I’ve just been very fortunate to have enjoyed a weekend retreat at Ampleforth Abbey, a Benedictine Monastery situation in the heart of North Yorkshire not far from the village of Helmsley. The Monastery is sited within extensive grounds and as well as the main building itself which is incredibly beautiful and amazing there is a large school (Ampleforth College) and warm, comfortable guest accommodation. Behind the Monastery in the valley are sports fields, an orchard, agricultural land and a forest. It is an incredibly beautiful place and an incredibly peaceful place; a place where it is very easy to encounter God in a very powerful way. It is, perhaps, what the Celtic Christians would call a thin place, a location where heaven and earth seem to be almost side by side.
I journeyed to Ampleforth Abbey just after lunch time on Friday. Sometimes when I’m driving I can be a bit of a Jeremy Clarkson, enjoying the speed and feel of the car, testing its limits, but on Friday I just enjoyed a relaxing and unhurried drive; not being a nuisance or obstruction to my fellow motorists but not driving like I was filming a Top Gear film either. I particularly enjoyed the drive up Sutton Bank, pausing to admire the magnificence of the Yorkshire countryside laid out before me; reminded once more of our incredible Creator God!
Arriving quite early at Ampleforth Abbey’s guest accommodation in the Grange I settled myself into a very comfortable and warm room and felt a wave of peace wash over me.
The weekend itself was a retreat for Methodist Student Ministers from the college I attend. The theme was ‘The Kingdom of Heaven” and our first session together was based on the Kingdom being like treasure buried in a field, which a person finds then reburies before selling literally all they have so that they can buy the field. We were challenged about what we were willing to give for the Kingdom. Were we willing to give everything? We should be, that is the challenge of the parable! For people who’d already made sacrifices in order to undertake training to become Methodist Deacons and Presbyters this was a real and significant challenge and much praying went on.
Prior to the first session we’d attended evening prayer with the monks. Even though it was in Latin and thus unintelligible to most I found it beautiful and created an atmosphere in which I could pray. Unfortunately the incense used in the church irritated my chest, setting off an asthmatic reaction and I was unable to attend any of the other offices over the weekend.
Following a good night’s sleep in a comfortable bed with proper pillows, rather than those awful things you find in some hotels and a good cooked breakfast we had the second session on the Kingdom being like a pearl of great price. Again this led to much personal prayer and reflection about what I was willing to give for the Kingdom.
The third session was about the Kingdom being like yeast and about half of us had a go at making bread! This was good fun as well as being an acted parable and again gave me much to think about. Incidentally, I was surprised by how well the bread I made turned out!
The weekend was, in many ways, a wonderful time of refreshment and relaxation; a time of careful consideration of what it truly means to be a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven and a person training to become an ordained minister of God’s church (by which I mean not just the Methodist Church, of course). There were challenges and my previous blog today mentioned those, but the retreat really was a very special time of spiritual growth.
As Christians I really believe that we need to be part of the world; a church should be, in the words of Rev Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Church of Great Britain, ‘a discipleship movement shaped for mission’. I also believe that we sometimes need to separate ourselves to a degree from the world and to retreat into and rest in the presence of God.
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