This retreat is designed to help refill the reserves of people suffering from burn-out that results from compassion fatigue, overwork, or (as is often the case) a confluence of the two. We will explore gratefulness as a way of life with specific practices that restore our sense of sufficiency and wonder in the present moment - the only moment fully given to us - thus easing our anxiety about whether we have enough money, friendship, and other resources to get by. Through guided meditation, journaling, dialogue, life review, music, quiet space to breathe, and other tools, we will reconnect with what most inspires us. This is a non-judgmental retreat in which it is okay to be ungrateful, which is sometimes a necessary step in peeling off layers to a fundamental gratitude that springs from simply being alive.
With Patricia Carlson and Margaret Wakeley
September 2-4, 2011
Rolling Ridge Retreat House and Still Point
A Retreat of Song and Silence with Br. Stefan aka Macushla
August 1-14, 2011
Still Point at Rolling Ridge in Harpers Ferry, WV
"The restoration of the church will come from a new monasticism which has in common with the old only the uncompromising attitude of a life lived according to the Sermon on the Mount in the following of Christ. I believe it is now time to call people to this."
-- Dietrich Bonhoeffer, A Testament of Freedom
Communicating Meaning Through Story, Poetry or Parable
July 1-2, 2011
7pm Friday - 7 pm Saturday
Retreat House at Rolling Ridge
A 24-hour Retreat
At Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community
Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
How do we live with our daily experiences, the good and the bad? The proverbial wheat and tares co-mingled populate the landscape of human experiences. Indicators of flourishing beauty jostle with reminders of diverse disheartening evil, near and far away, often conveyed by a media intent on informing us daily.
With Belden Lane
June 3-5, 2011
Arrive 5 pm Friday, Depart 2 pm Sunay
Still Point at Rolling Ridge
The weekend will draw on elements from Belden's work with Richard Rohr's Men as Learners and Elders and with the Mankind Project (including their call to accountability, a man's openness to his feelings, the true and the false self, and the importance of dying before you die). More particularly, we will explore the spirituality of the Desert Fathers, focusing on their realization that the wound and the gift are one. The desert place of breakdown in our lives is invariably the place where we're invited to a new wholeness. As Leonard Cohen puts it, "the cracks are where the light comes in." From a Christian perspective, this is the core of the paschal mystery.
With Scot and Linda DeGraf
May 20-22, 2011
Retreat House at Rolling Ridge
We invite you to learn some natural building techniques and help us in the building of our straw bale staff house at Rolling Ridge.
We will teach lime plastering, clay plastering, and finish plastering. Learn how to mix and apply different layers over cob and strawbale. Understand the purposes of ingredients and which applications work for which purposes. Meet great people and have fun getting your hands in the mud!
Housing at the Retreat House (or camping if you prefer) and delicious meals for $35/weekend.
To see our progress so far, visit our blog at:
http://straw-bale.blogspot.com
Or see some of our progress at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scot_and_linda/collections/72157607793391306/
Awakening and Newness
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Retreat House at Rolling Ridge
Seasonal Quiet Days
At Rolling Ridge Study Retreat near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Learn from the seasons of nature...
the seasons of the church year...
the seasons of your heart.
What would happen if you made time from your normal routine and busy weekday schedule simply to be still, pray, and reflect in a beautiful natural place apart? What would it mean for your everyday life if you set aside one day each quarter for silent retreat? How might this intention deepen your relationship with God? How might it affect your relationships at home and at work and in the wider community? Come and see the difference it makes! These four quiet days during the year offer you the opportunity to rest in the wonder of Creation's varied seasons. They are a time to ponder and gain new perspective, to be nurtured by the love of God. Each day is 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and includes guided reflection around the seasonal themes and spaciousness for solitude and meditative walks, journaling and art – with the companioning presence of each other in prayer and sacred silence. Guide: Trish Stefanik, contemplative retreat leader. Cost: Suggested $25 for individual days or $90 for all four days (or what you can pay. Please bring a bag lunch. | Mark your 2011 calendar now for all 4 days! WINTER: Stillness and Listening SPRING: Awakening and Newness SUMMER: Delight and Abundance AUTUMN: Trust and Surrender |
To register and for more information, please contact Rolling Ridge Study Retreat, 186 Tupelo Lane, Harpers Ferry WV 25425. Phone: 304-725-4301. Email: tstefanik@aol.com. See www.rollingridge.net for directions. Overnight accommodations are available at the Retreat House for a small fee – come the night before or stay the night to extend your retreat!
Annual retreat for children ages 6-12 and their parents, grandparents or mentors
May 6-7, 2011
7pm Friday - 7 pm Saturday
Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community
Dear Children of the Earth
At Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community
May 6-7, 2011
Annual retreat for children ages 6-12 and their parents,
grandparents or mentors
In our grasshopper and salamander days, who among us didn't ask why the grasshopper could jump so far -- or why the salamander had black dots on its orange body. We lived by wonder, for by wondering we were able to multiply a growing consciousness of being alive.
-- Richard Lewis, Living by Wonder
Stillness and Listening
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Retreat House at Rolling Ridge
Seasonal Quiet Days
At Rolling Ridge Study Retreat near Harpers Ferry, West Virginia
Learn from the seasons of nature...
the seasons of the church year...
the seasons of your heart.
What would happen if you made time from your normal routine and busy weekday schedule simply to be still, pray, and reflect in a beautiful natural place apart? What would it mean for your everyday life if you set aside one day each quarter for silent retreat? How might this intention deepen your relationship with God? How might it affect your relationships at home and at work and in the wider community? Come and see the difference it makes! These four quiet days during the year offer you the opportunity to rest in the wonder of Creation's varied seasons. They are a time to ponder and gain new perspective, to be nurtured by the love of God. Each day is 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and includes guided reflection around the seasonal themes and spaciousness for solitude and meditative walks, journaling and art – with the companioning presence of each other in prayer and sacred silence. Guide: Trish Stefanik, contemplative retreat leader. Cost: Suggested $25 for individual days or $90 for all four days (or what you can pay. Please bring a bag lunch. | Mark your 2011 calendar now for all 4 days! WINTER: Stillness and Listening SPRING: Awakening and Newness SUMMER: Delight and Abundance AUTUMN: Trust and Surrender |
To register and for more information, please contact Rolling Ridge Study Retreat, 186 Tupelo Lane, Harpers Ferry WV 25425. Phone: 304-725-4301. Email: tstefanik@aol.com. See www.rollingridge.net for directions. Overnight accommodations are available at the Retreat House for a small fee – come the night before or stay the night to extend your retreat!
A gathering of for empty-nesters, para-retirees, and grandparents
February 4-6, 2010
Dinner Friday night through lunch Saturday afternoon
Retreat House at Rolling Ridge
As young and middle-aged people of faith we embarked on an inner and outer journey to live intentionally, listening to the Spirit within and connecting with the world around us. We sought to do good work, to live honestly and passionately with partners and community, to raise children with love and understanding. Now we find ourselves in the wilderness time between adulthood and eldership: our children are adults, the ground of our work is shifting, and we are simultaneously overjoyed and overwhelmed by new roles within the family.
We invite you to a conversation about this wilderness time amid an actual wilderness space. In a safe and sacred place apart, surrounded by the winter woodlands of Rolling Ridge which are themselves a metaphor of beauty in the slowing phase of life’s cycle, we are enabled to explore the challenges and the possibilities opening before us. Helped by resources such as Creative Aging by Marjory Bankson and Looking Back and Giving Forward: Finding Common Ground for Positive Aging, a workbook published by Lumunos, we can ask wide-ranging questions such as how we can balance the allure of new options with the necessity of letting go; how can we come to terms with physical limits; can we envision alternatives to the way aging is typically seen by contemporary society; can we grow old together?
Our conversation will be facilitated by a member of the Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community and will include time for individual reflection, silence, and rest as well as sharing, discussion and gathered prayer. Lindsay McLaughlin is an educator, writer and newly minted grandmother; a dancer all her life, she is motivated by a desire to find the gift of maturity in a field built on the fire of youth and to gather friends to harvest the wisdom of years gone by and uncover hope for the years to come.
We will be offering this retreat from dinner on the evening of Friday, February 4, 2011 through lunch on Sunday, February 6. The cost is $125 and covers all sessions, meals and lodging (mostly dorm-style). Space is limited. To register send $50 deposit made out to RRSR to Rolling Ridge Study Retreat, 120 Jubilee Lane, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425. Include your name and contact information. Feel free to call 304-724-1069 or email community@rollingridge.net.
December 3-4, 2010
Friday 6:30 pm - Saturday 8:00 pm
Retreat House
The four weeks before Christmas are liturgically a season to prayerfully anticipate and ponder God's magnificent gift of the Incarnation. We are encouraged to make room in our hearts and lives today for the birth and movement of the eternal spirit of Christ. During our time together this weekend we will seek to nurture a sacred openness into which and out of which creativity and compassion can flow. We will draw on the experience and wisdom of teachers such as Thomas Merton, Mother Teresa, Henri Nouwen, Dorothy Day, and others who embodied God's Incarnate love through an inward journey of prayer and outward abiding action.
You are warmly invited for our guided retreat time from Friday evening to Saturday evening, led by RRSRC resident and contemplative retreat leader Trish Stefanik; and you are also welcome to extend your retreat another day into Sunday.
The cost for the retreat program is $70, which includes lodging for one night, four meals, and handouts. Participants are welcome to arrive and settle in at the Retreat House as early as 5 pm on Friday. Our retreat will formally begin with dinner at 6:30 pm. We will conclude with dinner Saturday. Retreatants are invited to stay over Saturday night until Sunday noon for an extended time of contemplation for an additional $25 (total: $95). Inquire about a scholarship if the fee is a hardship. Please make checks payable to RRSRC and mail to: Rolling Ridge, 186 Tupelo Lane, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425.
For more information and to register, see www.rollingridge.net, and email tstefanik@aol.com or call 304-725-4301.