Holy Week is above all a story of love and longing, despite all the horror and brutality. What drives much of the story is betrayal, suffering, barbarism and pain. But what drives Jesus, the central protagonist of the story, is a limitless, burning passion.

During this Holy Week retreat we’ll take a fresh look at the familiar story through an unexpected lens: the ancient love poetry of the Song of Songs. As we trace the joyful yearning of the young couple celebrated in this middle Eastern song, we’ll seek glimpses of the yearning of Christ in the Palm Sunday procession, the Last Supper, the garden prayers, the trial, and especially in the darkness of the cross. And we’ll take plenty of time for silence, prayer, reflection and worship surrounded by the beautiful spring gardens of Launde. 

This retreat will be led by The Revd Chris Webb, Deputy Warden of Launde Abbey.

Chris Webb is an Anglican priest, author, speaker and teacher dedicated to helping people experience a richer walk with God by growing in prayer and the spiritual life. He has ministered in a wide variety of contexts: as president of Renovaré, a spiritual formation ministry in the USA; as parish priest in Welsh farming communities and steelworking towns; and even in a church for the homeless. Chris is the author of two books: The Fire of the Word (2011) and God-Soaked Life (2017).

Retreat price: £480 (standard room) or £525 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £450 (standard room) or £495 (character room) if booked by 5th January 2024!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources.
It may be possible for you to extend your stay by arriving early.  Why not check on availability and ask for a quote when you contact us.

Andrew Mayes takes us on a Lenten journey to outstanding deserts of the planet and an odyssey of the soul. This voyage of discovery takes us across five continents as we venture to places few pilgrims reach: the Gazan desert, the Sahara, the Australian outback, the Athos wilderness and the Ordos Desert of China, and the Syrian desert, among others.

Physicality leads to spirituality as we listen to compelling voices that speak to us poignantly across space and time—including spiritual writers long-forgotten or not well-known. These unearth for us the treasure we seek: we uncover the distinctive charism of each desert, offering us different and challenging ways of looking at the world and at the spiritual life. We discover the unpredictable desert to contain unexpected, priceless treasures of transformative wisdom that speak uncannily into our own contemporary spiritual search. We see how these gems can energise and inspire our discipleship or spiritual practice. As we embark on this spiritual quest, we may never be the same again!

Andrew D. Mayes

Andrew was formerly Spirituality Adviser both to the diocese of Chichester and the diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf. He has worked for some years in Jerusalem, and is the author of 14 spirituality books. A Franciscan and Anglican priest, Andrew delights in imagery and metaphor that takes us into the deeper reaches of prayer.

Retreat price: £480 (standard room) or £525 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £450 (standard room) or £495 (character room) if booked by 5th January 2024!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources.
It may be possible for you to extend your stay by arriving early.  Why not check on availability and ask for a quote when you contact us.

HAVE YOU BEEN STRUGGLING SINCE THE DEATH OF YOUR LOVED ONE?

Come and join with others who have also experienced life-changing loss through bereavement. The aim of this supported retreat is to help you cope with your life-changing loss. Through a creative variety of activities, including led sessions, discussions and quiet reflection, we explore the journey of grief, with a focus on finding a way forward in the changed circumstances that are the result of bereavement. It includes a special time of candlelighting remembrance. This is a gentle retreat with a Christian perspective, sensitively led by Abi and John May, suitable for those who have lost a husband or wife, children or other close family members, or who have suffered multiple losses.

Abi was recently featured on BBC Songs of Praise presented from Launde Abbey.  If you wish to review the programme please follow the link “Songs of Praise – Faith and Grief” to the BBC iPlayer.

Abi May

Abi runs the ‘Living with Loss’ project, which is a member of the National Bereavement Alliance.  She is an experienced retreat leader, bereavement author and educator, as well as being a bereaved mother.  Her grief support retreats and training courses are held in locations throughout the UK as well as online.

Quotes from previous retreats run by Abi:

• “The content of the bereavement sessions was excellent and the approach varied, interactive and all very clearly presented.”
• “I thought Abi led the sessions with sensitivity and compassion.”
• “This was a first class retreat which I found extremely helpful.”
• “I had no idea, really, what to expect this week. I am returning home feeling assured that I will survive and continue to take ‘small steps’ on my journey.”

Retreat price: £340 (standard room) or £370 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £320 (standard room) or £350 (character room) if booked by 15th December 2023
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources.
It may be possible for you to extend your stay by arriving early.  Why not check on availability and ask for a quote when you contact us.

Many of us experience struggles with God. It’s not that we don’t believe in God it’s just that it doesn’t always go smoothly. These spiritual struggles can get us down and inhibit our faith.

The Bible has a whole file on God Strugglers – Jacob a prodigal son, the laments of David the psalmist, Qoheleth the mysterious preacher, Jeremiah the gloomy prophet. Even Jesus had times when he really wondered whether God was taking him in the right direction. Yet for them all such times were the source of a deeper trust in God and a resilient faith.

This retreat, led by John Rackley, will give us an opportunity to journey with these biblical God Strugglers and in the prayerful surroundings of Launde consider of some of our own spiritual struggles and offer them to God as part of our faith for his guidance and restoration.

John Rackley

John Rackley is a Baptist minister and retreat giver who is one of the duty chaplains here at Launde and contributes to our Quiet Day programme. He acts as a Supervisor for Spiritual Directors in both Leicester and Peterborough dioceses. He is currently a non-stipendiary minister with a Methodist/Baptist ecumenical church in Leicester. He writes in the Guidelines and Bible Reflection series for the Bible Reading Fellowship.

John has been drawn into an exploration of the Spirituality of Struggle through many years of pastoral ministry and trying to face some of his own times when faith has become an unstable experience.

He writes ‘I seek in this retreat to encourage us to not fear times of struggle when they come but discern in them the presence and guidance of the Lord’

Retreat price: £340 (standard room) or £370 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £320 (standard room) or £350 (character room) if booked by 1st December 2023!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources.
It may be possible for you to extend your stay by arriving early.  Why not check on availability and ask for a quote when you contact us.