Encountering God in the stillness: the Massey chaplaincy silent retreat
With the fast-paced nature of tertiary study for students, university chaplaincies have the chance to encourage a practice of rest and stillness. The Wellington Massey Chaplaincy recently ran its Unplugged Silent Retreat for the third year in a row, at the Home of Compassion Retreat Centre in Island Bay. Their first retreat was held at Ngatiawa River Monastery as an initiative headed by Ian Cook, chaplain at the time, but they took the opportunity to hold it more locally over the last couple of years. Mark Henderwood, the Massey coordinating chaplain said that it was ‘great having the proximity to the urban bus route in Island Bay, with bush tracks and hills to climb as well’ which made it more accessible for students to make time for.
The retreat ran for forty-eight hours with seven students and three university chaplains attending. It alternated between Greater and Lesser Silences, allowing the participants time solely for connection with God as well as small moments of silent interaction with others. Although there was guided meditation in the mornings and chapel time in the evenings, the retreat had plenty of space for the students to meet with God in a way that worked for them.
One of the students, Grace Duncan, for whom this silent retreat was her third, shared how there tends to be a mixture of time spent just in your own head as well as with God, because of how easy it is to show up with preconceived ideas of how the weekend will go. She said that ‘every year it’s really different even though you’re in silence, because obviously God shows up and does different things’.
This year was the first time for the retreat to offer spiritual direction to the students. Alice Wood, a Massey chaplain, and Mel McKenzie, the Ecumenical Chaplin at Victoria University led this, and the addition to the weekend received positive responses from those that took part. Grace found the spiritual direction time to be really useful, as it was ‘kind of like counselling but more like you direct it. They ask questions that help you navigate your own journey in that space with God; first-year Grace would have appreciated something like that.’
Many received a sense of stillness and peace in the slowing down the retreat provided, and Mark shared how one student with no explicit faith context joined them on retreat for rest and general well being. They responded to the silent retreat by saying:
The Unplugged silent retreat has been one of the highlights of my year. Suitable for people at all stages of their journey, it encourages an entirely personal response to a deep silence that opens up pathways, questions (and sometimes answers) to help someone navigate the constant white noise of the modern world. I can’t think of a better location than the Home of Compassion to make a person aware of the potential of a spiritual life to make a difference in the world.
As for the chaplains, Mark explained that although their priority is to serve the students and help them make room for God over the weekend, they do get to enjoy the slower pace of things. ‘It’s (mostly) a healthy joy to slow our brain down, hush up and enjoy God and nature. However, with this slowed mindset, for two years running now I’ve dinged our car bumper while running errands from the retreat! I hadn’t had car accidents for years until these weekends. Duct tape to the rescue...’
By Holly Morton
