Jesus, the true light, shines into the world as he is born a baby and is God with us, Emmanuel. I invite you to enjoy two short videos I made during the Advent retreats I led at glorious settings, Waverley Abbey, the lovely house and the historic ruins of the Cistercian monastery, and Mulberry House in High Ongar, Essex.
A nighttime blessing and considering of the wonders of Jesus, for whom we wait in Advent:
“The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world…” (John 1:9, NIV)
During Advent, this time of darkness in the northern hemisphere, we wait for the True Light who vanquishes the darkness. We embrace the gift of God who came to earth as a baby, who lived among us, who died and rose again, living with us now through his Spirit.
As you ponder the Light of Christ, I offer a poem that I’d forgotten, which someone brought to my attention last week, one I penned some years ago based on Isaiah 9:2, focusing on the True Light:
If you can set aside some time for a retreat this Advent, I know God will bless your time with him!
One way is for anyone who has an internet connection and just under two hours – join my Advent retreat sessions via YouTube and a downloadable journal. Just £15.
OrI have two in-person opportunities for an Advent retreat day:
Join me for an Advent reflection to refocus on Christ from the comfort of your home or in person at the atmospheric Waverley Abbey or beautiful Mulberry House. Through three sessions, using words and pictures, we will look at Jesus from the start, Jesus in the darkness and Jesus with us. We’ll enjoy time together as a group, and you’ll have space for your own prayer and reflection.
Waverley Abbey, Farnham, Surrey, on 14 December. Find out more and book your place. You’ll have time to explore the ruins and enjoy a the wonderful house, decked out for Christmas.
Mulberry House, High Ongar, Essex, on 16 December. Crazily wonderful price of £25 with a 2-course lunch (their food is hotel standard and REALLY nice). Find out more and book a place.
Enjoy the mist and ruins of Waverley Abbey in this Advent-themed video:
Plan now for a refreshing encounter with Jesus during Advent!
“I was able to lose myself in my time with Jesus.”
“You helped me encounter God in a new way.”
“I’m very visual, and am learning that the Spirit really speaks to me through beautiful art… Leo’s lovely paintings really blessed me. The journal was beautifully presented.”
Advent can be an intense time of the year – the hustle and bustle of preparing for Christmas can overtake our intentions to prepare our hearts and minds for the coming of Jesus. But however busy we are, we can trust that God is with us. He is Emmanuel – the One who always with us.
Join me for an Advent reflection to refocus on Christ from the comfort of your home or in person at the atmospheric Waverley Abbey. Through three sessions, using words and pictures, we will look at Jesus from the start, Jesus in the darkness and Jesus with us. We’ll enjoy time together as a group, and you’ll have space for your own prayer and reflection.
Together, let’s cut through the frenetic pace of the season and make space for Jesus this Advent.
Please note that I will be sharing much of the same content as for the Advent 2023 retreat.
Take a few minutes to hear about friendship with Jesus and the difference it makes (my book Transforming Love) and God-encountering, time-tested ways to pray (my book 7 Ways to Pray). Elliott and I chat at the Christian Resources Together gathering in September 2024, where I gave a keynote address and the closing devotional.
God looks on us with love. Join me for a mini-retreat (for 10 minutes) in receiving God’s loving gaze, along with imagining yourself in the story of Jesus seeing the widow of Nain during the funeral procession of her only son from Luke’s gospel.
Filmed at Upper Jenny’s at Lee Abbey, Lee Bay, Devon, England.
You may wish to engage with this longer prayer practice on a day of retreat and refreshment. Feel free to pause the video and engage with God where he takes you.
Join me in a prayer of imagining yourself in a gospel story, that of the two disciples walking away from Jerusalem on the road to Emmaus on the day of the resurrection. Their faces are downcast as they don’t understand what has happened, and then Jesus appears to them on the road, but they are kept from knowing it is him.
You may wish to engage with this longer prayer practice on a day of retreat and refreshment. Feel free to pause the video and engage with God where he takes you.
Join me in the woods near to Penhurst Retreat Centre (near Battle in East Sussex, England) to ponder and pray through some of the words of Thérèse of Lisieux, known as the little flower. As part of this, we’ll engage in a prayer asking God for emotional healing, based on Thérèse’s thoughts.
She saw the beauty of the ordinary flowers – the daisies and lilies as much as the roses. After all, what would be the glories of springtime if we only had roses? So too, how lovely is the garden of souls, made in the image of God with so much creativity and diversity.
Join me before Iona Abbey as the sun rises as we ask Jesus the Light to clarify any areas of wrongdoing we are holding. God will always release us and welcome us to experience freedom and release.
Join me in pondering the God of abundance in the Ten Acre Gill near to Penhurst Retreat Centre. (A ‘gill’ is a wooded ravine.) What resources might he have for you that he’s inviting you to notice and pick? How is he providing for you in unexpected and delightful ways?
I also share a simple but tasty recipe for wild garlic pesto.
Join me on retreat! My list of dates for 2024 and some of 2025 is available on my speaking page.
Join me in practicing the presence of God on the beautiful shores of the island of Iona, in the inner Hebrides in Scotland. God loves when we welcome his presence in our lives – he’s always there with us!
In the video I share this gorgeous Celtic prayer, as collected in the Carmina Gadelica:
Come I this day to the Father, Come I this day to the Son, Come I this day to the Holy Spirit powerful: I come this day with God, I come this day with Christ, I come this day with the Spirit of kindly balm.
God, and Spirit, and Jesus, From the crown of my head To the soles of my feet; Come I with my reputation, Come I with my testimony, Come I to Thee, Jesu – Jesu, shelter me.
