Activities | Nurture

Formby 2019 – a personal view

stjohnstmarkchurchburyMonday, June 10, 2019

This year’s retreat to the St. Joseph’s Prayer Centre near the National Trust reserve in Formby was once again held the week leading up to the second May Bank Holiday.

Miracles of Jesus

The theme for our bible studies this year was the ‘Miracles of Jesus’. We had several thought provoking sessions on some of these miracles and how they relate to our daily lives in the year 2019.

We looked at the earliest miracle, the changing of water into wine at the Wedding in Cana. Then the healing of the demon-possessed man; Jairus’ daughter; the feeding of the thousands; Jesus walking on the water and the story of Lazarus. It was good to be able to look at some of these very familiar stories in more detail than we are usually used to.

Leading worship

Each of the morning sessions was preceded by Morning Prayer. We closed our later sessions with Evening Prayer. For both we used the booklets set aside for ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ week. This gave an opportunity for different people to lead the worship or read from scripture, who would not normally do so. It was felt that this gave a different voice and feel to the services in a more informal atmosphere. This has since resulted in some of us leading worship back at church during the week of ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ from Ascension Day to Pentecost.

There was also plenty of space for free time during our days in Formby. We thought this may be tricky this time due to the one car during our stay. However, thanks to some great weather (albeit a little windy in Crosby), creativity and efficient public transport we managed really well.

New people

There were people new to the retreat who said they’d really enjoyed the time together and the beautiful local area. It was great to share each others friendship and company both at the centre and on outings. We also enjoyed some red squirrel sightings.

Thanks to Sister Nora once again for the hospitality at the centre. Also to those who cooked our meals and looked after us whilst we there. Thanks to June’s son, Stuart, for helping to get us there and back. And especially to Ian for leading a really enjoyable retreat. David Robinson

[We’ve provisionally booked again for next year, May 20th – 23rd 2020. For the 2018 retreat please take a look at this post]