If you are a Companion, Postulant, Novice or Friend of the Northumbria Community and require access to the protected areas of this blog, please email monasticliving@northumbriacommunity.org to obtain the password.
Accessing the blog…
Coming up in October 2021
Our retreats and events – online and at Nether Springs, our Mother House…
If you would like to automatically receive our monthly retreat and events updates by email, please sign up HERE
The following retreats will be running ONLINE:
- October 8 – 10 (Friday-Sunday) – ‘Motivational Gifts’ with Andy Raine – What is it that motivates our personality, choices, and relationships with others? Growing in knowledge of ourselves goes hand-in-hand with growing in knowledge of God. This retreat offers a well-tested and well-received tool for understanding our ‘motivational gift,’ drawing from a book that Andy Raine has written (available HERE).
October 15 – 17 (Friday-Sunday) – ‘The Changing Clock’ with Carolyn Howard – In a time of changing seasons, there is always much to reflect upon. Using a beautiful, ‘changing clock’, creative activity, you will be invited to track the joys and challenges of the past year and to consider what God might be showing you – not just about the times we are now living in, but also about your own life.
I struggle to express how much I take away from being able to attend our Saturday mornings. Today was wonderful.
Creative Saturday Morning Retreat – March, 2021
- ‘Creative Saturday Morning ‘ – 23rd October 9am – 1.30pm – space to pause, for a few hours, from the activity of daily life and enter into a quiet stillness where we can listen to God and to our lives. There will be an optional creative activity to help you do this, followed by lunch together.
- October 25-28 An individually guided retreat – ‘Being Who You Are’ which offers the opportunity to receive daily, one-to-one spiritual accompaniment and personalised spiritual exercises. Spiritual formation is co-operating with the inner work of transformation the Spirit of God is seeking to accomplish in you. The Spirit’s purpose is not to turn you into a different person, but to make you into the best ‘you’ that you can be.
‘The virtual prayer room became a special and sacred space. The presence of God was tangible and the faces of all the participants on my screen gave new meaning to Alone and Together. The Zoom sessions with my guide still enabled the depth of sharing which, for me, is such an essential part of an Individually Guided Retreat.‘
Individually Guided Retreat – June, 2021
As well as daily input, for all of our online retreats, retreatants will have the opportunity to join in with our monastic rhythm of four-fold prayers, which help us hold the space for us to be transformed, through our encounters with God. And we also have twice-daily ‘kettle on’ spaces, hosted by members of our Welcome and Hospitality team, as valuable ‘places of informal connection’ for those who would like to join in.
We intentionally keep our numbers small, so that retreatants can experience a more personalised welcome.
And at NETHER SPRINGS:
Our new-format, five-day retreats involve both inner pilgrimage – a journey of inner work, silence, study, peace and rest and an opportunity for the ‘Heart alone with God’ staying full-board in an ensuite room – and outer pilgrimage, a chance to engage with the Celtic heritage of Northumberland.
Driving up, I asked myself WHY I felt the need to drive so far just to have a rest. Surely, I could have found something closer to home. But as soon as I got here, I remembered why I needed my time of retreat to be at Nether Springs, and it was worth every mile.’
AVAILABILITY
4th-8th October – Monday to Friday – reserve list only
11th-15th October – Monday to Friday – reserve list only
18th-22nd October – Monday to Friday – reserve list only
MORE DATES ARE AVAILABLE IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER (and there are currently a few spaces for w/b 8th November, 15th November and 13th December)
‘Thank you for keeping a safe space. I feel comfortable leaving here and collecting my mother from the hospital after surgery and spending the next week with her.’
‘Inner and Outer Pilgrimage Retreat’ at Nether Springs – July, 2021
AND TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT IS COMING UP BETWEEN NOW, AND THE END OF DECEMBER, PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW:
Many thanks for continuing to support our work at this time.
Coming up in September 2021
Our retreats and events – online, at Nether Springs and elsewhere
The following retreats will be running ONLINE:
- ‘Blessed to be a Blessing‘ from 10th-12th September (Friday to Sunday), led by Roy Searle, who explores how the God of blessing created us to be channels of blessing to people and places, in every place where we are…
- ‘Creative Saturday Morning ‘ – 18th September, 9am – 1.30pm – space to pause, for a few hours, from the activity of daily life and enter into a quiet stillness where we can listen to God and to our lives. There will be an optional creative activity to help you do this.
- And for those who are wanting to know more about Northumbria Community and are considering journeying more closely with us, we have a ‘Community Introduction,’ from 20th-23rd September (Monday to Thursday), which will run in North American time (CDT). It will involve input from our three Community Overseers, as well as Companions in Community, based in North America/Canada.
- An individually guided retreat – ‘Listening to the Heartbeat of God,’ 27th-30th September which offers the opportunity to receive daily, one-to-one spiritual accompaniment and personalised spiritual exercises.
As well as daily input, for all of our online retreats, retreatants will have the opportunity to join in with our monastic rhythm of four-fold prayers, which help us hold the space for us to be transformed, through our encounters with God. And we also have twice-daily ‘kettle on’ spaces, hosted by members of our Welcome and Hospitality team, as valuable ‘places of informal connection’ for those who would like to join in.
And these retreats will take place at NETHER SPRINGS:
Our new-format, five-day retreats involve both inner pilgrimage – a journey of inner work, silence, study, peace and rest and an opportunity for the ‘Heart alone with God’ staying full-board in an ensuite room – and outer pilgrimage, a chance to engage with the Celtic heritage of Northumberland.
13th-17th September – Monday to Friday – reserve list only
20th-24th September – Monday to Friday – reserve list only
MORE DATES ARE AVAILABLE IN OCTOBER, NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER
AND TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT IS COMING UP BETWEEN NOW, AND THE END OF DECEMBER, PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW:
Many thanks for continuing to support our work at this time.
And finally – look out for our Northumbria Community presence at Prospect Farm from 23rd-26th August 2021
More information from Paul Langley – paul.langley@northumbriacommunity.org
St Oswald’s Day Celebration – 5th August
As a dispersed network Community, it is not possible for us to gather together under one roof and, indeed, many of those who might usually make the journey to Heavenfield, Northumbria, UK, on August 5th, to remember St Oswald, are not able to do so this year. So instead, we are pleased to offer you some special treasures from our archives. These include:
- some footage from a Celtic Saints’ Workshop, led by Andy and Anna Raine and the Fleeson family, at St Joseph’s Episcopal Church, Boynton Bay, Florida, in 2018, alongside pictures and video clips from Heavenfield, Northumberland, in 2019;
- a link to Norma Charlton’s re-telling of the Oswald Story;
- a special midday prayer filmed at the hermit’s cave, near Heavenfield;
- a family-friendly version of the Oswald liturgy,
- a couple of special reflections around some Oswald themes
- Jim Bailey’s ‘Stand at the Crossroads’ song, first recorded for our Easter Workshop in 2019
- a wonderful excerpt from the Easter Workshop 2019 which took place at our Mother House – Nether Springs – in which we received a surprise visit from Oswald himself…
IF YOU ENJOY THESE VIDEOS PLEASE CONSIDER SUBSCRIBING TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Continue reading “St Oswald’s Day Celebration – 5th August”
A ‘heads up’ for July and August
Spaces still available in July for our Individually Guided retreat
Join our online Individually Guided Retreat – ‘Being Who you Are’
July 26 – 29 – Being Who You Are – Spiritual formation is co-operating with the inner work of transformation the Spirit of God is seeking to accomplish in you. The Spirit’s purpose is not to turn you into a different person, but to make you into the best ‘you’ that you can be. An opportunity to explore, with the support of your retreat guide such questions as: What helps you to be more the person you believe God has made you to be? What is squeezing you into a mould and hindering you from being who you really are? How well do the roles you play, and the responsibilities you carry, fit with the person you are? You may also, of course, choose to explore other themes with your retreat guide.
As well as daily input, for all of our online retreats, retreatants will have the opportunity to join in with our monastic rhythm of four-fold prayers, which help us hold the space for us to be transformed, through our encounters with God. And we also have twice-daily ‘kettle on’ spaces, hosted by members of our Welcome and Hospitality team, as valuable ‘places of informal connection’ for those who would like to join in.
PLEASE REGISTER YOUR INTEREST FOR THE IGR ABOVE BY CLICKING ON THE BUTTON BELOW
A *suggested donation would be £180. If you are a UK tax payer, please do consider ‘gift-aiding’ your donation. Please find more information about ‘suggested donations’ towards the bottom of the page.
Continue reading “A ‘heads up’ for July and August”Spaces still available for our online June retreats
It’s not too late to join us in June…
We still have some spaces available for our online June retreats:
- our ‘Red Tent’ women’s retreat, led by storyteller, creative artist and longtime Companion in Community, Pam Pott;
- a fascinating (and challenging) insight into ‘Northumbrian Spirituality’, led by Roy Searle – a retreat that considers what Christian Celtic practices (that became embedded in the land, Saints and story of the ancient kingdom of Northumbria) may have to say to us today, irrespective of where we are;
- an individually guided retreat – ‘Listening to the Heartbeat of God’ which offers the opportunity to receive daily, one-to-one spiritual accompaniment and personalised spiritual exercises.
As well as daily input, for all of our online retreats, retreatants will have the opportunity to join in with our monastic rhythm of four-fold prayers, which help us hold the space for us to be transformed, through our encounters with God. And we also have twice-daily ‘kettle on’ spaces, hosted by members of our Welcome and Hospitality team, as valuable ‘places of informal connection’ for those who would like to join in.
More detailed information and booking links can be found below.
Continue reading “Spaces still available for our online June retreats”