I hold people safe as they retreat from the everyday, retreat into deeper reflection.
Perhaps it seems a bit twee in expression, but part of my exercise of a ministry of presence, is to hold space for people. I hold people safe as they gather, and as individuals, in the profoundly happy and sad, the sacred, and the ordinary moments.
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.
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
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!
Creativity
I offer sessions that invite participants to play, to try something new, to give time to art or creativity somewhat neglected in the business of everyday living.
With exercises and gentle guidance, I equip you to:
- write poetry (yes, even you who think you cannot!)
- compose prayers
- identify your story
- give shape and voice to your story
- focus your contemplations as you colour a mandala, mould clay, create a collage, paint, or draw
- pray and worship engaging your senses – smell rosemary, listen to birdsong, feel the sun or the rain as you walk outside, taste the bread and the wine, consider colour and symbol and light.
Silence
I am comfortable with silence, and will hold the space for you to enter silence yourself.
- sessions begin with an invitation to remember your wisdom and experience
- I share some learning I have picked up along the way – what scholars have noticed about the importance of creative writing in theological and spiritual reflective practice; what practitioners observe about the life that is nurtured when we tell and hear our stories in community
- I outline an exercise, a practice, and provide you with resources
- you enter the practice, silent, attentive, present with the Sacred
- we gather and share with each other our practice, our discoveries, sometimes the products of our creativity
Imagination
To wonder in response to the Sacred Story is to find the connections between that Story and your own. Find meaning, discover God, learn more about yourself.
To imagine, to dream, possibilities for growth is possible when we step away from the everyday, when we pause, when we listen …
To enter nature, be present and attentive, is to connect with the Creator, with the creative energy of life.
To try new practices opens you to learning more about yourself, perhaps even learning a new way to open yourself to God, to healing, to wellbeing.
Wholeness
I will invite you as your whole self, embodied, thinking, feeling, related.
On retreat, I might send you on a wander in nature, to observe and connect with all your senses.
On retreat, I might invite you to sing, which engages our wholeness of being from breath to mind, emotions to voice.
On retreat, I might invite you to breathe deeply, simply breathe, still and moving, listening to yourself speaking, present and attentive to the Divine.
We are whole, integrated, beings, created from earth and love: on retreat you will remember this. It may hurt a bit, it may heal a bit, it may lead you back towards your wholeness and wellbeing. (I will be sure to have tissues on hand)
Costs
Pray the Story
Pray the Story brings my voice to you, wherever you are, leading you with poetic prayer, daily offices, and guided meditations.