Perhaps it seems a bit twee in expression, but part of my vocation, my exercise of a ministry of presence, is to hold space for people. I exercise a ministry of holding people safe as they gather, and as individuals, in the profoundly happy and sad, the sacred, and the ordinary moments. I am increasingly invited to do so by facilitating retreats.
In July, I led a retreat for women in ministry within the Uniting Church Synod of NSW/ACT. Four days in Kincumber, inland from the mid-north coast, focusing on seasons of change and transformation. Four days of silence and conversation, walking and sitting beside the water, wonder and story, poetry and play. (almost everyone wrote a poem over the week)
This month, I led a retreat for folk discerning, being formed, and beginning ordained into ministry in the Uniting Church. One day in the Adelaide hills, the morning fog lifting to a clear Spring day. A session with the psalms, Psalm 1, then writing psalms of lament. A session with stories biblical and our own, imagining, exploring, discovering meaning.
On retreat with me, people have:
delighted in writing psalms and poetry, because they often do, or when they never have before
remembered that it is ok, even necessary, to name the anger, the grief, we feel
discovered a way to journal, when journaling it had not felt approachable before
found they could consider troubles as an adversary, as part of the process of lament
appreciated the invitation to bring their whole being into retreat, worship, contemplation
On retreat, I often compose a poem myself. Here’s one I composed in response to Psalm 1, in a session I often use on retreat.
what I have to say
Holy One
intimate acquaintance
I yearn
I thirst
I return at last to be
replanted
re-rooted
to drink
your living water
to rest
to remain
to rest
to remain
to refrain from selfishness
to restrain my wandering off
alone
independent
pretending to be in control
the striding, nose up,
chest out,
as if I know
as if I grow
without you
I give in
pick me up
carry me home
into deeper surrender
into richer nurture
into a future I can dream
in cloudy hints of visions
carry me
to the growing
and the sowing of seeds
beside the river
flowing life
carry me
out of the dying
out of the grieving
I am ready to live
To come on retreat with me, your group need not be Uniting Church. Need not be ministry agents. Need not even retreat in-person. Last year, I led a full day online retreat for Spiritual Directors scattered around Australia.
So what does a retreat with me involve?
It involves creativity – invitations and guidance for writing your story, composing prayer and poetry, using colour and texture and play.
It includes silence – step away from the busy, the noisy, the stuff and things of everyday life, and be still, be quiet, for a while.
It invites imagination, learning, wonder – respond to the Sacred Story, to creation; find and remember practices for spiritual nurture; encounter the Divine and your deeper being.
It involves your whole being – engaging your senses, moving your body and giving it rest, opening your spirit, your mind, your emotion.
Have I caught your attention? Read on for more details. Check out the costs. Then contact me today to book a retreat for your group or community!
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