Opening to the Heart of Worship 2021

Worship is at the heart of our practice as Friends.  And we mostly leave each other to find our own way in this crucial part of our lives.  This need not be the case.  While Spirit-filled worship is something we can’t make happen, there are practical skills we can learn which will enhance our ability to enter into deep, transformative worship. This retreat will focus on practices which can make us more ready to receive that blessed gift of powerful worship which can nurture, heal, and transform us and our lives, while drawing us closer together as a community. In our time together we will explore how we prepare for worship, how we center down, how to listen to each other with our whole being- body, mind and spirit, and how we open more to each other and to the Divine during worship. These practices will draw us into a deeper sense of community, opening our hearts and spirits to individual and collective wellsprings of the Source.

The Schedule is as Follows:

Friday Night: 7:00-9:00

Saturday Morning: 9:00-12:00

Saturday Afternoon: 2:30-5:00

Saturday Evening: 7:00-9:00

Sunday Morning  9:30-12:00

Christopher Sammond, Facilitator: One of Christopher’s greatest joys is to help people into a deeper experience of the Divine and he is passionate about the potential for Quaker worship to be a vehicle for encountering the Living God.  He has led workshops and retreats on deepening worship over many years at the FGC Gathering, Pendle Hill, Powell House, and Woolman Hill as well as for monthly, quarterly, and regional meetings. Christopher also has experience leading online workshops and retreats.  He is trained in spiritual direction and the spiritual formation of whole congregations, and served New York YM as their General Secretary. Christopher is a member of Poplar Ridge Monthly Meeting, NYYM, and lives in central New York with his wife Barbara and cats Harriet and Lil.