Journey into WholenessThe Community of Aidan and HildaThe Open GateLindisfarne, England
The life of faith strains between invaluable isolation and introspection and essential engagement and extension. Aidan’s prayer captures this tension in the oscillating rhythms of a tide’s ebb and flow. His home, a tidal island connected to the land each day when the tide is low and separated each night when it is high, inspired his spiritual appreciation and vocational impulse regularly to move from being alone and to being with others and back again. Ministry on the campus is, too, a life held in tension, a tension that naturally requires engagement while unfailingly allotting little toward introspection. Yet, the life of faith needs both. Our ministries benefit from both. This summer, the Collegiate Ministry office at the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry invites you to Aidan’s island to restore that tidal, fundamental rhythm to your faithful life and vital work. Join us for a retreat of spiritual renewal in July on Lindisfarne (Holy Island) off the northern coast of England. Hosted by the The Community of Aidan and Hilda, an ecumenical Christian community in the Celtic tradition, we will share in a week of fellowship and reflection under the leadership of Rev. Sandi Kerner. Rev. Kerner is an episcopal priest. Starting Monday, July 25 and concluding on Saturday, July 30, Rev. Kerner’s “Journey into Wholeness” retreat is inspired by Celtic tradition and relies upon the work of the Spirit for personal healing and spiritual wholeness. The Open Gate is the “mother house” of the Community of Aidan and Hilda—an ecumenical, world-wide fellowship emergent from the Celtic tradition whose members seek to live out Christianity as a complete way of life. The Open Gate serves as a retreat center and guest house. The house is a nationally protected structure and the oldest inhabited house on the island. Subsidized by the Collegiate Ministry office at GBHEM to make the trip more affordable for collegiate ministers, participants will be expected to pay only $100 for the week’s lodging, meals, and retreat registration. Participants will be expected to secure their own transportation to the retreat. For those needing additional assistance, limited travel grants will be available. Because of the size of the guest house, space for the retreat is very limited.
