Arriving at retreat: an invitation to slow down

Post by Rev. Sharon Wylie, Worship Leader

SpiritRest 2021 is in-person and underway. I feel like that first sentence should conclude with an exclamation point because it feels so wonderful and extraordinary, after 17 months of pandemic, to be together in this place. But we are so tired, traumatized, and hurting…an exclamation point doesn’t feel like quite the thing.

Our group is fully vaccinated, so we have as much collective safety as possible during a pandemic that is not over. Still, of course, we are all here at our own risk. The yearning for rest, for calm, for restoration is palpable.
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The first evening is a transition time; we don’t enter silence until after our orientation session and our evening vespers service. So there is time to chat, to introduce ourselves to each other, and to share, if we want to, our hopes for the week.

Some people arrive here to take a break from serious family situations. Some people arrive during a larger time of rest: a vacation or sabbatical. Whatever our personal situations, many of us arrive here tired and worn out.

One of the great blessings of retreat is simplicity—meals are taken care of, and there is nothing to do except what you want to do. Arriving Sunday evening and having dinner taken care of is immediately its own kind of bliss.

During our orientation session, Arvid leads us in a loving kindness meditation. It is an immediate relief to slow down, to ground and center, to offer ourselves and others love, compassion, and wishes for well being.
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It will take a few days to leave behind the jitteriness of the outside world. But just arriving here and being in a different space, feeling the invitation to slow down and just be, is an enormous blessing. I’m grateful to be here, and I’m looking forward to the days ahead.