Zachary Helton is an author and spiritual care counselor reclaiming sacred stories for healing and liberation. He is the author of Metta Valley Gospel—a literary reimagining of the Jesus story through the lens of interspiritual wisdom, taking the story back from narratives of shame, fear, and control. His work appears in Braided Way Magazine and Flash Fiction Magazine, and he was nominated for the 2024 Orison Best Spiritual Literature Award. When he’s not writing, he’s usually thinking about writing (or meditating—both of which involve a fair amount of staring at walls).
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Metta Valley Gospel
EXPERIENCES
Show Date
Fri 4 Sep 2026 1:00 PM to 1:50 PM
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| Title Short | Rebellious Mythmaking |
| Venue | Writers Workshop |
| Experience Description | Many of us have complicated relationships with the sacred stories that formed us. They helped us develop a spiritual imagination, but they also carried seeds of shame and smallness that left us with difficult wounds. As we move toward a healthier spirituality, we are often grieving these stories: ultimately abandoning them entirely or longing for a way to relate to them without cringing.
But here’s what they don’t often teach us: There is a longstanding tradition of rewriting these sacred stories—expanding and reimagining them as acts of spiritual exploration. Traditions that idolize sacred stories often discourage this, yet creative re-engagement has long been a healthy way of clarifying evolving beliefs, giving language to unspoken misgivings, and offering cathartic expression to feelings we’ve carried for too long.
Drawing from his experience writing “Metta Valley Gospel”—a reimagining of the Jesus story through lenses of interspirituality and religious trauma—Zach Helton will accompany participants through identifying stories that make our chests tighten, considering what that tension may be inviting, and beginning the work of creative reclamation. Participants will leave with practical tools for reimagining myths as living resources for courage and compassion. |
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