Gratitude for a Retreat Day:
What a true gift of rest and renewal Saturday was. And well worth the early start and drive in wet weather.
The entire day was designed by the Rev. Dr. Catherine Smith, and with her at the helm, the day moved with a gentle but purposeful pace that guided us forward.
It began with a birdsong call to worship, and prayers for the Spirit of God to stir up within us a deep longing for God and for God’s Way of Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.
This longing was explored throughout the day through the Godly Play story of “The Deep Well,” through scripture (the woman at the well,) through thought provoking questions around what brings us joy, what holds us captive, what barrenness looks like in our corners of the world, and through our Guest Speaker – Tom Urbaniak’s reading of the tender story he wrote that came from his deep longing to help his son, Oliver, remember his late mother: an act of enduring love that offered all of us a profound glimpse into the courage often required to be carriers of hope.
Saturday’s retreat was a rich time of sharing and a meaningful way to pause and wonder, and make connections to what deeply nurtures the body, heart, mind, and spirit.
This inner work was well-paced and wonderfully balanced by community and creation. The shared meal and fellowship provided nourishment, while the mini pilgrimage on the wooded trail grounded our reflections in the beauty of the physical world.
This photograph was taken by Don MacEwen. It is of a leaf that I noticed while walking in silence on the wooded trail. It was covered with glimmering droplets of water. With my own deep longing and the story of “The Deep Well” still resounding within me, the tiny pools of life on that little leaf seemed to whisper a personal invitation: “Drink deep of the living water, Catherine Ann.”
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Thanks to Rev. Catherine Ann Dickson
Minister of the Kings United Pastoral Charge
Dundas/Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Island.