{"id":140,"date":"2017-07-15T13:33:40","date_gmt":"2017-07-15T13:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pym.org\/spiritual-formation-program-collaborative\/?page_id=140"},"modified":"2021-06-27T10:35:28","modified_gmt":"2021-06-27T10:35:28","slug":"sample-closing-retreat","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pym.org\/spiritual-formation-program-collaborative\/for-facilitators\/retreats\/sample-closing-retreat\/","title":{"rendered":"Sample Closing Retreat I"},"content":{"rendered":"

Facilitators should re-read Loring Volume II, CH 2 \u2013 4.<\/span><\/p>\n


\nOBJECTIVES<\/strong>
\n1. Identify personal learning and meaning of this nine months
\n2. Name and claim spiritual gifts
\n3. Identify one\u2019s ministry
\n4. Recognize the spiritual disciplines of accountability, stewardship, community
\n5. Consider next steps
\n6. Evaluate experience
\n7. Closing<\/span><\/p>\n

RETREAT SCHEDULE<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

FRIDAY<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

5:30 pm Set up for Dinner<\/span><\/p>\n

6:00 pm Dinner and clean-up<\/span><\/p>\n

6:45 pm Begin settling into worship<\/span><\/p>\n

7:00 pm Worship Sharing.
\n\u201cSomething important I learned or experienced this year\u2026\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

7:45 pm Overview and Objectives. <\/span><\/p>\n

8:00 pm Cradling . <\/span><\/p>\n

The Cradling
\nFrom Joanna Macy, Coming Back to Life
\nIntroduction: Joseph Chilton Pearse in his book, The Magical Child, defined a matrix as a place of safety, energy and potential for growth. And that the mother\u2019s womb was the primary matrix. As we experience our earliest times, after our birth, we experience the safety, energy and potential for growth in being held, cradled, carried in the arms of our parents, grandparents and other folks who care for us. We experience it when we awaken to the loving gaze of these folks, in the eye contact and smiles that come from enjoying each others presence. This safety and nurture allows us to explore the world boldly, and to learn how to engage it and grow.
\nIn a very real sense, our Meetings and our spiritual formation groups provide this safety, energy and potential for growth as well. The experiences we are offering today are intended to help us reflect on how this all works, and perhaps open us to new dimensions of this nurture.
\nPurpose: A guided meditation on the body, the cradling exercise serves many purposes. It permits deep relaxation, all the more welcome after dealing straight on with fearsome issues. It builds trust among participants, and a kind of respectful cherishing. It widens our awareness of what is at stake in the global crisis, for the dangers we face\u2014pollution, ecological collapse, famine, warfare\u2014are dangers because of what they do to the body. The Cradling also taps deeper levels of knowing, stirring reverence for life and for its powers in us. Usually, in dealing with the deterioration of our world, we try to get our minds around it; we deal with it on the informational level, as if we were brains at the end of a stick. The Cradling stills for a while the chattering computing mind and opens it to the wordless wisdom of life.
\nDescription: People work in pairs, taking turns. First you model with a volunteer how Partners A lie down and Partners B, following your verbal suggestions, will \u201ccradle\u201d them, which means lifting arms, lower legs and head.
\nNow Partners A, removing glasses and shoes, loosening ties and belts, lie down on the floor, close their eyes and relax. Assist with a brief guided relaxation (stretching, feeling the breath, letting weight sink down, releasing tension from feet, legs, hands, etc.). Soft background music like flute is helpful, but not essential. Carpeting makes a large difference, but even on a hard floor this exercise has worked well.
\nCaution: proceed with care and respect. Touching another person\u2019s body is a sensitive and often problematic issue. In some cultures it is virtually taboo; don\u2019t offer this exercise in south Asia, for example. In the U.S., even California, people can interpret touch as an invasion of their personal integrity, especially if they have suffered physical and sexual abuse. So inform people that the exercise involves letting their arms, legs, and head be lifted and held; ask them to choose a partner with whom they will feel comfortable.
\nRespect the participants for their trust and stay matter-of-fact in your manner, avoiding a portentous or sugary tone. Interspersing your words with silence, remain casual and reflective, as if observing some constellation in the heavens or a conch shell on the beach.
\nThe following description of Joanna guiding the Cradling is offered for illustrative purposes only. You will not be repeating this word for word when you are the guide; you have your own style, your own experience to use. Now, however, read it reflectively to get a feel for the process, its pace and unfolding.
\nLift gently your partner\u2019s arm and hand\u2026 Cradle it, feel the weight of it\u2026flex the elbow and the wrist, not e how the joints are hinged to permit a variety of movement\u2026 Behold this arm as if you had never seen it before, as if you were a visitor from another world\u2026 Observe the articulation of bone and muscle\u2026 Turning the palm and fingers, not the intricacy of structure\u2026 What you now hold is an object unique in our cosmos: a human hand of Planet Earth\u2026 In the primordial seas where once we swam, that hand was a fin\u2014as it was again in its mother\u2019s womb\u2026 Feel the energy and intelligence in that hand\u2014that fruit of a long evolutionary journey, of efforts to swim, to push, to climb, to grasp\u2026 Note the opposable thrum, how clever and adept it is\u2026 good for grasping a tool, a pen, a gun\u2026Open your awareness to the journey it has made in this lifetime\u2026how it opened like a flower when it emerged from the mother\u2019s womb\u2026how it reached to explore and to do\u2026 That hand leaned to hold a spoon\u2026to hold its parents hand while learning to walk\u2026to tie shoelaces\u2026to throw a ball\u2026to write its name\u2026to give pleasure\u2026to wipe tears\u2026 There is nothing like it in all the universe.
\nGently lay down that hand, move now to your partner\u2019s leg and slowly lift it\u2026 Feel its weight, its sturdiness\u2026 This species stands upright\u2026 Bend the knee, the ankle, not the play of bone and muscle. It allows this being to walk, run, climb\u2026 Holding the foot, feel the sole, no hoof or heavy padding\u2026 It is this being\u2019s contact with the ground\u2026 Feel that heel; when it kicked in the womb: that was what the parents first felt through the wall of the belly\u2026 \u201cSee: there\u2019s its heel!\u201d\u2026 And such journeys that leg has been on since then\u2026learning to take a step and then another\u2026walking and falling and getting up again\u2026then running, climbing, kicking a ball, pedaling a bike\u2026a lot of adventures in that leg\u2026and a lot of places it has taken your partner\u2026into work places and sanctuaries, mountainsides and city streets\u2026gotten tired\u2026sore\u2026still kept going\u2026 Gently putting it down now, move around to the other leg and cradle that one, too.
\nObserve this companion leg and foot\u2026which shared these journeys\u2026and many yet to come\u2026 For all its weight and sturdiness, it can be broken, crushed\u2026no armor\u2026just skin that can tear, bones that can fracture\u2026 As you hold that leg, open your thought to all the places it will take your partner in the future\u2026into places of suffering perhaps\u2026of conflict and challenge\u2026on missions that your partner doesn\u2019t know about yet\u2026 As you lay it back down, extend your wishes for its strength and wholeness.
\nLift your partner\u2019s other hand and arm\u2026 Observe the subtle difference form its twin\u2026 This hand is unique, different from all other hands\u2026 Turning it in yours, feel the life in it\u2026 And note also its vulnerability\u2026no shell encases it, for those fingertips, that palm, are instruments for sensing and knowing our world, as well as for doing\u2026 Flexible, fragile hand, so easy to break or burn\u2026 Be aware of how much you want to stay whole, intact, in the time that is coming\u2026 It has tasks to do, that your partner can\u2019t even guess at\u2026reaching out to people in confusion and distress, helping, comforting, showing the way\u2026 This hand may be the one that holds you in the moments of your own dying, giving you water or a last touch of reassurance\u2026 The world of sanity and decency that lies ahead will be built by hands like this one. With gratitude for its existence, put it gently down; move now around behind your partner\u2019s head\u2026
\nPlacing a hand under the neck and another beneath the skull, slowly, gently lift your partner\u2019s head\u2026 (Partner A keep your neck relaxed, your head heavy, loose). Lift that head carefully, cradle it with reverence, for what you now hold in your two hand is the most intricate, complex object in the known universe\u2026 a human head of Planet Earth\u2026a hundred million neurons firing in there\u2026vast potential for intelligence\u2026only a portion has been tapped of that capacity to see, to know, to envision\u2026
\nYour hand holding your partner\u2019s head\u2014that is likely the first touch your partner knew in this life, coming out of the womb into hands, like yours, of a doctor or midwife\u2026 Now within that skull is a whole world of experience\u2014of memories of scenes and songs, beloved faces\u2026some are gone now, but they live still in the mansions of that mind\u2026 It is a world of experience that is totally unique and that can never be fully shared\u2026 In that head, too, are dreams of what could be, visions that could shape our world\u2026
\nClosing your eyes for a moment, feel the weight of that head in your hands. It could be the head of a Chinese soldier or an Iraqi mother, of an American General or an African doctor\u2026 Same size, same weight just about, same vulnerability, same capacity for dreams that could guide you through this time.
\nLooking down at it now, think of what this head may have to behold in the times that come\u2026the choices it will make\u2026the courage and endurance it will need\u2026 Let your hands, of their own intelligence, express their desire that all be will with that head\u2026 Perhaps there is something that you want your partner to keep in mind\u2014something you want them not to forget in times of stress or anguish\u2026 If there is, you can quietly tell them now, as you lay their head back down\u2026
\nAllow for the recumbent partner to stretch, look around, and slowly sit up. Then A and B reverse roles, and the verbal cues are offered again, with some variations.
\nIf the number of workshop participants is uneven, the guide pairs up with the extra person, then leads the whole exercise while acting as Partner B, but not reversing roles. The extra person can then join another pair as a second cradling partner, if desired.
\nWhen participants lie down, remember to have them place themselves so that there is adequate room for their partners to move around them to cradle arms, legs and head.
\n8:30-9:00 Process the experience Share in groups of 4 (20 min) (JP\/WW)
\nAt the conclusion of the whole process, time to reorient is important. Let the partners talk quietly or remain in silence for a while; then let them gather in foursomes to speak of their experience.
\nWhatever words or images are used, it is good to touch on certain themes. Interweaving through the spoken words, these motifs renew and sharpen awareness of what it means to be a living person. They include:
\nThe uniqueness of the human species in the cosmos,
\nIts long evolutionary journey,
\nThe uniqueness of each individual, and of each personal history,
\nThe intricacy and beauty of the human organism,
\nIts universality, linking us to other humans around the globe,
\nAnd its vulnerability:<\/span><\/p>\n

In large group (10 min) (JP\/WW)
\nThen participants are invited for share in the large group about their own experience. Not all are required to share
\nWhat was this experience like for you?
\nDid any themes emerge for you?<\/span><\/p>\n

9:00 pm Closing Worship<\/span><\/p>\n

SATURDAY<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

8:30 am Volunteer(s) makes coffee<\/span><\/p>\n

8:50 am Participants arrive and have morning hospitality<\/span><\/p>\n

9:10 am Worship and Introduction to Spiritual Gifts. Definitions and examples<\/span><\/p>\n

10:00 am Break<\/span><\/p>\n

10:20 am Worship Seeing. This is a way to practice communally a way of calling forth and affirming the strengths, qualities and spiritual gifts we have seen or recognized in those around us. Allow for images and metaphors which might arise. For example, I see in Wade a shepherd\u2019s gift of finding a song that speaks to our condition, that comforts, that soothes, that gives energy. Not everyone needs to \u201csee\u201d because as a body, we need those who are the pray-ers, and we each need to be unpressured to speak.<\/span><\/p>\n

EXPLANATION. This is a prayerful process involving three roles, the Clerk; the Focus Person; the Recorder, rotating so each person serves in each role. Clerk\u2019s job: \u201cLet us turn our prayerful attention now to our friend _____(name) . After some moments of worship, let us speak out of the stillness, naming the ways we have seen the Light shine in this person. \u201c After there seems to be a completeness , the clerk discerns the call for the close and asks for any comment by the focus person.
\nFocus Person: Rests, listens and receives.
\nRecorder: Records the name of the focus person at the top of the page, and scribes the words or phrases offered in worship; at the end, the recorder hands to the focus person the recording. It is OK if for any reason, a person prefers to PASS on being a recorder (a really slow writer, for example).<\/span><\/p>\n

Facilitator asks \u201cWho would be willing to be the first clerk? \u201c. Then, the person across the circle opposite the clerk, Are you ok being the first focus person\u201d? The facilitator asks for a volunteer to serve as the first recorder, and hands the recorder a pad of paper and a pen. <\/span><\/p>\n

At the close, next clerk is the person seated at the RIGHT hand of the first clerk, and the next focus person is seated at the RIGHT hand of the first focus person, and so too for the recorder. <\/span><\/p>\n

12 NOON Lunch <\/span><\/p>\n

1:00 Quiet time. No talking. OK to journal, walk, sleep.<\/span><\/p>\n

2:00 pm Footwashing at Marlborough Story read aloud. Ask for comments and reflections. Then, set up the instruction: Go to each person, milling about the room, and say \u201dPlease forgive me for any way I hurt you or judged you or placed a barrier. I want there only to be truth and love between us. The person says \u201cI forgive you.\u201d The two part, going on to other people. Let the moment between you be what it is, and the Listener should hold off his or her own immediate request for forgiveness. This \u201cmilling about the room\u201d continues until the facilitator calls time, and ask people to recreate a circle. Acknowledge any incompleteness. We do what time permits, and hope that soon you can create the opportunity for completions. <\/span><\/p>\n

ALTERNATIVE: Read I Corinthians 12-14. This is a practice of minding our unity while \u201ctravelling\u201d or moving through a conflict facing us. It is a reading with perhaps new or challenging material on the topic of spiritual gifts and being \u201cchurch.\u201d. The instruction is: Read one sentence. Reader pauses and asks Is anyone stopped here by a word or phrase? If yes, the person(s) stopped, share their distress or confusion or annoyance. Is there a way to acknowledge this \u201cstop\u201d and be mindful of it? OK to proceed? If not ok, what might be needed? IF and when ready, a second reader reads the second sentence, and asks if anyone is stopped? In this way we travel slowly, \u201cminding our unity.\u201d Here we value each person, use compassionate listening, and know that we are \u201ctravelling\u201d together, not falsely arriving at some preset destination but with the group being scattered or lost.<\/span><\/p>\n

3:00pm Discerning One\u2019s Ministry
\nBrief Presentation: What is ministry? How have I been \u201cwell used\u201d? A time when I felt great joy in serving in some way. What do I know about my own gift?
\nFacilitator shares personally and offer public examples.
\nReference Loring. Reference Wade Wright\u2019s Discerning Spiritual Gifts and Ministries<\/span><\/p>\n

3:15 pm Exercise: Journal on recognition of one\u2019s gifts named this morning, and how one might have use this gift going forward. How can I name my ministry at this moment? How clear am I?<\/span><\/p>\n

3:45 pm Sharing in small groups <\/span><\/p>\n

4:30 pm Processing in Plenary:
\nWhat was that like? Where are you ? How many have an idea about their ministry?
\nWhat was hard?
\nAny openings, new understanding?
\nHave you had encouragement along the way?
\nSources of encouragement?
\nWhat role does \u201cnaming \u201c by others have?
\nDid low points in your life turn out later to be openings toward your true calling?
\nCan anyone identify seeds of ministry that were planted far in the past, noting the sometimes long germination time<\/span><\/p>\n

5:00pm Closing Pennington Quote: Our life is \u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

SUNDAY<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n

8:30 am Prepare coffee <\/span><\/p>\n

9:00 am Participants arrive for morning hospitality<\/span><\/p>\n

9:15 am Opening Worship and Agenda Review. Distribute information about Other resources for spiritual growth: The School of the Spirit, Shalem, Oasis, etc. <\/span><\/p>\n

9:30 am A Tool For Going Forward. Calling out Friends to ministry, a method for discerning clerks or naming a committee. Source: Margery Larrabee\u2019s Friends Journal articles. <\/span><\/p>\n

10:15 Evaluation. The responses are all typed into a document randomly and anonymously after the weekend is over, and all of the working group members read them and consider changes suggested.<\/span><\/p>\n

Questions on the evaluation:
\n1. Tell a little about your experience with a spiritual practice\/discipline in the nine months of the Spiritual Formation Program\u2026 How helpful was this experience to your spiritual life?
\n2. Tell about the usefulness of your friendship\/accountability group in deepening your spiritual life\u2026
\n3. Tell about your experience with the readings\u2026.
\n4. Tell about your experience of the monthly reading discussion\u2026.
\n5. Are you more able to nurture others spiritually as a result of this program? If yes, in what way(s)\u2026?
\n6. Name the most important learning\/benefit that you have gained from participation in this program\u2026
\n7. Has your Meeting benefited as a result of your (and others) participation in this program? If yes, in what way(s)?
\n8. What do you think about the importance of the discernment of spiritual gifts to a Meeting community?
\n9. How clear are you with regards to your \u201cministry\u201d as a member or attender of the Religious Society of Friends? Would you name it, briefly?
\n10. Do you have any advice for the Spiritual Formation Working Group as to how to improve this program? <\/span><\/p>\n

10:45 Break. <\/span><\/p>\n

11:00 Worship-sharing on a query: For me, I felt the transforming power of God when \u2026.<\/span><\/p>\n

12:00pm Closing song and Dismissal<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facilitators should re-read Loring Volume II, CH 2 \u2013 4. OBJECTIVES 1. Identify personal learning and meaning of this nine months 2. Name and claim spiritual gifts 3. Identify one\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":315,"featured_media":0,"parent":136,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"iawp_total_views":159,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-140","page","type-page","status-publish","entry"],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pym.org\/spiritual-formation-program-collaborative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pym.org\/spiritual-formation-program-collaborative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pym.org\/spiritual-formation-program-collaborative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pym.org\/spiritual-formation-program-collaborative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/315"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pym.org\/spiritual-formation-program-collaborative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pym.org\/spiritual-formation-program-collaborative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/140\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pym.org\/spiritual-formation-program-collaborative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pym.org\/spiritual-formation-program-collaborative\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}