Monday, May 4, 2009

Getting Ready

This morning some associates and oblates are already packing, - and some may even be getting on a plane in anticipation of being on time for The Gathering, starting tomorrow. As an associate I also feel some excitement and pressure to be ready. I have a meeting this morning,and a visit this afternoon from grandchildren and their parents who arrive every Monday; I run interference on the four and a half year old Benjamin and his very active twenty-two month old brother, Andre, whose current favourite phrase is, “No, I want to”. We are challenged to guess what this means in specific contexts. The busy parents will try to catch up on work related chores; and we will have a quick supper before I leave for my meditation group meeting after the six o’clock daily mass at my parish church. That, at least will allow a bit of quiet time to get me in gear for the days ahead.


What will we find at The Gathering? Its title promises “Something More”. Tomorrow, people will arrive all day and register in the lobby. Officially The Gathering will start with Combined Evening Prayer and Compline, followed by a silent supper. At 7:30 in the evening Margaret Silf will offer her first address in the Chapel, - that event which will be open to all Associates and their friends. I was pleased to learn yesterday that one of my meditation group who received an invitation from me, also received one from the Sisters of the Church, where she is an Associate. So we hope that many others in the area can make their way to the Convent to hear Margaret. (The full announcement about it appears below on this blog).


For the next three days, the retreat will fall into a pattern during the day. Breakfast for those in residence will take place at 7:45. Those of us who commute will start our day earlier and I confess to being a bit envious of those who are staying within the convent and can avoid battling the incoming morning traffic. But we will plan to arrive and settle in before Morning Prayer at 8:30 and have a few minutes of respite before Margaret’s first address at 9:30. At 10:15 we will break for coffee and move to other spaces for small group discussion. I have been assigned to be a facilitator of one of the small groups and will have received training early on Tuesday afternoon. We will reassemble in the chapel for the Eucharist at 11:45 followed by a talking dinner in the refectory.


After dinner there is a break. Residents will be able to retreat to their rooms. I’m already wondering where I will go before we reconvene at 2:30. If the weather is good, it is a chance for a walk. The nearby hospital grounds have been a lovely place to sit in the past, but I know that there is construction happening, so it may not be the pastoral and restful place I have known before. But there is also the labyrinth and the large Community library and the quiet and relaxing associates’ one.


Margaret will give her second address at 2:30 followed by a tea break – and that will also mean lots of visits to the washrooms – and the discussion groups will follow. I’m starting to be curious about my discussion group. Meeting individuals and sharing life journeys in places like this is always life changing. We will move to the Chapel for Evensong at 5:00 followed by a silent supper. Attending compline is optional at 8:10. The evening is free for rest or refreshment by meeting with friends, exploring the area, praying the labyrinth, quiet reading – and in my personal case, probably blogging.


I want to try and create a measure of silence during the retreat. It will be easier for me to do so in my own home than for some, who will return to families and other commitments. But I am mindful of a passage from Wayfaring that I read earlier this morning, where Margaret Silf tells a story of her own journey of times apart.


A mentor introduced her to three types of prayer. The first was recitation by the book. This is something that we all know, and at some point sense there is more to it than that.


The second was more elaborate, praying more deeply from the heart, trying to enter imaginatively into the scriptures and making connections. Margaret felt a warm glow, as we all do when we feel as though we are really getting it. Then the mentor added about this group, “They pray about everything except the one burning issue in their lives, - the one thing they don’t want to look at”.


That will be part of the “Something More”, I know. So I will try to shut off the rest of world, - put the Globe and Mails in a stack to be read next Sunday, avoid my computer addiction, - except perhaps to follow Suzanne Lawson and Bishop Sue Moxley prayerfully as they participate in the Anglican Consultative Council, - enter into the quiet of the week and let God be there.

Norah Bolton, Associate

Postscript:
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