More information about this quiet day is coming soon… Please check back regularly for updates.
Quiet Day price: £44 includes lunch and coffee and tea throughout the day.
Why not think about extending your time at Launde by staying overnight after the event. Check for availability and a quote when you contact us.
Yes – I’d like to take part in this Quiet Day! (Please complete this form to request a place.)
More information about this quiet day is coming soon… Please check back regularly for updates.
Quiet Day price: £44 includes lunch and coffee and tea throughout the day.
Why not think about extending your time at Launde by staying overnight after the event. Check for availability and a quote when you contact us.
Yes – I’d like to take part in this Quiet Day! (Please complete this form to request a place.)
Join us for this year’s Advent Retreat: ‘Waiting Hopefully’, led by Chris and Rhona Knight.
Advent hope:
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
T.S. Eliot penned these words in East Coker, the second of his poems in the Four Quartets. But what does it mean wait hopefully. In this retreat we will be prayerfully and creatively considering the nature of hope and hopeful waiting in the context of advent as, with all of creation, we wait upon God and cry Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus.
Rhona Knight was a GP and medical educator for 25 years. She was ordained in 2015 and led on teaching pastoral care at Lincoln School of Theology. Although now retired she continues to research, write and teach particularly in the area of boundaries and trauma in ministry. Rhona is a theological educator, pastoral supervisor, spiritual director and is a regular retreat leader at Launde Abbey. She is the author of a number of books on discipleship and spirituality and also enjoys reading, theatre, art, creativity and the outdoors.
Chris Knight was a research scientist for many years until he changed direction after completing a PhD in Apologetics. He worked in the area of apologetics for a number of years, before leading on the teaching of doctrine at Lincoln School of Theology. He is married to Rhona and they have three grown sons. He enjoys bird watching and photography.
Retreat price: £340 (standard room) or £370 (character room)
EARLY BIRD RATE: £320 (standard room) or £350 (character room) if booked by 6th September 2023!
Price includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources. It may be possible for you to extend your stay with us by adding an extra night before or after this retreat. Please contact the Abbey directly if you would like to extend your stay.
Click here to book your place on this retreat now:
For any questions, or queries or if you’d like to know more, please call 01572 717254 or alternatively email us: [email protected]
This year, we are focussing our Advent Quiet Day on the Jesse Tree. Taking its name from Isaiah 11:1, a Jesse Tree is traditionally a bare branch that holds symbols of people from the Old Testament, Jesus’ family tree. We will trace the ancestry of Jesus back through the Old Testament to where it all began in Genesis 1.
The day will include reflections on some of the key characters, as well as ideas and opportunities, for those who would like, to begin crafting symbols to take away.
This quiet day will be led by our Resident Chaplain, Revd Fran Graham.
Fran is married to Steve, and together they have two adult children, Katherine and Joseph. Both Fran and Steve began their careers as primary school teachers before transitioning to church ministry. While living in Yorkshire, Steve worked as a parish and Diocesan youth worker, and Fran volunteered in various roles before being ordained.
After her curacy in Steeton, West Yorkshire, they moved to Ireland, where Steve served as a national officer supporting youth work for the Church of Ireland. Fran assisted in a group of six parishes and was the Church of Ireland chaplain to the Irish Defence Forces, supporting cadets and personnel and travelling to Israel and Lebanon. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they moved to County Offaly to minister in two rural churches, where they adapted to remote ministry through Zoom, YouTube, and digital communication.
Fran is now our Resident Chaplain here at Launde Abbey and we are thrilled to have her as part of the team. Fran loves crafting, reading, music, and has even written some worship songs.
“Me and Steve are thrilled to be here and look forward to getting to know you as we seek out what plans God might have.”
Quiet Day price: £44 includes lunch and coffee and tea throughout the day.
Why not think about extending your time at Launde by staying overnight after the event. Check for availability and a quote when you contact us.
Yes – I’d like to take part in this Quiet Day! (Please complete this form to request a place.)
This retreat is now fully booked.
Through the tender mercy of our God …
the dayspring from on high hath visited us,
to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.
The old priest Zechariah prophesied that his son, John the Baptist, would welcome the coming Messiah like dawn breaking into the dark night – or, in the poetic words of the Authorised Version, as a “Dayspring from on High”.
Our Advent Retreat this year will focus on hope: the hope anticipated by the great saints of the Hebrew Bible, the hope celebrated by the New Testament church, the hope that breaks into our lives like a sunburst through the gloom. We’ll enter together into this season of waiting and watching with our eyes firmly fixed on the hope set before us, the glory of Christ.
There will be times of shared reflection and prayer, opportunities to worship with the Launde community, great food a friendship, as well as generous time set aside for silence, stillness, prayer and meditation, or just rest and recovery.
This retreat will be led by the Revd Chris Webb, Deputy Warden of Launde Abbey.
Chris Webb is an Anglican priest, author, speaker and teacher dedicated to helping people experience a richer walk with God by growing in prayer and the spiritual life. He has ministered in a wide variety of contexts: as president of Renovaré, a spiritual formation ministry in the USA; as parish priest in Welsh farming communities and steelworking towns; and even in a church for the homeless. Chris is the author of two books: The Fire of the Word (2011) and God-Soaked Life (2017).
Retreat price: £425 includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources.
We offer an ‘Early Bird’ price of £405 if you pay in full before 27th September 2023.
It may be possible for you to extend your stay by leaving later. Why not check on availability and ask for a quote when you contact us.
Please complete this form to request a place on the retreat.
As we journey towards Christmas, let’s pause, and make space for Jesus to enter in.
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Names of Jesus foretold by Isaiah. Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us.
Where do we see those names echoed and reflected in the Old Testament? This retreat will gently consider some of those places, encouraging us to ‘Be still, and know that I am God’.
The retreat will be led by Emily Owen. Emily is an award-winning author and speaker, with several books to her name. She lost her hearing overnight aged 21, and has had numerous surgeries. Emily knows what it is to be broken, and she knows what it is to meet God there.
There will be opportunities for 1-1s with Emily, either using voice/speech or in Sign Language.
Communication support for deaf people will be available throughout this Retreat.
Retreat price: £425 includes en-suite accommodation, all meals, and all retreat resources.
We offer an ‘Early Bird’ price of £405 if you pay in full before 4th October 2023.
It may be possible for you to extend your stay by leaving later. Why not check on availability and ask for a quote when you contact us.
Please complete this form to request a place on the retreat.