You are very welcome to our Advent online retreats, some on Zoom (just one block of time) and some on a retreat blog (two and three weeks respectively, with a lot of flexibility).
See below for brief descriptions of these and other retreats, and please e-mail me with any questions and concerns. All are welcome, and as always, we have a sliding scale for retreat fees.
Strength for the Weary: A Restorative Advent
A three-week retreat,
December 4-24, from Saturday in the first
week of Advent to Thursday in the fourth week of Advent.
Feeling weary and dry in this second pandemic winter? This gentle
retreat will offer written meditations, visual art, links to music, and
guidance in spiritual practice, including prayer. Details and
registration here. Late starters welcome! This retreat will
take place, as our online retreats have done in the past, on a blog. (Only
retreatants will have access to that blog.) You can check in with the regularly
posted retreat resources privately, at any time that is convenient for you
The Joyful
Revolution: Mary's Magnificat in Advent
 |
| Sadao Watanabe, "The Visitation" |
A two-week retreat, December 8-24, on a blog (accessible only to retreatants), with regular
postings you can tap into privately, at any time of the day or night.
The song of Mary,
also known as the Magnificat, is a song of remembrance and gratitude, but
also an invitation into the future, a vision of the world turned upside down:
the hungry fed, the powerful gone from their thrones, the lowly lifted up –by the
power of God. We will take some time to reflect on the Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55)
and on its predecessor in the First Testament, the Song of Hannah 1 Samuel
2:1-10) and on their meanings for us today. For details and registration, click here.
Annunciations in
Advent: A Twilight Retreat
Thursday, December 9, 7:00-9:30 p.m. Eastern (4-6:30
Pacific) on Zoom
This meditative retreat will involve a period of lectio divina (a form of the ancient method of meditative "holy reading") using selected readings from the Rev. Dr. Wilda C. Gafney’s
A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church. (Note: all genders are
welcome to this retreat!) It will also include some text study and some
time for silence and prayer. Dr. Gafney, scholar, teacher, and priest,
reconfigures Advent as a season of
Annunciations (in the plural). For details and registration, click here.
What about Joseph? A Twilight Retreat
Thursday,
December 16, 7:00-9:30 p.m. Eastern (4-6:30
Pacific) on Zoom
Joseph, Mary’s partner,
rarely gets much consideration. He doesn't appear at all in this year's Advent Sunday
lectionary (Year C), which has readings from the Gospels of Luke and John, but
he's there in the Gospel of Matthew and we hear about him in Year A. He is thus
among what I call “the people of Advent,” and it's not just Mary who says
"yes" in the stories of Jesus's beginnings: Joseph has his own
encounter with an angel. We will read from the first and second chapters of the
Gospel of Matthew using lectio divina, but also explore some images of
and devotions to St. Joseph. For details and registration, click here.
 |
| (c) Jane Redmont |
You know about lectio
divina (the ancient method of “holy reading,” see above) but there is also
such a thing as visio divina -- holy gazing or sacred gazing. We will
view, learn about, and meditate on selected Advent images -- from images of
Mary and Elizabeth to visions of the messianic era from a variety of cultural contexts.
For details and registration, click here.
1 comment:
Sounds Pretty,
I like to read your blog. You shared an amazing stuff with users regarding Spiritual retreat and its very impressive for me. Thanks for sharing with us.
Post a Comment