In Brief...

Coronavirus: Resources for meditators

We have set up a page with suggestions to help you stay connected with other meditators while we follow the guidelines on managing the coronavirus.  On this page we have shared communications from Fr Laurence, the Spiritual Director of WCCM worldwide, and from the UK leadership team so that they reach as many meditators as possible.

Do visit the new WCCM website launched to respond to the demands of the Covid-19 crisis. More than 2000 virtual pilgrims have joined us already on A Contemplative Path Through the Crisis.  In the midst of global suffering, this website offers rich resources for hope and healing.

The ‘Contemplative Path’ programme offers insights born from the present challenges we face - shaping wisdom for a better world after the crisis.

Sarah Bachelard’s new series of talks A Living Hope started on 21 April and recordings are available. Contemplative Eucharist from Bonnevaux is broadcast live every Sunday at 11.00 am UK time. The Bonnevaux Community’s daily meditation sessions will be online soon. As Fr Laurence says, ‘We are reaching further into cyberspace to meet people where they are. Together through this crisis we will learn how the Spirit is shaping us for our future mission.’

There is information about how to access and setup online meditation groups and details of new WCCM and CCS videos aimed at children in isolation.  

It's all here...  

 

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Event Cancellations

If you are an organiser of an event listed in our calendar and have cancelled or postoned it, please let us know at events@christianmeditation.org.uk so we can update your entry.

 

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UK Office Closed - Roisin and Elena working from home

At very short notice on 18th March the UK office was closed for the foreseeable future.  Please be aware that whilst Roisin and Elena are currently able to work from home, any postal mail will not be responded to for some time, probably several months.  Consequently please communicate by email to uk@wccm.org and if you have recently sent a message or invoice by post please resend by email.

If there are any payments you wish to make, do so using the online donation facility https://www.christianmeditation.org.uk/index.php/become-a-friend-of-wccm/donate and please include a message (provided within the donation facility) saying what it is for.

 

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Summer Newsletters

Updated: 5 June.

The Summer 2020 issues of the UK Newsletter meditation news and the international newsletter Meditatio now available here as PDF downloads and the printed copies have been posted to subscribers.

The sheets for some copies of Meditatio have been assembled in the wrong order. To correct this, remove the staples (you may be able to reuse them); swap the second and third sheets so that the page order is correct; insert the staples through the existing holes.

The online edition is normally available several weeks before the printed copies!  If you would like to be notified when it is on the website, please contact the UK Office by email: uk@wccm.org and ask to be added to the Newsletter email distribution list.

In meditation news Evonne Galloway remembers how much Graeme Watson brought to our meditation community and Margaret Comerford reflects on his funeral in January.  Roz Stockley looks at how UK meditators are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, Julia Williamson reports on the expansion of online meditation to support those in isolation, and Fr John Bannister, our coordinator for Clergy, writes about how his meditation practice is supporting his parish work.

Other Community News includes the rescheduling of our National Conference until June 2021, a report from Julie Roberts on Fr Laurence's Visit to the South West in March, and Joanne Sullivan on the benefits of attending the autumn Essential Teaching Weekend (and there is another opportunity in October).

There is a review of Circle of Light, a lovely booklet of prayers from around the world compiled by meditator Sylvia Lindsay, and Julia Roberts brings us up to date with new resources available on the School of Meditation website. 

We have updated the Events pages - mainly looking towards later in the year - and there are a number of changes to the Contacts page, perhaps it's time to print off a new one!

Fr Laurence's letter in Meditatio reflects on the post-CoViD-19  world and how we can make a contemplative response to an unknown future.  A Special section looks at how different groups and individuals are taking their Contemplative Path Through the Crisis, looking at the impact in the community in Bonnevaux, initiatives in Latin America and Asia, how teaching meditation is helping reducing stress and loneliness in young people and how the silence around us has helped a local meditation community to go deeper into the slience as we meditate.  

In Focus has an interview with Singapore meditator Angelene Chan and we welcome new Director of Meditatio, Briji Waterfield.  There are details of retreats and meetings that will be held online or moved to next year and a reminder that the Meditatio CDs will in future only be available on line, visit http://tiny.cc/MeditatioCDs for access.

The Autumn newsletters will be available in mid August.  The last date for submitting articles and events for meditation news is 1 July.

 

2020 UK National Conference: Rescheduled

It was with great sadness that we had to cancel our June Conference at Swanwick. With great consideration, we had chosen the title “Touch the Earth Lightly”, not knowing that it would have such immediate relevance for us all.

For those who have booked, there will of course be a full reimbursement.

It is sad that so many of our WCCM events, retreats and meditation groups are not taking place, especially at this time of isolation and need.  But the community is reaching out in new and different ways. If you are on our mailing list, we will have been in touch to let you know about the on line support at local, regional, national and international level. If you haven’t received an email or letter from us and would like more details, please look on our website or contact the UK office (ukadmin@wccm.org).

This time in history is affecting all our lives – each of us with our own story, our own suffering and very personal times of reflection.  We do not know the ending, but our daily meditation offers certainty and through God’s Grace allows us to be open and formed again.

There is a reading from the Tao Te Ching:

The Master leads
By emptying people’s minds
And filling their cores,
By weakening ambition
And toughening their resolve.
He helps people lose everything
They know, everything they desire,
And creates confusion
In those who think that they know.

Whilst our 2020 Conference is not taking place, we have rescheduled for Friday 18^th June to Sunday 20^th June 2021. We are at the early stages of planning, but of course our focus will reflect a new world view and offer a contemplative a response.

It will be an opportunity to bring a truly fresh perspective on the great issues of our times.  We will share time exploring the way in which we respond to the changing face of the world around us. And at the centre of our time together, we will meditate as a world-wide community.

There has been an enormous increase in the way in which we have reached out to one another, often using virtual on line gatherings. We need to reflect upon this experience as we plan our conference. Many of us have had rich and fulfilling experiences, using the extraordinary reach of technology. Coming together to meditate, to listen, to share and to discuss form an essential part of our time together, remembering the physical presence of one another remains central. We need to see with the eyes of our hearts, listen with the ears of our hearts and gently touch one another. Seeing and being with the whole person remains an essential human need.

So, please put the date in your 2021 diary or (if like me) make a note at the back of your 2020 diary!  We will let you have more detail in the late summer.

Much Love to you all

Janet Robbins

On behalf of the Conference organising team

 

 

 

The School of Meditation 2020 Events

Autumn Essential Teaching Weekend

Friday 2 to Sunday 4 October at The Briery Centre, Ilkely, West Yorkshire
Led by: Joanne Caine and Julie Roberts. 

Have you been meditating in the John Main tradition for more than a year? Do you feel you would like to grow in your understanding of your meditation practice and be more confident about passing it on to others?

An Essential Teaching Weekend is not designed as a retreat but as a participative weekend with presentations by teachers in the community, group discussion and practical exercises. We look together at the history of the tradition passed on by John Main, the essence of the practice, and psychological aspects of the journey. We also think about how to give an introductory talk and the sort of questions people ask when they begin.

The style of the weekend is relaxed and informative and takes place at the Briery Retreat Centre. Situated at the ‘foot of Ilkley Moor’ in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales, the comfortable accommodation is mainly single rooms with shared bathrooms - we are unable to guarantee an ensuite room.

We would like all who want to come to be able to do so and have a fund for bursaries. If you wish to come but it is beyond your means, please contact us to see how we can help. We also help with travel costs if needed.

Cost £85 per person. For an application form please email jacqrussell3@gmail.com 01296 488450

This information is available as a flyer.

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School of Meditation School Retreat

Led by Julie Roberts with Jacqueline Russell and Liz Watson

Monday 11 – Sunday 17 May 2020

The Greenhouse Christian Centre, in Poole, Dorset

The School Retreat is a six day residential intensive. It is suitable for people who have been meditating seriously for some time in our tradition, and have some experience of integrating meditation into daily life.

It forms a very natural progression from the Essential Teaching Weekend and offers a time of silence and stillness with a daily flow of meditation, a short talk and a regular meeting with one of the retreat leaders. It offers a profound, integrated experience of both sides of the spiritual journey of meditation – of solitude and fellowship, and gently opens participants to explore how they are called to share the gift.

The retreat will be held at The Greenhouse Christian Centre, in Poole, Dorset which offers warm and comfortable accommodation in single occupancy rooms. There is limited availability of ensuite rooms which will be allocated according to need.

Cost £550.00  Bursaries to help with the cost of attending this retreat are available – please ask.  For an application form please email: jacqrussell3@gmail.com or telephone 01296 488450

This information is available as a flyer

Sharing The Gift Of Meditation – Your Opportunity To Apply for a Grant

The World Community for Christian Meditation exists simply to share the gift of meditation, a gift it received through the teaching of John Main.

We are keen for more people to find out about meditation, help them develop their own personal and group practices and through this, reach out to the wider world. Through a generous legacy from Eileen Cox, a dedicated member of a group in Ealing, West London, we are inviting community members and organisations to apply for grants that relate to the following three objectives:

1. To promote the understanding and practice of meditation. For example, is there a particular group of people you want to introduce to meditation? How can you do that?
2. To encourage meditators to deepen their practice. For example, do you have ideas for helping people persevere and go deeper?
3. To reach out to all parts of society in order to share the gifts that meditation brings. For example, do you particularly want to take meditation out to people and places beyond the reach of churches, or where traditional language isn’t readily understood.

Grants are available from £100 to £5,000 or even more.  If you are interested in applying for a grant, there are details and instructions here.

We have partnered with the Church Urban Fund (CUF) to administer the grants using their extensive experience in running grant management systems and we were delighted to discover that they share our values when Paul Hackwood, the Executive Chair of CUF, included the following in a message to us:

Silent contemplation provides us with the place where we can be still enough to create a place of reflection and steadiness, which has much greater benefits that endless activity. A contemplative sprit and an active heart provide exactly the foundation for a changed world. … With all this in mind, it is with great pleasure that we are now working with the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM) to help foster silent prayer through their networks and ours, encouraging existing meditators to share the gift of meditation with others with the assistance of the grant fund.  

Read the full letter here.