Feathers of Hope Study Guide: Eight Weeks for Individuals or Groups (Shades of Light)

Sharon Garlough Brown's novel Feathers of Hope follows Wren Crawford and her great-aunt, Katherine Rhodes, companions in sorrow and hope. As Katherine prepares to retire as the director of the New Hope Retreat Center, shefaces personal and professional challenges while Wren takes the next step in her journey with depression by offering compassionate care to the residents of the nursing home where she now works.

This eight-week study guide offers an opportunity to reflect on how the experiences of the characters in the novel resonate with your own experience. Daily Scripture readings and reflection questions are accompanied by an invitation to the practice of visio divina (meditating on art) through weekly prompts related to works by Vincent van Gogh. With simple spiritual practices, this guide provides a space for individuals and groups to process Katherine's retreat teaching as well as the themes of Feathers of Hope.

Sharon Garlough Brown is a spiritual director, retreat leader, and author of the bestselling Sensible Shoes series of spiritual formation novels, including An Extra Mile, which was named Christianity Today's 2019 Fiction Book of the Year. A graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, Sharon and her husband, Jack, have served congregations in the United States and United Kingdom and now live in Scotland.