Comment response

Recently (see Here) I posted about going on retreat I wrote this "I do struggle with them and more often found them a waste of time" a comment left under the post asked this 

I would be interested in
 a) why and b) what kind of retreats you've actually been on.

So let me try to answer these I probably wont answer in full so I guess that is what the comment tab is for

I've been on a few retreats mostly either day retreats/ quiet days  or over a weekend that were part of work/college and were compulsory attendance. The have all been organised ones and led by people who have led many and have a particular way of leading. Quiet days, some with teaching most of them though find me sat at a table or in a group listening to a speaker talk for most of the day and then we have a few moments of reflection. I find myself daydreaming and finding more and more elaborate ways of escaping the day or weekend. 

I've also been on a couple that I have found good, but these where more of team away day and we walked the seven sisters and had a picnic and then stopped off for a pub supper that day we just hung out together work talk was banned another was getting together for a morning and each taking a song that meant something then having lunch together. both of these I really enjoyed they were loosely organised we knew where we had to be and what to bring but apart from that it was just time away from work. 

The worst one was going away for 3 days this was the one that truly put me off and confirmed for me what a waste of time they were for me. we arrived on the friday evening and had our rooms allocated we had a few moments to settle in then it was supper after supper all our gadgets were " confiscated" until the sunday evening before we left. everything watches, travel clocks, MP3 players mobile phones, Games, everything had to be given in and then it was prayers and silence. I'd kept back my game so I had something and to use in the night, but I had to hand it in too when the person I was with got cross I hadn't. To make matters worse I was in a room with a much much older women who wanted the lights out so there I was alone in the dark awake for all most all the night I was just about asleep when she woke and the lights went on. The next day we sat inside and listened to talk after talk on different things and discussed them in our groups all I wanted to do was be out in the wonderful gardens and by the river that as near by. By the end of that second day I had truly had enough and turned off and tuned out for the rest of my time. I did manage to escape that evening and on the sunday morning. I felt like a caged animal just giving up. we also had a time when we had to go and spend with the chaplain for the weekend which you were told when to go. It was like being told you have a tutorial and thats that. 

That has been how many retreat days or weekends have been extremely tight on time and trying to pack as much as possible in in a short time. Organised with no room to be really me, to wander off/ find space and time out to think on or bin things. No time for me to actually engage with being there. 

The cadged feeling trapped inside all day and being talked at isn't away for me to engage with being away or with God and others. 

Being in a lecture style environment I go into that style of thinking and being, taking notes and trying to concentrate takes a lot of energy and focus. Another side of many of the retreats has been being told when I was to go and see the chaplain. I do not find it easy to just go and talk to someone because I've been expected to. There are very few people who have that place of being where instantly there is a connection more often relationship and trust has to be built and earned before real sharing can begin. 

One style I did find was Good was being on Iona though it was work and I was in work mode for much of the time it parish pilgrimage where I was Co leader.It would be somewhere I would return to it was a style of retreat I could take to and did take to.... the format for the day was simple space and thought came together. We slept in dorms with people from around the world we ate together 3 times a day. We had chores todo together and morning and evening prayer. During the day there were activities or focused times you could join if you wanted to. There were no demands apart from you be at meals, but most of all there was space...there was space time to wander the island or go sit in one of the churches go for coffee to the beach. Time to meet with God just be 

I'm not sure I fully answer the questions but its a start I'm sure...

iona trip day 5 /update

Iona Abbey 

As promised the details of the Pilgrimage I've updated. But as it was a long post you can find it here as a separate page or by following the link at the top of the page

travels to ... oops FROM iona ... pilgrimage back to my patch

went to the abbey at 8:15 am, and then started our L-O-N-G journey back to the capital. The connections are a bit tight for us, so here's praying for the favour of God as we pilgrims make our way back to my patch and home.


so far so good ...
first connection made ok


Edited by house-elf to add


and second
and third


now in Glasgow. Next stop London Euston!

Over and out from the house-elf, who is now taking a well-earned (at least in her opinion) sabbatical!

Travels to Iona / 6

last full day here how quickly it has gone

Tonight we celebrated Communion walking down to the abbey there was the most amazing sunset.. There hasn't been one for the last couple of days as it had been over cast but tonight truly made up for that

   

The service was great the Abbey by night is the Abbey at it's best.....

Along the centre of the main walk up to the alter between the Choir stalls was a table that many were able to sit around( no pics of that)

 but the Abbey by candlelight is when its at its very best 

     Candles at the side of the alter      

Choir Stalls

A simple but wonderful time


Pray we make the connections, (ferries, trains etc) all the way back to London tomorrow ...

travels to iona day 5

on pilgrimage tour Tuesday ...

There are around 250 people living on the island of iona, which is the size of my patch (the parish of North Lambeth)  but with about half a percent of the population (the 2001 census shows there were 45,981 people living in My Patch!!!)

meeting up at St Michael's Cross ready for the pilgrimage 

The path we trod today here on pilgrimage on iona took us past


St Martins cross
Nunnery
Cross Road
Machair Common
St Columba's Bay
Loch Staonaig
High Point
Hermit Cell

Oran's Chapel

(more on each place to come)


It was a bit overcast ... and there was no mobile phone signal the whole day


(so that's why this post is so late, whines the resident house-elf posting the update at well past her bedtime in Finland!)

travels to iona day 4

When we (finally!) got here on Saturday we were told a story about the wildgeese of iona. Apparently wildgeese only ever stop off at iona for a few days, a few days of respite. I can relate to that, as I guess can the thousands of other visitors who come here to what is reportedly the first Christian shrine in the United Kingdom. (hope I got that right)

The story of the wildgeese returning year after year to rest on their long journey continued to speak to me today.

Wild Goose Publications is the name of the publishing house of the Iona Community, which is "established in the Celtic Christian tradition of St Columba", and produces books, CDs etc.

("Now I know why they chose that name" says the little house-elf who wrote this post for My Patch! )

travels to iona day 3

sea
sharks
sunsets
sheep &
shooting stars

that's been the day and I've run out of ways of saying it with an S

swimming in the sea was (if the water had been warm - which it was NOT!) tropical crystal clear

After supper a walk to the north beach to watch the sunset.

The air was still. Listening to Majestet on my ipod (Majesty in Swedish) reflected the place and time so much! Just as I was leaving a lady( who was staying in the centre with us ) came to say they had been watching something in the water. That something turned out to be FOUR BASKING SHARKS. Just wish I had had a better lens on my camera! But I do have the memory :)

the black speck in the water is the sharks fin in the background is the island called the Dutchman's hat

On the way back the milky way was out .. and as if this evening hadn't been amazing enough .. to top it all off I saw a shooting star. If I didn't know better I'd say that God was showing off today!

(Posted by the non-resident house elf who is green with envy!)

travels to iona 1 & 2 update

After
two bus rides,
two long train journeys,
two boat trips,
two short walks
oh and a night in a hostel in Oban ...  we finally arrived in Iona and the most amazinly views!

before we left we bought salmon sandwiches from the the shop just to the right of scotland in the banner was amazing if your ever in Oban its the place for lunch. though you may get asked to put crabs back into there cases as they try to escape ( can't fault them for trying when there friends are in fancy dress)

Coming towards Iona from Mull the Abbey is in the centre 

Stepping onto the island toay was a dream come true. The reality of really being here is really something for me! When chatting on the way here with a friend I realised what I want from the week away. I want to let my soul catch up with my body. That's what they say in Africa after a long journey (like ours!). Today, sitting in the quiet of the abbey, I started to understand that for myself ...

(posted by the non-resident house elf who also wants to pilgrimage to iona someday!)

Travels to Iona 2

Arrived on the island
beautiful

no internet and limited range for mobile phones ...so there will be  intermittant reports

(posted by the no longer resident house-elf, who is back home in sunny Finland!)

travels to iona 1

This is the house-elf reporting for duty again .... no news from Iona yet. My patch hasn't quite arrived there yet. It IS a long way from London.


My patch was last spotted coming into Oban quite late last night. Stunned by the beautiful scenery and frustrated that she couldn't stop the train to take some photographs!

Iona

My patch on the move....

Tomorrow 16 people of mixed ages from the patch of North lambeth Parish and Circuit are off to Iona for a week..

Iona has been a place which I have always wanted to visit...


If you don't Know anything about the place or the community there then have a look at their site