles and knocks of life, a beautiful brook in the woods with a rugged little path, family meals, gardens and animals, Laura is grateful to have life on this good earth under the eye of those who watch over us.

Bob Sabath

Bob initiated Cynthia’s Fourth Way Wisdom Retreats at the Claymont Center in West Virginia in 2010, having been part of a Fourth Way community since 2006. He worked with Richard Rohr to host ongoing wilderness based men’s retreats and is a Convener carrying on that work locally through Illuman. He has lived most of his life in community, as a founding member of Sojourners, Circle Community Church, Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Center and Shepherd Village. Web master at Sojourners, Friends of Silence and Wisdom Waypoints, Bob has brought his technical expertise and experience to bear creating the new Wisdom Waypoints website.

Bob lives in Mt. Rainier Maryland with wife Jackie, and has two children and six grandchildren; being Grandpa is the delight of his life; read more about Bob here in Calling the Helpers.

Jeanine Siler Jones

Jeanine Siler Jones works primarily as a private practice therapist, spiritual director and Enneagram teacher. She lives in the country outside of Asheville, NC with her husband and next door to her parents and brother’s family. She has been an active participant in the Wisdom community since 2009, both as student and teacher, and assisted in facilitating multiple Wisdom Schools in the Southeast. Jeanine’s steady hand has helped co-create a number of Wisdom Waypoints and Wisdom Community projects and ongoing groups, supporting newcomers and leaders. She joined the Wisdom Waypoints Council in 2020.

For more information about Jeanine, see her Wisdom Waypoints Profile and her website: Siler Jones Counseling.

Mary Ellen Jernigan

A committed Catholic laywoman, Mary Ellen has devoted her life to the Jernigan Institute and National Federation of the Blind as Policy Advisor and administrator par excellence for over 35 years. She continues her work at the National Center for the Blind, which was established in 1978 by her beloved, husband Kenneth Jernigan, who blind himself, was for many decades, the principal leader of the organized blind movement until his death in 1998. Mary Ellen has brought her skillful means to the Wisdom Waypoints Council as Treasurer since 2017, serving on the website committee and taking the lead on all things legal and structural. Mary Ellen was an early participant, beginning in 2009 in Cynthia’s Wisdom Schools.

Mary Ellen lives in Baltimore where she and Eileen Clark, also an early Wisdom student, share a home and daily contemplative practices, and have led Wisdom book study and practice groups for many years.

Benjamin Thomas

Benjamin is a life-long seeker, Benedictine Oblate, Episcopal Priest & Wisdom Teacher in the Christian Contemplative path and Inter-spiritual Mysticism. Primarily a student of Jesus, G.I. Gurdjieff, and Cynthia Bourgeault, he seeks to facilitate the transformation of others and our planet by living the Fruits of the Spirit through the conscious work of a meditative and surrendered heart. And he believes this work can happen within the Church. Ben takes Wisdom Students through spiritual practices, retreats, and book studies by some of the great spiritual masters. He serves as Associate Rector at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church in Boca Raton, Florida with which this Wisdom School is in partnership. He and his wife, Anna, have five beautifully wild children and enjoy laughter and life by the sea. you can find Ben at Benjamin Thomas. Read more about Benjamin in this interview in community forums.

Heather Ruce

Heather Ruce dedicates her life to the Christian Wisdom and Contemplative path, seeking to wake up and be a conscious servant. She brings the teachings of this path to those in search of living water, offering wisdom spiritual direction, circles, and retreats. She lives in San Diego, CA with her husband Charlie. She has been a life long seeker and an active participant in the Wisdom community since 2012.

You can find more about Heather on her Wisdom Postholder profile here, and her website heatherruce.com

Wisdom Council Highlights for 2021

Wisdom Waypoints Website!

We are deeply grateful to Bob Sabath for his countless hours of work on our new Wisdom Waypoints website! It has been a priceless labor of love and we are thrilled with the value this website will be to our community. And, thank you Cynthia for all your efforts to bring this project to completion! This has been our Council’s greatest endeavor this year as we transitioned from Northeast Wisdom to Wisdom Waypoints: to offer a website that embodies the height, breadth and depth reflected in our growing global Wisdom Community.

New Council Members

We extend a warm welcome to Heather Ruce who is joining our Council in December 2021, and Benjamin Thomas joined our Council in June 2021.

Wisdom Practice Book Circles

In August we launched our fourth Foundational I Wisdom Practice Book Circle focusing on Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening and included six new facilitators along with the existing nine making up our Book Circle Facilitator team – New leaders: Al Krema, Benjamin Thomas, Henri Lock, Becky McDaniel, Kirsten Crop and Nina Lanctot. Ongoing leaders: Jeanine Siler Jones, Marcella Kraybill-Greggo, Heather Ruce, Heather Vesey, Susan Latimer, Susan Cooper, Nan DeLach, Elizabeth Combs, Eilen deVerteuil. This is our fourth and final foundational Wisdom book circle in our 2 year cycle. Find current offerings for our Wisdom Practice Book Circles here.

Plans are in place to launch our Foundational II Wisdom Practice Circle in February 2022 with Cynthia’s book The Meaning of Mary Magdalene: Discovering the Woman at the Heart of Christianity.

Bi-Annual Community Wisdom Practice Day

We sponsored a new Bi-annual Community Wisdom Practice Day online on Saturday August 28. You can find the event recordings here. Our next Wisdom Practice day is scheduled for April 30th 2022.

Directory of Wisdom Companions

We have compiled a Directory of seasoned Wisdom companions for one-on-one Spiritual Companioning, available upon request.

Spiritual Companioning Groups

We initiated four Living Wisdom monthly Spiritual Companioning groups from April through July, 2021, then another round started in September. More opportunities to join in are in the works for 2022.

Grateful for Matthew Wright

We are deeply grateful to Matthew Wright for his eight years of service on our Council, and a steadfast member since our board’s beginning. We wish Matthew all the best as he continues his roles as priest and Wisdom teacher and are delighted that Matthew will continue to collaborate regularly to guide and participate in our Wisdom Community offerings.