News from the London Centre for Spiritual Direction

view this email in your browser Thanks to everyone who came to the Network Day a few weeks ago.  We felt very blessed to be part of this wonderful community. At the network day, we mentioned that we are looking for volunteers for a photo shoot which is happening from 9.30 to 1.00pm on Friday January 12 2018.  We have booked a professional photographer, who took many of the images of the church and people attending last years network day that appear on our website.  For this project, we have given him the brief to take photos of people in pairs as if they are in a one-to-one spiritual direction setting.  These images will be used on our website and in new print publicity.   If you would be willing and able to come along to the centre to take part in this photo shoot, please email beth.follini@lcsd.org.uk  We only need 30 minutes of your time and you won't need to commit to the whole morning.  We will have tea, coffee and cake for all volunteers! Finally, just a gentle reminder about our Christmas opening hours.  From Monday 18 December, the building and the main doors will be closed to the public. Those with one-to-one appointments or other room bookings can access the building by the vestry door on George's Yard. We look forward to re-opening as normal on Wednesday 3 January 2018, and wish you all a blessed Advent and Christmas  We hope you enjoy the newsletter.  There are the usual announcements about events and workshops happening here, news from our friends and then this month we hear from Alison Christian who tells us all about her work in her letter 'Growing like Topsy.'.  Growing like Topsy December Letter from Alison Christian Advisor and Advocate for Spiritual Direction   Anyone who has ever watched teenagers grow will be aware that they appear to grow in different places at different stages and according to their sex.  It seems to me that girls, for example, are often taller (and beginning to look like young women) at eleven or twelve whilst their male classmates still look like little boys.  Then, I've noticed that suddenly the boys sprout in their legs; they are all legs - until their torsos begin to thicken, sometimes becoming quite chubby for a bit.  Finally, everyone reaches a sort of normal and growing up has finished, at least physically. I am starting a new work for  LCSD and at the moment it feels very adolescent with growth spurts going off in all directions and not necessarily according to (my) original plan.  But I am sure it is part of God’s plan!  With what I hope will eventually be a team, I am trying to encourage prayer through supporting communities in offering Weeks of Accompanied Prayer (called by some Retreats in Daily Life).  There is nothing new about these Weeks.  Many of you have been offering such Weeks and guiding on them for some years.  The difference with this is that we want to try to get these guided prayer experiences into the DNA of local churches; to make them as common and normal in a community as a Lent course or Confirmation Preparation. We need to face the fact that in the Church we have generally been quite poor at teaching people about prayer experientially – and this is the only way to learn.  In Weeks of Accompanied Prayer people commit to daily prayer and sharing with a prayer guide each day.  They are given guidance on how to pray In different ways, according to need, and passages from scripture are suggested with which they might like to pray.  And the great thing about all this is that the participants don’t have to go away from home because the retreat comes to them and works round their everyday life. Back to Topsy.  The growth spurt in the work is in the response we have received so far from others whom we did not expect to respond so enthusiastically and with their own needs.  Our first booked Weeks are not with our target communities as I imagined them.  But perhaps, as usual, I was making my God and his reach, too small.  What is great about Topsy’s growth is that it has given me time to realise that I need extra food for these hollow legs. I need more people and structures in place before we can go London-wide, and that is what I am working on now. Watch this space. Workshops and Offerings Short and Sweet: Working in Weeks of Accompanied Prayer and Retreats 12 January 2018, 11am - 4pm Cost: £45 Led by Sr. Lynne Baron   Usually offered by a church community, weeks of accompanied prayer are a popular and fruitful way of supporting Christians in their everyday life to focus on prayer and their life of faith. This day will look at the particular focus needed and the challenges and gifts that such a format presents to spiritual directors. Read more and book Safeguarding and Spiritual Direction Friday 16 February 2018, 11am - 4pm £30 full price; £27 for members of the Community of Spiritual Directors Safeguarding Training is now an ethical mandate for spiritual directors who wish to follow the Centre’s Code of Practice. If you’ve not attended a course anywhere in the last five years, we encourage you to sign up now for this workshop. Read more and book.   Prayer and Meditation at LCSD There are several ecumenical opportunities for prayer and meditation at LSCD.  Every Monday lunchtime, we hold contemplative prayer sessions from 1 - 2pm in the Addison Room above the Vestry hall.  On Wednesday morning from 9.15 - 9.45am, morning prayers in the main church are held and all are welcome.  Also on Wednesday morning from 8.00 - 8.45, small meditation group is held in Lombard or Addison Room (depending on numbers) from 8.00 - 8.45am and all are welcome. From Our Friends... Nurturing the Spirituality of Children Six week course for parents 31 Jan 2018 - 14 March 2018 St Augustine's College, Trinity House, 4 Chapel Court, London, SE1 1HW Owing to the popularity of Ronni Lamont’s course on children’s spirituality, we are delighted to announce that St Augustine’s will run the course again, this time at our Southwark teaching at Trinity House. Nurturing the Spirituality of Children … Trailing Clouds of Glory” will start in the new year.  Read more and book   ISC Open Days 15 March 2018/17 May 2018, 2 - 4pm If you’ve been contemplating Ignatian training and would like to meet course leaders to find out more, please follow the links to book a place. Open Day 15 March 2018 Open Day 17 May 2018 Comprehensive information about the Ignatian Spirituality Course may be found on our website: www.artsd.org.uk   JESU, THOU ART ALL COMPASSION RETREAT June 15 – 17, 2018 Ascot Priory Led by John-Francis Friendship This weekend retreat, set in the context of silence, invites you to enter into the compassionate heart of God through different perspectives – the Heart of the Father; the Heart in Silence; the Heart of Compassion, the Heart’s Gaze and the Heart’s Softener. Go to  Compassion Retreat 2018 for more information. Question of Accreditation? Elizabeth White and Lynette Harborne,  both spiritual directors, supervisors and trainers are interested in exploring the potential for an accreditation scheme.  They have set up consultation events around the country about the possibility of setting up a accreditation scheme for spiritual directors.  You can join the conversation and find out more by going to Reflective Spaces   Registered Charity No: 1089883 unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences