Ever wanted to go on a retreat, but not sure where to start? Today is a good time to join in from the comfort of your own home.
https://www.stalbans.anglican.org/stir-up-sunday/
Being with other people praying helps you to pray. Jesus said: “where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20, NRSV). You can make it a silent retreat away from distractions with only the talks to guide you or you could just give yourself space for you to do your own thing. So for a first retreat, you might decide to go on this guided retreat at home to help you focus. You will need to ensure that you are comfortable and warm with as few distractions as possible.
What do you do all day? The short answer is that when you
are on retreat you can do whatever you like! You are free to use the time as
you please. The trouble with learning to live in the freedom that Christ
promises us, is that we often don't know what to do with our time.
Let's start with the basics. We are human beings and we
need food, a bit of exercise, playful activity, rest and some fresh air. Many
people are 'running on empty', and when they stop they realise just how tired
they are. So you may well need to allow time to catch up on sleep. Practising
prayer usually requires being alert and focused, and having a praying mindset.
If you are exhausted, it might be that resting is the starting place for
prayer. You could see it as an initial surrender to resting in God.
As well as prayer and silence you could read, write a
journal, walk, draw or paint, write poetry, or even sing or dance. If gardening
is a helpful prayer activity ,that’s great too!
We are gently being with God, not trying too hard to
listen or to be heard. You could think of it as being curled up next to God on
a comfy sofa in close companionship. These are the times when God is speaking
in our hearts.
What should I expect to happen to me? Sometimes we can be
affected by the prevailing consumerism. We tend to expect that if we put some
time in with God, we should receive some blessing, vision or special
revelation. But being on retreat is not like putting the hours in and receiving
a good salary! The aim of a retreat is to withdraw in order to be with God.
Instead of making demands on God for special effects, we instead allow God to
shape us and become aware of how we are to live more fully in Christ. Brother
Ramon, an Anglican Franciscan, puts it this way:
“[A retreat] does not mean running from the difficulties
and responsibilities of life, but rather withdrawing from their immediate and
insistent claims in order to be totally available to God. This calls for a
certain passivity, receptivity and 'letting go, in a place of comparative
solitude and silence, so that the interior Word may be heard in the depths of
your being.”
So instead of having lists of specific requests of God
and expectations of your retreat, it can in a way be more helpful just to
gently get on with the retreat, let God love us just as we are, and see what
emerges.
What emerges may only become clear after the retreat. The
effects of a retreat on our lives may be revelations about God or ourselves,
but very often and just as importantly they are about slow and subtle changes
in our attitudes and thinking. God gradually draws us closer, not just in the
time of retreat, but many months afterwards too. Sometimes it is good to talk
things through: In “Toward God”, a book about prayer, Michael Casey writes:
“Unless we think about our experiences of prayer and talk
about them a little, we are unlikely to persevere. I am thinking here not so
much of asking somebody to give one direction, but simply of recounting what
has been one's experience. What I refer to could perhaps best be called 'taking
counsel'.” So please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.
As RS Thomas put it:
I
think that maybe
I
will be a little surer
Of being
a little nearer:
That’s
all. Eternity
Is in
the understanding
That
little is more than
enough.
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