Dear all,
Welcome to the season of Advent.
We're offering several kinds of retreats this year, some shorter and on Zoom, others longer and on a blog as we have done in years past, with more “on your own time” opportunity.
Have a look at the retreat options below. Which theme speaks to you? What do you need most in your life right now?
If it is your custom to observe the Christian season of Advent --or if you wish to begin observing it-- what calls to you this year?
Scroll down to the end of this post if you like calendars and want a visual sense of the schedule of retreat offerings. I've made a chart for you.
There's Always Time: An Advent Twilight Retreat
Thursday, December 2, 8:00-10:30 p.m. Eastern Time (5:00-7:30 p.m. Pacific) on Zoom (with a little break in the middle)
Saturday, December 4, 3:00-5:30 p.m. Eastern Time (12:00-2:30 p.m. Pacific) on Zoom (with a little break in the middle)
This is the same
retreat offered twice for your convenience, on two different days at
different times. The retreat will offer some quiet time as well as a gateway into
the themes and practices of Advent, that season of contradictions that murmurs “Slow
down” and shouts “Wake up!” This retreat is a good “welcome to Advent” experience.
It will even work for you if you’re muttering to yourself "I am SO not
ready for Advent" or are starting your observance of Advent a little late
this year. For
details and registration, click here.
Strength for the Weary: A Restorative Advent
A three-week retreat,
December 3 to December 23, from Friday in the first
week of Advent to Thursday in the fourth week of Advent. 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. 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!
The Joyful Revolution: Mary's Magnificat in Advent
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.
Visio Divina: Images of Advent - A Twilight Retreat
Thursday, December 23,
7:00-9:30 p.m. Eastern (4-6:30 Pacific) on Zoom
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.
Here's a chart of the retreat schedule for you. Click on the calendar below twice in order to enlarge it. You can see what fits with your life and schedule.
Also, if you're thinking of taking more than one retreat, you can see what's realistic and workable for you.
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