Women Encountering Jesus
A Spring Retreat offered by Mennonite Women
Manitoba
You could have heard a pin drop, as the 45
women who had gathered for this day of retreat, received the stories of women
encountering Jesus. We were treated to stories drawn from Scripture, early
Christian history and the contemplative tradition, along with stories from more
recent history, all presented in simple and profound dramatic form. Our retreat
director, Laura Funk, (a local Spiritual Director and founder of Butterfly
Journeys) crafted the day to introduce
us to the voices of these historic women as well as to practices of prayer that
have stood the test of time. Laura also prepared a resource booklet for
participant in which she stated, “My hope is that if you sense the need for a
change in your own spiritual journey, something here might help you along.” And
the booklet provides many such helps; reminders of the practices we tried out,
and descriptions of the ones we didn't have time to try.
Our day together truly was a day of retreat
as we engaged and selected and experienced a wide array of prayer practices.
The prayer stations, created by Laura, included written introductions and
explanations to each,(in the provided booklet) that invited us to enter each
practice. Women from a wide variety of
age groups waded in, sometimes on their own, sometimes with a group of others.
Retreaters affirmed that being introduced to new ways of encountering Jesus was
refreshing for them. They also affirmed
the use of storytelling as a way to ‘hear anew’ the words of Jesus.
This Retreat looked distinctly different
from the Sister Care Seminar we had offered in the spring of 2016. Both the
‘returning retreaters’ from 2016 and the new women who ventured into this years
retreat encouraged us to keep providing such events.
As the MWMB planning group reflected on
this event, it affirmed that allowing the Retreat to go in distinct directions
served our hopes of offering differing spaces for women in our community. MWMB
will continue to offer Spring Retreats, along with the other initiatives it is
pursuing. Next year's event will focus on mental health. Watch for news about
it this fall.
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Submitted by Kathy Giesbrecht
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