“Why am I having this bout of gout at this time? I can hardly walk.” When I was pastoring, if this had happened before the Sunday I was scheduled to preach, I would inform the church staff, and someone would have taken over. But now it was a First-timers Silent Retreat! I ended up hobbling to the Lifesprings Canossian Spirituality Centre with my hiking pole. 

I was quite excited when I was told I would be staying at the hermitage with fellow retired pastor Alvin Lim. I heard nice things about this accommodation: two single beds, a kitchenette and an attached bathroom. But it was four flights of stairs down from the ground floor, and I had a painful left heel. I thank God that the pain subsided over the next two days!

The retreat team comprised Alvin and me, who are trained spiritual directors, and Grace, a ministry staff member with WRPF. I found it a delight to work together with these spiritually perceptive and gracious teammates.  

Lifesprings has a conducive environment for silent retreats. It has a certain aura of peace and quiet devotion. The rooms are Spartan but clean and air-conditioned. Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. They have nice beds, clean pillows, and bedsheets for us to lie on. We felt very welcomed by Josephine Ng, the administrative manager. I highly recommend Lifesprings to anyone seeking to retreat with the Lord.

The First-timer Silent Retreat is designed to introduce church members to contemplative practices. Although my home church, World Revival Prayer Fellowship, is a Pentecostal church, it has grafted contemplative spirituality into its culture to counter the excesses and weaknesses of Pentecostalism. In this retreat, we introduce prayer practices such as lectio divina, review of the day, silence and solitude, journaling, spiritual direction and a few other practices.

There were twelve retreatants, and they ranged from being open and eager to learn to hungry to draw near to God. They were responsive, and the Q&A session midway through the retreat was interesting. Their questions showed they were really practising what they had learned, for they were asking questions only practitioners would ask. They were sincere, searching and seekers of God. Beautiful people.

Every morning, we began at 9.30am for 30 minutes of guided meditation and ended each day’s program by 9 pm with 30 minutes of review of the day at 8.30 pm. We deliberately gave them more sleep time. With the brief instructional talks, there were seven one-hour periods of prayer scheduled throughout the retreat. There was free time to breathe, nap or take a walk. The spiritual direction sessions were about 15-20 minutes, deliberately short, as 45 minutes would be intimidating for them.

We encouraged them to deliberately avoid phone use during the retreat and to limit their use to checking their WhatsApp messages after lunch. I wonder how this worked? I did not gather feedback, for fear I would be disappointed. I know the mobile phone is deeply entrenched in modern life and spirituality.

We ended with a time of singing, sharing our experiences of the retreat, and the Lord’s Supper. Although there was little conversation among the members, a bond had somehow been forged in the days of silence and prayer.

The retreat team had a debrief, and I must say we learned a lot. God willing, the next retreat will always be better. During the debrief, we lamented that people often experienced intimacy with God at retreats but could not sustain it upon returning to their regular lives and the marketplace. We discussed how this gap could be bridged, but could not reach an adequate conclusion. If you have anything to share about this, do write it in the comment box. On the whole, at the end of the retreat, we felt peace, gladness and great satisfaction.

If you desire Pastor Alvin and me to lead a similar retreat for your church, reach out to me via the contact form.