The retreat at Nympsfield was excellent and one of the best we have been on. This was largely due to the fantastic mix of people we had at the centre. YFC is incredibly fortunate to have people of great character and integrity directing our local centres.

We based the retreat around some of the stuff from Jamison’s Finding Sanctuary. I paricularly liked the prayer walk we developed for this time away. I think the experience alowed us a different interaction with God which was complemented by the rain (!). For the walk we wrote some of the liturgy and used some liturgy from other sources such as the Northumbria Community.

Our first station was the local church. Inside the church in a time of quiet we prayed for our loved ones left bhind at home.
The second station was the gutter along the side of the road. In the rain water was slowly flowing down the hill and as we watched we offered those gutter parts of our lives to God and askd him to wash us.
As we left the gutter we reflected upon the story of the Emmaus journey and noted that Jesus met these two men on the journey, not back at home nor on the destination. We stopped in the middle of nowhere and asked ourselves ‘what do we miss in our striving from A to B rather than noticing our journey?’
Midway on the walk there is a great viewpoint across the Gloucester countrysideand we considered creation and Genesis 1, thanking God that the same creator created and called us.
On our return we stopped at the crossroads which was busy and prayed for guidance. Finally, back in the village we paused outside the school, a place of young visions, new dreams and potential; here we asked God to refresh our vision for where we were.
The whole experience lasted about 75 minutes.

The walk was a highlight for me, but so was the Pigs Ear – sucha wonderful real ale in the pub across the road from the nuns.

On the retreat I felt God telling me I needed to realign my life (just thought this could be the recentring of months ago!)and reconsider what is important. I also felt God calling me to be happier and content with a simple pass mark on my theology essays so that the family have more of my time – not just the dreggs which is what I think they are getting at the moment. I’m looking forward to sharing this in my tutorial at the end of the week!