Melanie led a chapel service on poetry, justice, and contemplation, which was a first for many of our young adult interns. Melanie’s focus on approaching poetry as a relationship opened our young adults to a new way of interacting with Scripture. I am so thankful for Melanie sharing her gifts and talents with Project Transformation DC..
–Rachel Luna, Executive Director, Project Transformation DC.
To learn more about my speaking style, qualifications, as well as previous speaking venues, please check out the Events & Speaking page. On that page, I also offer a Youtube playlist of sampler sermons so that you can get a feel for the presence and message that I bring.
I love speaking on, and have personal experience with, the following topics:
- Poetry, Justice, and Scripture
- Poetry of Place: Reading and Writing Poems about Our Everyday Spaces
- Annual Examen: naming God’s presence in the past year
- Seeking and naming sources of creative inspiration
- How to have difficult conversations in polarizing environments
- Jesus as doctor and medicine
- Living in intentional community
- How to recognize God’s voice and movement in my life
- Not so fast: confessions of a burnout junkie who is learning to wait
- Women in the Bible: their stories, their voices
- Mourning broken dreams and dying vision
- The power, and terror, of fasting as spiritual practice
- Prayer as a well-balanced diet
- How to love and know God through prayer: a journey to surrender and release
- Finding creativity through our everyday work materials
- The Creative Journey: a personal labyrinth
- Our home a monastery: monastic practices we can weave into everyday life
- Suffering, justice, and beauty
- Dangerous words: censorship and the Bible
- Suffering, evil, and how do we respond?
- When God is silent
- Journeying through the Psalms
- Holy expectations: what do God and others expect of me?
- Our bodies and spirituality: turning foes into friends
- Contemplative prayer practices that have stood the test of time
- Patience, Persimmons, and Parsing Motives
- Sabbath and justice: a journey of remembrance
- Navigating transitions
Retreats
I have led many retreats for a variety of ages and backgrounds. Most of the topics above can be turned into a retreat format (day, overnight, or weekend). I also love to lead silent retreats.
Please contact me to discuss potential speaking and/or retreat opportunities, as well as rates. I’d love to hear from you.
Melanie Weldon-Soiset 