5 senses retreatMy whole being will exclaim, "Who is like you, O Lord?" Ps 35:10
We are beings created in the image and likeness of God, made up of body, mind, soul, spirit. We worship God as He commands us to. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” (Mk 12:30). We can be very good at offering our hearts in surrender to God, as well as using our thoughts to give honour to God. Sometimes, however, we have left our bodies out of our relationships with God, feeling they are somehow less 'spiritual' or more 'earthy' than what we should be bringing to God. We have tended to downplay that God can commune with us in our bodies. We sometimes segment ourselves, offering Him the 'more noble' parts of ourselves (such as our minds, our souls), yet leave ourselves fragmented and fractured in the process. God invites, even commands us to love Him wholly and holistically with our soul, mind, heart and strength. He wants all of us, including our body. |
So how do we include our body in our worship, prayer and service of God? Paul reminds us that "whether you eat or drink, do it all for the glory of God" (1 Cor 10:31). God invites us to use all of our senses to experience Him and His closeness to us. The senses can be redeemed and reclaimed as vessels of communication with God.
This mini-retreat will allow you to focus on each of your five senses, allowing God to speak to you and commune with you through your whole being—mind, soul and body. With each sense you will spend about 45 minutes. You will read Scriptures that refer to that particular sense, participate in an outdoor experience that engages that sense and then reflect on that experience with guided questions and journaling. Allow yourself to fully soak in the experience with each particular sense before moving to the next one.
I invite you to take this mini-retreat as a way of reconnecting with your body as a vessel for experiencing God. Enjoy this mini-retreat with all of who you are!
The Word that gives life was from the beginning, and this is the one our message is about. Our ears have heard, our own eyes have seen, and our hands touched this Word. The one who gives life appeared! We saw it happen, and we are witnesses to what we have seen. Now we are telling you about this eternal life that was with the Father and appeared to us. We are telling you what we have seen and heard, so that you may share in this life with us. And we share in it with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 Jn 1:1-3 CEV)
This mini-retreat will allow you to focus on each of your five senses, allowing God to speak to you and commune with you through your whole being—mind, soul and body. With each sense you will spend about 45 minutes. You will read Scriptures that refer to that particular sense, participate in an outdoor experience that engages that sense and then reflect on that experience with guided questions and journaling. Allow yourself to fully soak in the experience with each particular sense before moving to the next one.
I invite you to take this mini-retreat as a way of reconnecting with your body as a vessel for experiencing God. Enjoy this mini-retreat with all of who you are!
The Word that gives life was from the beginning, and this is the one our message is about. Our ears have heard, our own eyes have seen, and our hands touched this Word. The one who gives life appeared! We saw it happen, and we are witnesses to what we have seen. Now we are telling you about this eternal life that was with the Father and appeared to us. We are telling you what we have seen and heard, so that you may share in this life with us. And we share in it with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. (1 Jn 1:1-3 CEV)
print off this file for your retreat |
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Disclaimer: I'm sure I took the idea for this retreat from somewhere, but in all honesty can't remember where. I apologize to not giving credit to whomever originally crafted the bones of this wonderfully life-giving retreat!