North Shore SING

Our Mission

North Shore SING (Spirituality in Nature Group) provides opportunities for deepening spirituality through nature and for nurturing loving relationships with the Earth.  As we grow in our understanding of nature as a sacred relationship, we deepen our commitment to learn from and advocate for the well being of our natural world.

Philosophy of SING

'Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.'

       ~ John Muir mystic, founder of the Sierra Club

We go to nature to be inspired and restored.  It is a place of meeting with that eternal creative force which brought all that is (cosmos, crayfish and human) into being.  The natural world is a sacred place. A place of meeting. As we grow to understand this, we grow in our desire and capacity to respect and protect the natural world.  This becomes our sacred work, a sacred trust.

Nature has a way of teaching and restoring.  Teaching us that the natural world is infinitely complex and that every part of it has a place and purpose.  We humans are a part of the whole, no greater than any other part.  Nature reminds us that we are interdependent and when one part suffers all suffer.

As we enter into relationship with the natural world, we are invited to cross a threshold into communion with that which is divine, eternal, sacred which brought all that is into being.

Walt Whitman, the great American poet, and mystic, put it this way: ‘I swear to you there are divine things more beautiful than words can tell.’

North Shore SING: Our Home

Our home is in Massachusetts (named after the indigenous people who first called this land and these waters home... and still do.) Our address is the Ipswich River Watershed, a 45 mile river with headwaters in Burlington, flowing to the ocean in Essex. The watershed drains 155 square miles inclusive of 23 communities. The watershed lives within the North Shore a region north of Boston with communities in proximity to the Atlantic ocean from Revere, Beverly, Plum Island, to Amesbury on the New Hampshire border. North Shore is home to the first people Nipmuc, Pawtucket, Penacook, Massachusetts who have never left. It was the Pawtucket who first called the Ipswich River, 'Agawam'. Our neighbors include Muskrat, Beaver, Great Blue Heron, Belted Kingfisher, Great Salt Marsh.

Kayaking/Canoeing

Our paddle season is May - October. Paddle events are always dependent upon weather (we don't paddle with winds over 10 mph or with risk of lightning). Safety is always a priority with wearing of PFD. A paddle orientation is offered for new paddlers so that each person has a safe and enjoyable experience.

Paddle event options:

1) NS SING has access to boats and equipment when partnering for an event with Ipswich River Watershed Association. PFD and Paddles provided. There is no fee. Setting is launch from IRWA HQ along the Ipswich River in town of Ipswich. Option for upstream and. downstream.

2) We also partner with Rolling Ridge Retreat and Conference Center via Pray and Paddle (a meditative paddle program) Kayaks/canoes and equipment provided for a rental fee. Setting is Lake Cochichewick, a beautiful 565 acre lake in North Andover. This is a city resevoir ensuring a quiet, reflective paddle with no motor boats and limited development along shoreline.

3) We partner too for ocean paddles with a commercial vendor for a fee, which provides guides and equipment. Settings reflect the wide variety of paddling options along the North Shore.

Our Staff

 Kent Harrop is an avid backpacker and kayaker and a recently retired ordained American Baptist minister.  Year round he paddles on the Ipswich RIver, local lakes and in Salem Sound. He enjoys hiking the varied trails of the North Shore and backpacks in the White Mountains and in the Pacific Northwest. He is the volunteer founder of North Shore SING and looks forward to forming a leadership team as the group launches the winter of 2025.

Kent is also the coordinator of Pray and Paddle a meditative kayak program (based at Rolling Ridge Retreat Center in North Andover, MA) that explores the intersection of the spiritual/contemplative life with the wisdom of the natural world.

Kent was introduced to contemplative paddling on a Zen meditation kayak trip to the Tongass Wilderness in Alaska in 2002.   Since that time Kent has enjoyed introducing both novice and experienced kayakers and canoeists  to the joy of ‘listening on the water’.   A favorite verse is “Listen and your soul will live”. ~ Isaiah 55:3. With North Shore SING, we hope to continue exploring (via paddling, hiking, snowshoeing) the relationship between the spiritual/contemplative life with the wisdom of nature.

Kent is a graduate of Andover Newton Theological School, Shalem Institute in Contemplative Leadership and Franciscan Spiritual Direction Certification Program.  He pastored congregations in Montana, California, Ohio, Oregon and Massachusetts.

Kent can be reached at kentdharrop@gmail.com