Why retreat?

John Calvin said, “There is no deep knowing of God without a deep knowing of self, and no deep knowing of self without a deep knowing of God.” 

In this weekend long retreat for pastors and their spouses, from within the Christian Reformed Church, attendees were taken on a pilgrimage of identity.

Goals for the retreat included:

• Understanding your temperament using the tool of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator

• Examining your shadow self as a pathway to growth and wholeness

• Examining the implications of your temperament type for relationships, ministry context, and spirituality

• Engaging in spiritual practices as pathways to communion with God and self-awareness

A weekend long retreat with a group of women from Trinity Baptist Church, contemplating the connections and tensions we experience between Being and Doing. Has busyness become an idol in our lives? Who are we when our roles are stripped away? What place does community & the practice of sabbath have in bringing us back to our core worth?

This weekend long retreat, again with Trinity Baptist Church, asked, how do we listen to God, especially in light of our overcrowded schedules & 24/7 technology world?

Attendees were given the opportunity to learn, share & practice some of the ways we can be attentive to God’s voice. This included contemplative prayer exercises & reflecting on one’s life story.

This weekend retreat asked young adults from the Anglican Parish of Christ Church, to hear God’s call to be & do. Through the medium of guided prayer practices, sharing in community, & personal reflection time,  attendees considered the life of Jesus & their own lives, being attentive to what themes emerged around vocation, meaning & significance.

This half-day online retreat provided attendees from Greenfield Baptist Church, with a series of pointers that help us in discerning our callings. How do we figure out to what we are called?

Two talks given at a conference for Post-Secondary Student Life Professionals. The first reminded attendees that our foremost vocation is TO BE in relationship with God; to see ourselves as God sees us. The second challenged us to practice the hard call to be in community, if we are to flourish in our particular vocational calls.

In this half-day retreat, participants were invited to enter into some of the hard events of Holy Week, leading to Jesus' crucifixion. Through contemplative prayer practices & personal reflection time, space was given to consider the tough places in their own stories, reflecting on how Jesus' experiences might speak solace and sustenance.

Many of us are familiar with intercessory & petitionary prayer but are less familiar with contemplative prayer. Through a mixture of teaching,  engaging in a practice, & sharing, attendees were invited to encounter God afresh.  The format can be adapted for a mini series, part of a longer retreat or something in between. 

The English mystic, Julian of Norwich lived in the late 14th/early 15th century - a time of social, political and ecclesial turmoil. I have given a number of presentations on her & my own journey of formation as I have immersed myself in her texts, “Revelations of Divine Love.”  This classic of medieval religious literature, is replete with theological insights. In my talks, you are invited to enter Julian's world, mind & heart. How may her voice speak to us from across the ages?

The MBTI identifies our personality preferences according to four dimensions, & helps us understand our potential strengths & development areas. The framework enables an exploration of interpersonal & intrapersonal relationships, from communication & decision-making preferences to understanding the shape of our spiritual dispositions. This increasing self-awareness & grasp of how others are wired, allows us to appreciate each other & move through the world in healthy ways.

The MBTI identifies four dimensions which are:

1. Where we focus our attention & get energy

2. The way we take in information

3. The way we make decisions

4. How we orient our lives to the external world

As a licensed practitioner, I am able to provide access to the MBTI official assessment, & generate reports through Psychometrics Canada who set the costs.

The enneagram, an ancient personality tool that has appeared in various forms across history & faith traditions, is a dynamic personality system that describes nine distinct patterns of thinking, feeling & acting. It focuses on the core motivations & beliefs that drive behaviors. It also explains the movements we make when we are in stress or when we are supported & feeling healthy. The Enneagram is a powerful tool for understanding oneself & provides a foundation for the understanding of others. The applications are numerous but simply put, If we are courageous enough to look in the mirror & beyond our false self surface, we can use this tool as a pathway towards wholeness, & a life infused with love for self & others.

I have presented the enneagram at teacher conventions and in church circles as a primer, serving as an introduction to those unfamiliar with the enneagram map, or who want a refresher of the basics. I am not a certified teacher…yet!