Holy week solo prayer retreat: praying with Jesus during the pandemic
Spring 2021 / by Susan Phillips
The concurrence of Lent with the global pandemic—twice!—is remarkable. For 40 days each year the Christian church remembers God’s great love for us, expressed most profoundly through Jesus’ life, ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection. People often fast from certain foods and other pleasures in order to focus more fully on God. During this pandemic, Christian and otherwise, we’ve been fasting: fasting from physical proximity to so many people we care about, from going to our places of work (unless we are bravely carrying on with work essential to the common good), from mingling in public spaces to enjoy meals, music, art, recreation, and so much more. We have fasted from communal worship, too, though many of us gather electronically to remember Jesus, sing, and pray.
Given the season and the circumstances, I offer you, for a second year, this private prayer retreat for Holy Week. It contains verses from Scripture, poetry and prose, images, and lyrics for every day from Palm Sunday through what our Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters call Bright Monday, the day after Easter. Feel free to take time each day using this as a springboard for your own communion with God. Feel free, too, to share the retreat with anyone you think might welcome it.
We in the community of New College Berkeley send you our wishes for God’s blessings and assurance of love in this Holy Week.
Advent’s Final Week: A solo Prayer Retreat
December 17-23 / by Susan Phillips
Last April I wrote to you that the concurrence of Lent with the global pandemic was remarkable, and here we are—many months later—in the season of Advent and once again at high transmission alert during this viral pandemic. Even more remarkable—and grueling! Lent and Advent are the two extended seasons of self-reflection and penitence on the Church’s calendar. During Lent we remember God’s salvific work through Jesus’ death and resurrection. During Advent we remember the miracle of God coming to us in human form, and we long for the time when we will again have that face-to-face intimacy with God. Meanwhile, we look for God’s presence in our everyday lives and hope ourselves to incarnate holy love, truth, and grace in this aching world. How much more that seems called for during the 2020 Advent season when people are falling ill and are dying, livelihoods are in jeopardy, and political tensions roil us all.
Given the season and the circumstances, we at New College Berkeley offer you this private prayer retreat for the final days of Advent, as we trust that the Light shines in the darkness and is not overcome. We offer hymns, images, poetry, Scripture, and the ancient “O Antiphons” to infuse your prayers. Take time each day to use this guide as a springboard for your communion with God. Feel free to share the retreat, too.
We in the community of New College Berkeley send you our wishes for God’s blessings and assurance of love in this fourth week of Advent.
He Qi, Praying in Gethsemane
Lenten solo prayer Retreat
Join us for a prayerful pause / April 2020 / by Susan Phillips
Join us for a prayerful pause as the momentum of the 2020 pandemic accelerates, and we witness and, also, strive to prevent suffering. As you shelter in your home, feel free to pray with these words, images, and songs, seeking to draw close to God in this season.
HOLY WEEK solo PRAYER RETREAT
Praying with Jesus during the Pandemic / April 2020 / by Susan Phillips
The concurrence of Lent with the global pandemic is remarkable. For 40 days the Christian church remembers God’s great love for us, expressed most profoundly through Jesus’ life, ministry, suffering, death, and resurrection. People often fast from certain foods and other pleasures in order to focus more fully on God. During this pandemic, Christian and otherwise, we’ve been fasting: fasting from physical proximity to so many people we care about, from going to our places of work (unless we are bravely carrying on with work essential to the common good), from mingling in public spaces to enjoy meals, music, art, recreation, and so much more. We have fasted from communal worship, too, though many of us gather electronically to remember Jesus, sing, and pray.
A solo PRAYER RETREAT IN EIGHT MOVEMENTs
Praying toward Pentecost / May 2020 / by Susan Phillips
In northern California we continue to be mostly sheltering-in-place through the month of May, striving to flatten the curve of the coronavirus spread. In response to requests we’ve received, the New College Berkeley community offers here a private prayer retreat in eight movements. If you begin the retreat on Sunday, May 17, praying each movement over two days will bring it to closure the day after Pentecost. If you begin the retreat on Sunday, May 24, a pace of praying with one movement each day will complete the retreat on Pentecost Sunday, May 31.