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You, God? A retreat in preparation for Advent *POSTPONED*
13th November 2020, 6:30 pm to 15th November 2020, 2:00 pm
£260
Please note this retreat is now fully booked.
Advent, the gift of renewal, gives us chance to cry out to God: “Here I am. is it you, my Lord?” In our cry is all we are, the depth of our seeking and our vocation, the love we have for God, and perhaps even our confusion.
The beauty and power of the gift of Advent is that it allows us to give time and space in our hearts to explore our own Advent cries, and ultimately, to move on in freedom in our pilgrimage.
To help us, we’ll be praying through great music. The weekend will consist of listening to music and exploring it through talks and meditations on Scripture, which will also involve some exploration of the Augustinian charism, the ancient Rule of the former Launde Priory.
The music explored will be Anton Bruckner’s Te Deum, a magnificent and moving exploration of our relationship with God. Our weekend’s pilgrimage will also take in glimpses of the vast, wordless prayers that are the symphonies. The aim will be playful renewal and delight in music, mixed with the rhythm of the Abbey’s round of prayer and times for contemplation and rest.
This retreat is to be led by Euan Tait who led our hugely successful retreat last year, Advent Joy and Transformation: Praying with handel’s Messiah. Euan is a professional librettist. He is a college lecturer, and an experienced retreat leader who takes the unique approach of exploring great music as a ‘praying poet’. He has worked in the L’Arche community in Sussex in the 1990s, and in the 2000s trained and supported adults with learning difficulties. He also worked at Ammerdown and in 2013 retrained as a teacher and now lectures in English in Swindon. He leads music retreats across the UK and his libretti for choral works have been performed in the Birmingham Symphony Hall, Trondheim Cathedral and across the USA, most recently in Boston, Mass.
We want all our guests to be safe and secure when visiting Launde during the current public health situation. For details of our comprehensive Keeping You Safe programme click here.