Sofia's Theme Park

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Written By Open Plaza

Rev. Dr. Lakisha Lockhart interviews Rev. Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz on the power of playful worship

Flowers by I'm a Puzzle!, a free online game with unlimited graphic online puzzles—PLAY HERE!

 
 

Created by professor of homiletics and “playful scholartivist” Rev. Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz, Sofia's Theme Park is a virtual spirituality center designed to provide a life-giving space for church and community leaders who are exhausted and needing to renew their energies to return to changing the world. The virtual retreat offers church leaders a chance to experience rest, renewal and spiritual direction, nourish their inner child, and gain Divine Wisdom.

In this episode of OP Talks, professor of Christian education Rev. Dr. Lakisha Lockhart interviews Dr. Valle-Ruiz on the power of playful worship. At her virtual theme park, participants can reconnect “with the different parts of themselves that colonization and racism and all the other -isms” have fractured. Those fractures lead to a disconnection of ourselves from that inner wisdom. “This virtual space that I call the Sofia Theme Park,” says Dr. Valle-Ruiz, “is a space for people to come and reconnect the different aspects of themselves, and continue the work of healing their inner child…the work of seeking divine wisdom—which in Greek is ‘sofía’—through play.”

 

READ MORE

"The power of divine play at Sophia’s Theme Park" by Lis Valle-Ruiz, The Presbyterian Outlook, 5 October 2021

 

EVENT

Sofia's Theme Park: Rivers of Life 2022

Friday, 10 June 2022, 5:40pm CT to
Saturday, 11 June 2022, 5:40pm CT

PLAY and REST at Rivers of Life!

Sofia's Theme Park: Rivers of Life 2022 is a space for rest, renewal, and spiritual direction to nourish your inner child and be intimate with Divine Wisdom. The retreat begins and ends with playful worship services! Each day, participants will engage in individual and communal spiritual practices, the serious work of play, reflection, improvisation, movement, imagination, fellowship, interaction with biblical stories, and ongoing vocational discernment.

It is summer, a great time to refresh your spirituality at Rivers of Life!

For more information and to register go to www.pluriversofia.net

 
Featured
Lakisha Lockhart

Rev. Dr. Lakisha R. Lockhart is Assistant Professor of Christian Education at Union Presbyterian Seminary. Her research interests are in the areas of religious education; practical, liberation, and Womanist theologies; ethics and society; multiple intelligences; embodied faith and pedagogies; theological aesthetics’ theopoetics; creativity, imagination, and play. Her teaching takes seriously the benefits and necessity of play, movement, aesthetics, creative arts, and embodiment. For Dr. Lockhart, the body is a locus for doing theology and theological reflection. She holds a BA from Claflin University, an MA from Vanderbilt University, and a PhD from Boston College. With an MDiv from Wesley Theological Seminary and ordained to ministry in the non-denominational tradition, Dr. Lockhart recognizes the importance of teaching Christian education for the strengthening of the church. Her focus on practical pedagogy is not only to develop more committed and knowledgeable educators and ministers, but also more committed and knowledgeable congregants.

She has authored and co-authored numerous publications and book chapters, including United Against Racism: Churches for Change: Facilitator’s Guide (Friendship Press, 2018); “Enfleshing Catechesis Through Embodied Space” in Together Along the Way: Conversations Inspired by the Directory for Catechesis (Crossroad, 2021); “Let’s Dance: Zumba and the Imago Dei of Beautiful Black Bodies” in The Other Journal: An Intersection of Theology & Culture; and “My Wildest Dream: A Letter to My Black Son” in Religious Education. Dr. Lockhart also was featured in the Just Womanist Series for The Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership. Her awards and honors include “Millennial Womanist to Watch” from The Millennial Womanist Project, “Images of Success” from Claflin University, and a First Wornom Innovative Grant from the Religious Education Association Project.

Featured
Lis Valle-Ruiz

Rev. Dr. Lis Valle-Ruiz is Assistant Professor of Homiletics at McCormick Theological Seminary. She holds a PhD in Homiletics and Liturgics from Vanderbilt University, where she also studied gender and sexuality. Her dissertation, “As One Among Many: Affirming a Multitude of Embodied Preaching Practices,” analyzes pulpit preaching through public speech, street preaching through symbolic action, and preaching through theater and proposes that these are three paradigms among many others in the repertoire of embodied Christian preaching practices among which preachers may choose. Originally from Puerto Rico, Rev. Dr. Valle-Ruiz has researched the theology of the sermons of Latina clergy and is also the author of “Toward Postcolonial Liturgical Preaching: Drawing on the Pre-Columbian Caribbean Religion of the Taínos” in Homiletic Online Journal (2015).

She is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA) since 2013 who has served as Professor of Theology and Scripture at the Lux Summer Youth Institute in Monmouth College, IL and possesses a background as both an actor and a lawyer. Rev. Dr. Valle-Ruiz holds a ThM in Homiletics from Princeton Theological Seminary, an MDiv from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, as well as a JD from the University of Puerto Rico. With a BA in Education with an emphasis in Theater, Rev. Dr. Valle-Ruiz has continued to combine her study of theology and passion for justice with her work as an actress and an artistic director. She is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Academy of Homiletics, and the ARC Creative Collaborative for Theopoetics, among other professional organizations. Dr. Valle-Ruiz has been a fellow with the Forum for Theological Exploration and the Hispanic Theological Initiative/Consortium.

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