A MEDITATIVE RETREAT DURING A SEASON OF ADVENT
Rolling Ridge Retreat House
December 4–5, 2009
Awaiting Enablement in the Midst of a Broken World
Introduction to the Retreat
The season of Advent is for us an annual invitation to quietly reflect on sources of hope for humans even in the contexts of despair or disablement. This persisting need for advents which can restore or enable living with brokenness is evident in writings of our spiritual ancestors in scriptures as well as recognized in the brokenness of our contemporary world with it’s massive extents of human suffering. In this retreat we will allow images in various texts to evoke our respective personal images of despair and disablement, and then to claim for ourselves the hope-filled potential of Advent in our contemporary world.K
Verle and Vivian of Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community will facilitate our meditative reading of selected scriptures, poems, and other prose on our theme. For those so inclined, retreat participants are invited to also share poems or prose of their own choosing or which they have written. The retreat format is principally interactive, with some times of solitude for reflection. The readings have been experienced by us as a good vehicle for reflecting on the topic of this retreat.
Poems and Prose for Reflections in Gathered and Solitary Times During Retreat
On Friday evening of the retreat each participant will receive a set of readings (prose or poems) which each participant may read meditatively during personal solitude before retiring into sleep. The goal is to allow such texts to evoke one’s personal images of brokenness in our world or personal disablement, along with images which portend a hope-filled living in relationship to them.
- Selected Texts in Old and New Testaments
- A Litany of Our Broken World
- Wisdom Witnesses to an Alternative Relationship to Earth
- A Witness to Creation
- What Is Disability
- The Meaning of Illness
- Who Is Disabled
- The Peace of Wild Things
- The Disabled and the Astilbe
- And Now Blind Dad
- About Others
- Telling a Beech By It’s Bark
- What Child Is This?
- Light On Aging and Dying
- Mortality and Hope
- Embracing All Our Destiny
The Order of Retreat
December 4 – Friday:
Gathering for Dinner: 7:00 pm
Becoming acquainted
Gathering at Eight-thirty
Listening to readings from biblical ancestors, yearning for salvation from circumstances of despair or disablement, juxtaposed with readings on the memories of the goodness of the Creator’s earth.
Evening prayers
Entering the great silence at nine-thirty until beginning of breakfast on Saturday
December 5 – Saturday
Gathering for Breakfast: 8:30 am
Listening to a story reader in silence during breakfast.
A Morning Walk on Rolling Ridge Trails: 9:30 am (weather permitting)
Gathering: 10:30 am
Listening to readings – interspersed reflections – shared insights about enablement reflected in the texts.
Lunch and Conversation: 12:30 pm
Gathering: 2:00 pm
Continued reading of texts, including poems and stories selected/written by participants
Candle Light Tea: 3:30 pm
A call to claim and embrace Advent in our lives.
Gathering for an Advent Dinner: 5:00 pm
Depart for Home: 6:00 pm
Instructions on registering for retreat.
- Please register by Wednesday, November 25.
- The registration fee is $50, which may be paid at the time of arriving at retreat.
- To register contact Verle or Vivian at tel. 304-725-2312, or e-mail at Vvatrr@juno.com.
- Upon receiving your registration we will send a letter of confirmation with more details and directions to Rolling Ridge.
We look forward to sharing in this retreat with you.