Silent Retreats Scheduled For Fall

But oh! God is in his holy Temple! Quiet everyone—a holy silence. Listen!

Conference Director of Discipleship Chris Kindle has scheduled two silent retreats in different locations for this fall: October 11-13 at Jumonville, near Uniontown,  and November 1-3 at Olmsted Manor Retreat Center, in Ludlow, PA.

Silence does not come easy. "There is something counter-cultural in our intentional silence,"  Kindle said, noting that when the first retreats were scheduled last year, many greeted the idea with skepticism.  But the response of most who participated was to ask when the next one would be held.

"The beauty of a Silent Retreat is its simplicity," Kindle said in a blog post last year. "It is not simply being silent. It is giving our agenda to God and asking for Him to fill it. In the silence, we are able to recognize our own agenda is larger than our desire to be with God. We feel as if the time spent in silence is wasted, but it is actually an invitation to prayer.

"As we remain in the silence, the contents of our hearts are revealed – good and bad. Continuing in silence, the inner noise and chaos of our lives quiets. Our capacity to enter into the presence of God grows and we find ourselves in places not easily found amidst the din of everyday life," he added. 

God invites us to be silent to hear words of guidance, hope, correction, and love, Kindle explained.

Each cellphone-free retreat begins at 7 p.m. on Sunday with worship, prayer and communion. The time of silence then begins, continues through Monday and concludes on Tuesday morning with worship and an opportunity to discuss the experience.  The cost is $100.

Register for either retreat.