Three special Essex locations for retreats and contemplation

 

I have been reflecting this week that we are very fortunate to have in Essex three wonderfully unique and very different locations for retreats and contemplation in the Pleshey Retreat House, the Othona Community at Bradwell, and the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist at Tolleshunt Knights. Each is well worth exploring and visiting.

Pleshey was the first Diocesan Retreat House to be established in the country. Amongst the list of Retreat conductors is Evelyn Underhill. Arguably the most distinguished Conductor of that time, it is largely due to Underhill that the Retreat house became so popular. When you come to the Retreat House in Pleshey you sense an atmosphere created by six hundred years of prayer.

My poem called 'Pleshey', which was published by Amethyst Review, celebrates the Diocesan Retreat House at Pleshey and the legacy of Evelyn Underhill as a retreat director. The poem is part of a series of poems on thin places and sacred spaces in the Diocese of Chelmsford which is called 'Five Trios'. The five poems in the series are: 'Barking'; 'Bradwell'; 'Broomfield'; 'Pleshey'; and 'Runwell'. 

The Othona Community began as an experiment in Christian community back in 1946. Its founder, Norman Motley, was a Church of England priest who served as a young chaplain in the RAF during World War II. Othona is now an open and inclusive Community rooted in the Christian faith and drawing on a wealth of other inspirations. They welcome people of all ages, abilities, backgrounds, and beliefs to their two Centres on the quiet coasts of Essex and Dorset. Through sharing in the daily rhythm of work, worship, study, and play, they seek personal renewal and glimpses of the sacred. In community they explore the relationship between faith and life and encourage one another in caring for the world and its people.

The fourth poem in 'Five Trios', which was published by International Times, is called 'Bradwell' and is a celebration of the history of the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, the Othona Community, and of pilgrimage to those places.

The Monastery of Saint John the Baptist, (also known as Community of Saint John the Baptist) is a monastic community which was founded in 1959 by Archimandrite Sophrony Sakharov (1896-1993). On 27 November 2019, Archimandrite Sophrony was added to the list of Saints by the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople. His Feast Day is on the day of his repose, the 11 of July. The Monastery is situated in Tolleshunt Knights near Tiptree, in the United Kingdom. It belongs to the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church, and is under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople.

During the first decades after the community had moved to England, the building and decorating of the churches of the monastery required much of his prayer and attention. After having abandoned painting for many years, he began to paint icons and frescos for the new places of worship. He strove to express the Face of Christ which had been revealed to him in the Light. However, he was never satisfied with his work and often adjusted and repainted the icons of Christ he had created.

Sister Gabriela joined the Community of Saint John the Baptist in 1983 after studying iconography in Paris on Saint Sophrony’s insistence. She was part of the team which was painting the murals of Saint Silouan’s Chapel and worked closely with the saint. After the mural work, Saint Sophrony continued to teach her the art of icon painting, and she assisted him in some larger works. Since Saint Sophrony’s repose, to the extent that she has been able to understand them, Sister Gabriela has tried to further his vision and ideas in various artistic projects. This includes painting the icons and murals for the round chapel which was completed earlier this year.

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Denison Witmer - Lost In My Head.

Pleshey: Retreat, icon and poem

It's always great to be at the Diocesan Retreat House in Pleshey. I have many special memories from past retreats and the House retains the special atmosphere originally developed by Evelyn Underhill, who we remember on Friday. New memories have been added through a short retreat with Area Deans led by the Archdeacon of Southend with reflections from Revd Ann Coleman.

In the Chapel is an icon of Jesus the Vine based on John 15, which was written by Kjellaug Nordsjö. 

Nordsjö was a Swedish-Norwegian artist, who is considered one of the Nordic countries' foremost icon painters. Her icons can be found in the Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt, as well as churches in Rome, London and New York City. I had the pleasure of meeting Nordsjö at her home in Arvika during a trip to Sweden as part of my curacy at St Margaret's Barking and of bringing back an icon written by her for the Youth Chapel at St Margaret's.

Here is a poem that I wrote today:

Pleshey

The Archdeacon bows before the altar,
the ending of a Eucharist
that concludes our short retreat
as Area Deans at Pleshey.
A blaze of colour and fire of movement
on the altar frontal animates this
simple, calm and holy space that
resonates and reverberates with
memories of training retreats,
preparations for ordinations
and cell group support in ministry.
I am here to the glory of God
says the plaque in memory of
Friend of Pleshey, Evelyn Underhill.
You are the salt of the earth,
The light of the world, says Jesus
in our Gospel reading.
We are to bring out the different
flavours in our communities
and illuminate the good
that is hidden and under-appreciated.
As Evelyn Underhill once said
God is always coming to you.
So, meet and receive him
with gratitude.

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Michael McDermott - Where The Light Gets In.

11 years of commission4mission

commission4mission was set up in 2009 and became a registered charity (Charity no. 1161109) in 2011. commission4mission ended its work at the end of March 2020.

Between March 2009 and March 2020 we undertook the following:

Art Trails: researched, published and launched a Church Art Trail for the Barking Episcopal Area; and Faith in the City Art Trail leaflet for the Corporation of London focusing on modern and contemporary artworks in the City Churches.

Commissions: 13 commissions at Queens Hospital Romford; All Saints Hutton; St Peter’s Harold Wood; St Edmund’s Tyseley; St Paul’s Goodmayes; St John’s Seven Kings; St Margaret’s Great Ilford; Christ Church ThamesView; and Dagenham Park Church of England School.

Exhibitions: Chelmsford Cathedral; St Laurence Upminster; the Pentecost, West Ham and Leytonstone Festivals; E17 and Leytonstone Art Trails; Holy Trinity with St Augustine of Hippo Leytonstone; St Martin-in-the-Fields; St Mary Magdalene Billericay; Tokarska Gallery; All Saints West Ham, Strand Gallery (Pentecost Festival), Harlow Town Centre (pop-up exhibition for Barking Episcopal Area Arts Festival); All Saints Woodford Wells, Wimbledon Library Gallery; Hornchurch and Romford libraries (H’Art Festival – the Barking Episcopal Area Arts Festival); St Stephen Walbrook; Norwich Cathedral; St Saviour’s St Albans; All Hallows by the Tower; Coventry Cathedral; and Holy Trinity Sloane Square.

Events: Launch event hosted by St Alban’s Romford; Art Talks by David Hawkins, Fr Rodrick Hingley, Graham Gould, Mark Lewis, Jonathan Evens, Glenn Lowcock, Steve Scott, Stephen Cottrell, Rob Floyd, Richard D. North, Wendy McTernan, Irina Bradley, Anthony Hodgson; Networking evenings on the themes of ‘Spirituality – the heartbeat of Art?’ and ‘Stations of the Cross’; Study Day on the theme of ‘Perspectives on commissioning Christian Art’ at Chelmsford Cathedral and on the value of public art at St Paul’s Harlow; Art workshop at St Paul’s Harlow which produced a design for a frieze; Art demonstration by Harvey Bradley; Big Draw workshop led by Mark Lewis, Francesca Ross and Peter Webb; Performance evenings featuring Colin Burns, Tim Cunningham, Jonathan Evens, Jane Grell, Malcolm Guite, Alan Hitching, Jenny Houghton, Tamsin Kendrick and Steve Scott; Arts in Worship event at St Stephen Walbrook where Hayley Bowen, John Gentry, Mark Lewis, Henry Shelton and Peter Webb led art workshops and a series of visual multi-media meditations were shown; and Art Walks led by Mark Lewis to churches on the Art Trail for the Barking Episcopal Area and Faith in the City Art Trail.

Our partners have included: HeartEdge; New Roots; Oasis Trust; and The Worship Cloud.

Projects: worked with CANA and Veritasse on Run with the Fire, an international art project for churches in the 2012 Olympic year – Run with the Fire DVD containing a digital exhibition and event guidance materials – resulting in events run using the digital exhibition in Aldersbrook, California, Devonport, Harlow, Leicester, London, Sacramento, Streatham and Woodford; supported Stations 2017, a collaboration between Mark Dean (artist), Lizzi Kew Ross (choreographer) and Lucy Newman Cleeve (curator).

Publications: commission4mission catalogue (2010); Condemned, a creative reflection for Lent illustrated with contemporary art works by seven member artists, accompanied by the words of Isaiah 53; articles by Jonathan Evens, Helen Gheorghui Gould and Steven Saxby to a special arts edition of franciscan magazine; three collections of images by commission4mission artists available for download via theworshipcloud.com: Mark of the Cross (images by Henry Shelton and words by Jonathan Evens), The Passion: Reflections and Prayers features pictures, poems and prayers by Henry Shelton and Jonathan Evens, and Stations of the Cross by Valerie Dean.

Retreats: Mark Lewis organised three retreats held at the Othona Community in Bradwell.

Services celebrating the Arts at St Peter’s Chapel, Bradwell, All Saints Goodmayes and St Stephen Walbrook; two Stations of the Cross services held at St Martin-in-the-Fields; Irina Bradley, Valerie Dean, Tim Harrold and Henry Shelton spoke on inspiration in a Bread for the World service at St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Websites: Webpage (http://commissionformission.blogspot.com/) and website (https://www.commission4mission.org/).

Since we began our work we have donated over £12,000 to the following charities: The Connection at St Martin-in-the-Fields; The Salvation Army; The National Autistic Society; and PDSA (Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals), Oasis Trust, Rejuvenate Worldwide, St Francis Hospice, Safer Places, Sightsavers International, Smile Train UK and Haven House Children’s Hospice.

Our artists have included: Alan Hitching; Ally Ashworth; Andrew Vessey; Anne Creasey; Caroline Nina Phillips; Caroline Richardson; Christopher Clack; Clorinda Goodman; Colin Joseph Burns; Danielle Lovesey; David Hawkins; Elizabeth Duncan Meyer; Francesca Ross; Gillian Barritt; Harvey Bradley; Hayley Bowen; Henry Shelton; Janet Roberts; Jim Insole; Jonathan Evens; Joy Rousell Stone; Ken Ashby; Mark Lewis; Mbeng Pouka; Michael Creasey; Nadiya Pavliv Tokarska; Peter Webb; Richard Paton; Rosalind Hore; Ross Ashmore; Sergiy Shkanov; Valerie Dean; Celia Ward; Robert Enoch; Adeliza Mole; Anthony Hodgson; Barbara Harris; Cathie Chappell; David Millidge; Deborah Harrison; Dorothy Morris; Eugenia Jacobs; Fiona Hunter-Boyd; Irene Novelli; Irina Bradley; Jacek Kulikowski; Jacqui Parkinson; Jean Lamb; John Gentry; Laura Grenci; Lewis Braswell; Lucy Crabtree; Lucy Thomasin Morrish; Markos Kampanis; Martin Cosgrove; Mary Flitcroft; MaryJean Donaghey; Maurizio Galia; Michael Garaway; Rob Floyd; Rodney Munday; Susan Latchford; Sy Baker; Tim Harrold, Peter Shorer, Terry Ffyffe, Elizabeth Deane, Lisa Cunningham, Colin Riches, Judy Goring, Monica Thornton, Dorothy Gager, Sonia Veness, Beverley Barr, Jonathan Peter Smith, Victoria Norton, Nicolas Young, Emma Horsfield, Christine Garwood, Alexander Walker, Mari Hayman, and Sarah Ollerenshaw.

Mark Lewis, Chairman of commission4mission writes:

‘Further to our AGM in October and the decision made there to withdraw from registration as a Charity with the Charity Commission, we have regrettably had to take the further decision to dissolve commission4mission in its present form. I would like to thank all our members who have contributed to exhibitions over the last ten years and helped to make events a success.

This decision has not been taken lightly. Jonathan Evens has fulfilled the role of Secretary and Treasurer from the inception of commission4mission but, because of pressure of other commitments, will shortly step down from the Committee. Jonathan has undertaken these roles with exceptional dedication and commitment and we thank him sincerely for all he has done to develop and administer commission4mission. Given the demands of his current ministry we fully understand his wish to give up these committee positions.

Additionally, I had considered standing down as chairman at the next AGM because other life commitments are just making too many demands on me at present and in the foreseeable future. Harvey Bradley, has also decided to leave the committee for similar reasons. Harvey has been an enthusiastic and dedicated member of the committee since commission4mission began and we extend our heartfelt thanks for his valuable contributions.

Unfortunately without a fully constituted committee, a group becomes untenable and we know from experience that it will be difficult to fill these positions and maintain the organization and administration of commission4mission in anything like its present form. Many of our members live outside London, with other work and personal commitments and we feel it is unlikely that any would wish to take on the demands of these committee roles and be in a position to attend regular meetings.

The committee are meeting to decide on the disposal of commission4mission funds in order that we close commission4mission following the Charity Commission’s guidelines and to consider how we might continue as a community of artists in some other capacity. This will, of course, not be under the banner of commission4mission. Your ideas in this regard would be welcome.’

For further information or to share ideas, please contact Mark Lewis on mlewis342@googlemail.com.

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Switchfoot - Where The Light Shines Through.

HeartEdge events - art, community & spirituality

Mission Model workshops organised by HeartEdge share a particular mission initiative as well as telling the story of how the idea for the particular initiative was developed. The next workshops in this series are:

Nazareth Community Workshop - Wednesday 27th February, 2.30pm, St Martin-in-the-Fields

The Nazareth Community was established at St Martin-in-the-Fields in March 2018, now with over fifty members, from the congregation and other churches.

The workshop will be led by Revd Richard Carter, and is an opportunity to learn about the life of the community, and to consider how it could be applied in your own contexts. The afternoon will mirror the Saturday morning sharing time, and will begin in the church.

The session will include: Welcome and introduction; Prayer & silence; Talk; Q&A; Refreshments; Small groups; and Close. There is the option to stay on for Bread for the World, at 6.30pm - a key component of the community’s worship.

Tickets are free for HeartEdge members and £10 for others. To register click here.

For more information, contact georgina.illingworth@smitf.org.


HeartEdge Workshop: Beach Hut Advent Calendar - Tuesday 19th March

The Beach Hut Advent Calendar was created in Brighton in 2008 to encourage people to connect with the Christian roots of Advent and explore spirituality through creativity. The workshop will reveal the journey of the Beach huts and some of the stories from the last 11 years, and will consider what can be transferred to your own setting.

The scheme was initiated, devised and curated by Beyond which was born in Brighton with a mission to create arts events, which inspire people to connect with Christianity.

Since then 264 art installations have been created by beach hut owners, professional artists, schools, churches and other community groups, helping people to understand some of the themes of advent and bringing light to the darkness of the Brighton and Hove seafront every night in December. This has inspired others to create their own versions of this mission event across the UK and internationally.

The workshop will give insight into the development of the Advent Calendar and explore principles which can be applied to your own setting.

Details: Led by Revd Martin Poole, of St Luke’s Prestonville, Brighton, and Revd Jonathan Evens, of the HeartEdge network.

2-4:30pm, Tuesday 19th March 2019

Austen William Room, 6 St Martin’s Lane, St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, WC2N 4JH

Tickets are free to HeartEdge members, £10 otherwise, at: https://tickets.myiknowchurch.co.uk/gb/ODYyLTEw/t



Additionally, we have also organised a Churches & Congregations day (Thursday 11 April 2019,
10:00 – 15:30) exploring ways to deepen the spirituality of congregations.

Explore approaches to deepening the spirituality of congregations including accompanied prayer, art, Godly Play, lay communities, open door retreats, spiritual direction, and more. An opportunity for personal refreshment also.

The day is being running in partnership between members of the team from London Centre for Spiritual Direction and HeartEdge members.

Contributors include:

• Neil Evans, Director of Ministry, Diocese of London
• Alison Christian, Advisor and Advocate for Spiritual Direction
• Richard Carter, Associate Vicar for Mission, St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Julie Dunstan, Director for Formation and Professional Development, LCSD
• Antonia Lynn, Community Warden and Referrals Coordinator, LCSD

To book free tickets go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/deepening-spirituality-tickets-56331233235?aff=ebdssbdestsearch. For further information, please contact Jonathan Evens at jonathan.evens@smitf.org.

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Johnny Cash - Spiritual.

Evelyn Underhill: real communion with God

Here is the sermon I preached for today's lunchtime Eucharist at St Martin-in-the-Fields:

Pleshey Retreat House in Essex is a much loved location for many of us here at St Martin-in-the-Fields as it has been the venue in recent years for our annual silent retreat. The popularity of Pleshey as a retreat house was established by Evelyn Underhill, who is remembered by the Church today, and who was the most distinguished Retreat Conductor of her time.

Born in 1875, Evelyn Underhill was in her thirties before she began to explore religion. At first, she wrote on the mystics, most notably in her book Mysticism, published in 1911. Her spiritual journey brought her in 1921 back to the Church of England, in which she had been baptised and confirmed. From the mid-1920s, she became highly-regarded as a retreat conductor and an influential spiritual director. Of her many books, Worship, published in 1936, embodied her approach to what she saw as the mystery of faith. She died on this day in 1941.

Evelyn made her first retreat at Pleshey during Ascensiontide in 1921, and conducted her first retreat there during Lent in 1924. She loved the Retreat House at Pleshey which, she wrote after her first retreat here, 'seems soaked in love and prayer,' and many of her retreats each year were conducted here.

In her book on The Fruits of The Spirit, she writes about retreats in relation to today’s Gospel reading:

“We all know pretty well why we come into Retreat; we come to seek the opportunity of being alone with God and attending to God in order that we may do His will better in our everyday lives. We have come to live for a few days the life of prayer and deepen our contact with the spiritual realities on which our lives depend - to recover, if we can, our spiritual poise. We do not come for spiritual information, but for spiritual food and air - to wait on the Lord and renew our strength - not for our own sakes, but for the sake of the world.

Now Christ, who so seldom gave detailed instruction about anything, did give some detailed instruction of that withdrawal, that recollection which is the essential condition of real prayer, real communion with God.

"When you pray, go into a room by yourself - and shut the door." I think we can almost see the smile with which He said those three words, and those three words define what we have to try to do. Anyone can retire into a quiet place and have a thoroughly unquiet time in it - but that is not making a Retreat! It is the shutting of the door, which makes the whole difference between a true Retreat and a worried religious weekend.

Shut the door. It is an extraordinarily difficult thing to do. Nearly everyone pulls it to and leaves it slightly ajar so that a whistling draught comes in from the outer world, with reminders of all the worries, interests, conflicts, joys and sorrows of daily life.

But Christ said shut and He meant shut. A complete barrier deliberately set up, with you on one side alone with God and everything else without exception on the other side. The voice of God is very gentle; we cannot hear it if we let other voices compete. It is no use at all to enter that room, that inner sanctuary, clutching the daily paper, the reports of all the societies you support, your engagement book and a large bundle of personal correspondence. All these must be left outside.

The object of Retreat is not intercession of self-exploration, but such communion with Him as shall afterwards make you more powerful in intercession; such self loss in Him as shall heal your wounds by new contact with His life and love.”

Evelyn Underhill was writing specifically for retreatants but Jesus’ words were not originally addressed to those on retreat. Instead, they were addressed to ordinary people going about their everyday lives, so his call to shut the door when praying was not once a year when we are on retreat but each time we pray. Likewise, seeking the opportunity of being alone with God and attending to God in order that we may do His will better in our everyday lives is not intended by Jesus as a once a year opportunity, rather as a regular experience. The distractions Evelyn Underhill notes in relation to retreats, are also with us each time we pray. We need to face them each time we pray, not just once a year on retreat. Jesus said, ‘whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.’ The result will be, as Evelyn Underhill wrote, ‘real communion with God.’

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Victoria Williams - Holy Spirit.

Creativity & Reflection: Lent Oasis & Silent Retreat

We enjoyed a great time of creativity and reflection at St Martin-in-the-Fields today in our Lent Oasis. We shared a time of quiet scriptural reflection and practical art. For our reflection we used Lectio Divina to look at Psalm 27. We then utilised a wide range of art and craft materials to respond creatively to this Psalm.

There will be more creativity and reflection at the Silent Retreat we will share at the Retreat House, Pleshey next weekend. In this retreat we will be exploring through art the theme from the Christmas Appeal in relation to prayer, inspired by Simone Weil’s words: “Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love. Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.”

The things we pay attention to are our life experiences: people, creation, events, emotions, absence and mystery. These themes will lead us through the retreat as we seek to pay attention to God, to the world and one another.

How we do that is inspired by our faithful living out of the Gospel in the world in the spirit of Philippians: "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4.8

The retreat is for members of the St Martin-in-the-Fields and St Stephen Walbrook communities. The retreat and reflections will be led by Revd Katherine Hedderly and myself.

The Retreat House at Pleshey, situated a few miles from Chelmsford, was established in 1909 as a House of Prayer, and is now the Diocesan Retreat Centre for the Chelmsford Diocese. The spiritual writer and spiritual director Evelyn Underhill led many retreats here and called it a place of peace and stillness where we can come into the presence of God and rediscover the power of his love.

The object of the weekend is to provide a place of prayer, space and quiet reflection, to be used as best suits each person, set in the context of the shared experience of reflections, art, worship, prayer, and relaxation. We simply hold the ‘silence’ as a gift for one another.

The structure of the weekend is as follows. Arrive at the Retreat House on Friday night in time to meet and chat to each other before and over supper. After supper there will be an introduction to the weekend, followed by a welcome liturgy. We shall then enter into silence, interspersed with talks, reflective services and free time over the weekend. Silence will end with the Sunday morning Eucharist, and we follow this with lunch together, before making our way home.

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Adrian Snell - Psalm 27.

St Stephen Walbrook: Spring 2016 Newsletter

The Spring 2016 Newsletter for St Stephen Walbrook is now available - click here to view.

Highlights include:

• Lenten art, study & worship
• Start:Stop
• Autumn 2015 events
• London Internet Church
• Silent Retreat
• Art & Music at St Stephen Walbrook

Lent at St Stephen Walbrook will begin with a Eucharist with ashing on Ash Wednesday and will include an art exhibition by Alan Everett, a digital art installation by Michael Takeo Magruder, art talks by the Walbrook Art Group, the Bank Churches Lent Course on The Creeds, Discover & explore services, plus our regular Thursday lunchtimeEucharist.

Download the latest newsletter.

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Morten Lauridsen - Sure On This Shining Night.

Sabbatical retreat

This week I've had the first of my sabbatical retreats in the idyllic setting of Aylesford Priory. Set in the heart of Kent, Aylesford Priory is an ancient religious house of the Order of Carmelites dating back to the 13th Century.

In 1538, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Priory passed out of Carmelite hands until in 1949 The Friars was put up for sale and the Carmelites were able to buy back their motherhouse. 

Fr Malachy Lynch, the first Prior, began the task of restoring the buildings and within a short time The Friars became a flourishing pilgrimage centre. In partnership with Adrian Gilbert Scott, Fr Malachy conceived the idea of the open-air shrine and he gathered craftsmen and artists to help him. Outstanding among the artists were Adam Kossowski, who made the ceramics, and Philip Lindsey Clark and his son Michael Clark, both sculptors. Fr Malachy described The Friars as "a prayer in stone".

In the presence of Cardinal Heenan, Archbishop Cyril Cowderoy rededicated the Shrine in 1965 and it now serves as a centre of prayer for all Christians in Kent and a place of peace for those who search for meaning in their lives. Over 200,000 pilgrims a year make their way to Aylesford. Some as part of organised pilgrimages, some on a parish visit, others come on school trips or fellowship or hobby clubs.

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Colin Burns - Linger Here.