Clergy Retreat November 2021

Theme
Recent years have brought us into close contact with much that we prefer to keep at a distance: inadequacies in ourselves, vulnerabilities in those we love, and injustices and conflicts in the world and the church. There has been darkness, but in the dark we have been startled when shafts of light have made us smile and have called us to a new way of being. We have seen glimmers of genuine God-imaging humanity in our community, we have seen a glow of wisdom and resilience in our parishioners, and we have even seen sparks of creativity in ourselves.

Standing in that truth and light we will pause for a few days to find our feet on the solid ground of God’s loving creation. From that grounded place we will attend to God’s calling for our next steps in this mysterious pilgrimage we call ministry.

Silence
This will be a silent retreat.

Program

• Optional early morning Gospel meditation
• Morning and Evening Prayer and Compline, with reflection, story-telling and poetry
• Daily Eucharist
• Optional creative activity each afternoon

Arrival and departure
The retreat will commence on Monday afternoon with arrival from 2 pm and pre-dinner drinks at 5.30 pm. The retreat will conclude on Friday morning after breakfast.

Cost 
$690 (includes four nights’ accommodation in own room with ensuite, and all meals).

About the retreat leader
Margaret Wesley is the parish Priest at St Paul’s, Ashgrove, and also a Spiritual Director, poet and Gospels scholar. After 20 years of ministry in Sydney, serving in three parishes and teaching for six years at Mary Andrews College, the last seven years have taken her on a whirlwind journey through China, central Victoria and two Brisbane parishes. Determined now to stay put physically, she is asking, as you are: “Where do we go from here?” Where do we go from here as a parish, as the Anglican Communion and as an individual member of the clergy. She will not give you simple answers, because she has none, but she will hold a space for you to take those questions to the One who does know where you are, who you are, and where you need to be.