Introduction
We’re delighted you are interested in attending the ‘Food for the Journey’ event. As you will see from the programme, you have the opportunity to go to three workshops – two in the morning and one in the afternoon. Each workshop leader will introduce their topic and invite participants to share the experience as appropriate. In the ‘Labyrinth’ workshop, for example you will hear about how walking the labyrinth has become a much-appreciated form of reflection in recent years, and you will then be able to walk the labyrinth yourself – in the churchyard if it’s fine or indoors if not.
This is a ‘taster’ day, designed to introduce you to forms of prayer or approaches to spirituality you may not have experienced before, and might like to follow up after the day. No prior knowledge and certainly no expertise is required, so we suggest you are bold in your choices – try something unfamiliar and you may well be pleasantly surprised!
The cost is £10 per person for the day. There will be worship in the Priory to start and finish the day, and all the workshop sessions will take place in the Church Rooms on the Church Green (there is free parking on the Green). Tea and coffee will be provided but please bring your own packed lunch.
Rev. David Jackson - ‘Praying with Icons’
Praying with Icons has been a tradition for hundreds of years, particularly in the Orthodox Christian Church. In recent years, however, non-Orthodox Christians have re-discovered the value of contemplative prayer and have begun to incorporate the use of Icons as part of their spiritual life. During this workshop you will receive some background information about Icons and will have time to experience praying using an Icon.
Bishop Richard - ‘Lectio Divina’
Lectio Divina, literally ‘divine reading’, is a way of reading the bible which enables each participant to identify and respond to what the passage is saying to him or herself. All are invited to read, meditate, pray and contemplate.
Poppy Weston - ‘Labyrinth’
Walking the labyrinth is a Christian tradition with deep roots. Many medieval churches including, famously, Chartres cathedral, offered this opportunity to those unable to make a full pilgrimage. In this workshop we shall explore how to use the labyrinth for focused reflection.
Rev. Carole Aconley - ‘Creation Spirituality’
A workshop to reflect on and perhaps rediscover the “awe”-someness of the Creator through sight, touch and sound of the created world.
Bishop David James - ‘Benedicite: Science as a Springboard to Worship’
‘O, all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord’ (the Benedicite)
In popular thought science is the enemy of religion, but there is at the same time an growing appreciation that deeper scientific understanding inspires a deeper sense of awe and wonder and that it can also lead to a richer understanding of the triune God. Very little pre-knowledge of science (or Christianity) is needed for this session.
Rev. John Wardle - ‘Prayer for Healing’
A look at our own prayers for healing and the healing ministry, which can be a regular part of the mission of every parish.
Poppy Weston - ‘Meditation (John Main)’
This workshop will show how to learn to practise stillness and listening to God through the use of a simple phrase or mantra. This is a longstanding Christian tradition recovered by the Benedictine monk John Main since the 1970s and taught through the World Community of Christian Meditation.
Rev. Liz Hassall - ‘Taize Worship’
‘Singing is one of the most essential elements of worship. Short songs, repeated again and again, give it a meditative character. As the words are sung over many times, this reality gradually penetrates the whole being. Meditative singing thus becomes a way of listening to God. It allows everyone to take part in a time of prayer together. And an inner life begins to blossom within us’ (information from the Taize website).
| 9:30 AM | Coffee and Registration | Church Rooms |
| 10:00 AM | Opening Worship (Bishop Richard) | The Priory |
| 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM | Workshop Session 1 Three workshops in parallel:
| Church Rooms |
| 11:30 AM - 12:15 PM | Workshop Session 2 Two workshops in parallel:
| Church Rooms |
| 12:30 PM - 1:15 PM | Lunch | Church Rooms |
| 1:30 PM - 2:15 PM | Workshop Session 3 Three workshops in parallel:
| Church Rooms |
| 2:15 PM - 2:45 PM | Plenary | Church Rooms |
| 3:00 PM - 3:20 PM | Closing Worship | The Priory |
| 3:20 PM - 4:00 PM | Tour of the Priory/Tea and Coffee | Church Rooms |
Choosing Your Workshops
It’s always difficult to please everyone, so you may find that your choices are currently scheduled against each other at the same time (like TV programmes!) The arrangement of the workshops within the programme is provisional at present, so it may be possible to make changes to the running order. Please identify the three workshops you would most like to attend, and then choose two additional/reserve options to give us some flexibility.
