The FORM Retreat - All Hallows Convent Ditchingham

Well the start of the retreat didn't go to plan!  Ivan and I made haste with a car full of food, beanbags, material, books etc and then a little way into the trip I realised that I had forgotten Ivan's redbush teabags !  You may wonder if I continued on with the trip, but remembering that I had forgotten the teabags (if that makes sense), just made me realise how much I had forgotten...basically the contents of my fridge with homemade chicken and apple pies (thanks Mum!) , meat, vegetables, milk and so much more !  So back home we went

Finally we arrived and met up with David (first to arrive - very keen student!) and then others started arriving later that afternoon.  We all settled in nicely - managed to fit in a lovely walk (albeit the church we walked to was locked after trudging through some serious mud!), but the countryside was stunning.  It was quiet, peaceful and all was calm and then some Form Plus students arrived !  Ahhh, we love them all...really !  We soon got out the board games....first Playdoh Pictionary (we're all 5 year olds at heart!), then went onto Balderdash.  Well, it was quite hillarious and we didn't even have alcohol to blame - some of the words and jargon we invented will be thrown in from time to time during school of theology, and maybe in our blogs (so watch this space!).  Sophie's definition of 'Squallop' was by far the best....but I will leave her to explain another time!

The following day, Rev'd Matthew Firth gave us some wonderful teaching on the Psalms and then we had a few hours of quiet time to meditate on Gods Word (Psalm 139).  This was a special time for people and it was lovely spending some time later that day sharing how God had spoken to us through His Word, through prayer, through poems, through the beauty of His creation and in other ways too.  Claire was inspired by God to write a poem, which you can read under the FORM Plus blog - it's such a beautiful poem, so do read it....

We attended Evening Vespers with the nuns which was quite an experience - sung the psalms in a meditative way, with one side of the aisle singing two verses and the other side singing another two verses and so on.  Poor Ivan was all by himself on one side of the aisle with a couple of nuns,  and the combination of  nuns voices and Ivan's was quite extraordinary !      Lets move on quickly.....now back to the board games...... Pictionary and Balderdash, lots of laughter,  followed by my Mums homemade chicken pies and eves pudding with custard (yum!). 

On the Sunday we met the nuns in the chapel for Eucharist and experienced a more 'high church' style of service with incense, sung eucharist etc.  We then enjoyed another afternoon walk and ended up in another church singing hymns. 

I know everyone is on a journey with God and we are all at different stages, so the retreat would have brought different experiences to people of how God touched their lives during that time - some joyful experiences and some painful ones too.  But I believe that each experience was positive, and for me personally, the retreat just brought me a little closer to God in the midst of my busy life and, of course, a great time with some lovely friends.

Tracey