Quiet Day at Burswood for Lay Ministers

Spiritual Wellbeing Quiet Day for Lay Ministers

Burrswood Wednesday 15^th August 2018

I attended the above event at Burswood, along side the Warden of Lay Ministers for Rochester Diocese and 19 other Licensed Lay Ministers from across the diocese. These ranged from LLM’s. Readers and Pastoral Assistants, from a disparate range of parishes, but united in purpose and prayer.

The Quiet Day was led and facilitated by the, Director of Spiritual Well being at Burswood.

The programme was well thought out, running from 10 am through to 3 pm, with breaks for reflection, worship (Holy Communion) with two taught sessions, and

other activities to allow time and space for personal prayer, individual and group sharing and networking.

There were more than adequate refreshments provided on arrival and available during the morning, and excellent self-service lunch and more refreshments available during the after noon. Those attending were free to use the facilities of Burswood at the end of the official agendered program up to 4.30 pm. A fee (or donation) of £30 was requested. I applied for a Continuing Ministry Development (CMD) grant, which was granted, so no personal cost to myself, apart from travel.

The content on Spiritual, physical and emotional well being was delivered gently and at a pace, that could be readily absorbed. Much of this might have been known to some of us, who have pre-existing conditions necessitating special care of diet and other aspects of personal health and well being, but was relevant and it as good to be reminded of the things that I am already doing, but also on things that I hadn’t really thought about before. I was particularly taken with the Communion service, which was completed by anointing with oils and blessing.

Materials provided to take away, gave us all some practical reading, as they were well illustrated and self explanatory. I intend to take some of those things into practice myself.

Overall, people quickly gelled, Many attending knew each other, while I was a relative stranger, knowing only the Warden and one other, from those attending. But it was obvious from the outset that people were keen to share and to get to know each other, and as we had a list of those attended for reference, with contact details, it means that future networking is a real possibility.

In the past, I have pondered on why, Clergy have a Chapter, there is nothing similar for Lay Ministers, unless they organise it for themselves. One thing that I take away from this Quiet Day, is that all lay ministers would benefit from Quiet Days of this sort, perhaps organised on a Deanery basis. At least food for thought for the future. I appreciate this will take some organizing, but we have the nucleus for local deaneries with the Assistant Wardens as a focal point. Perhaps a few willing individuals could offer or feel called to organize such an event.

I came away from the day, buzzing quietly, spiritually nourished and keen to seek more opportunities to broaden my spiritual horizons alongside contemporaries in Lay Ministry in the future. Given that my parish will shortly be in vacancy, this might not be in the short term, but I have resolved to continue to make time and space for such reflection, starting with my planned three day retreat in September.