Origin Discussion Groups | On Joy & Delight

We are hosting Origin Groups this summer! Origin is comprised of a series of gatherings featuring speakers, presentations, and facilitated discussions. Each year, a new theme is chosen as the focus of Origin, which the community walks through together. 

This year, we will explore the Christian tradition's understanding of joy and delight through voices from the early Church, the medieval monastic tradition, and modern Christian writers. Drawing especially on the thought of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the series traces joy as the fruit of love rightly ordered — a transformation that moves the soul from the restless love of self toward the freedom of loving God for God's own sake. In that purification of desire, love becomes joy. And in the modern imagination, thinkers like G.K. Chesterton remind us that delight begins in wonder: the astonished recognition that existence itself is grace.

Origin small groups will meet four times together throughout the summer: May 27th, June 24th, July 22nd, and August 19th. Northway will provide companion readers for all registered participants.

As in previous years, the series will be explored through two live events — a series-opening lecture featuring Tish Harrison Warren and a closing session — along with a series companion reader and discussion groups. If you're able to join for the opening session on May 7th, click here to purchase your ticket.