All Saints Episcopal Church - Sharon Chapel
3421 Franconia Road, Alexandria, Virginia 22310 703-960-4808 SharonChpl@aol.com
Parish Retreat
The All Saints parish retreat is an annual event held at Shrine Mont, in Orkney Springs, Virginia.
With the beauty of Great North Mountain in the Shenandoah Valley and the Southern hospitality of the Shrine Mont staff as a backdrop, parish members gather to build faith and fellowship. And of course it wouldn't truly be a retreat without plenty of time to relax!
2007 Retreat:
Psalms
September 28 - 30: For 2007 the theme will be the Psalms. We will discuss our favorite ones. We will cover the various types of psalms and how they are used in worship and music. We will look at how monastics use the psalms in daily prayer and meditation. We hope to learn to chant them and even write one based on our experiences and studies. (more information).
Previous Retreats
2007 Retreat:
Psalms
The 2007 Parish Retreat (September 28 - 30) theme was the Psalms. We discussed our favorites. We covered the various types of psalms and how they are used in worship and music. We looked at how monastics use the psalms in daily prayer and meditation. (More information.
)2006 Retreat:
"Beyond the Dirty Pages”
September 29 - October 1: The “Dirty Pages” are the Rite II Eucharist section of the Book of Common Prayer that gets handled so much and gets dog-eared. The retreat looked at all the other richness of the BCP, covering all the services – Morning Prayer, Compline, Evening Prayer, Noonday Prayer. We studied the ancient Creeds and then touched on the historical documents. We covered all the other unusual services and learned how to use the perpetual calendars and cyclical lectionaries and offices. (more information).
2005 Retreat:
Prayer
September 30 - October 2: All Saints parishoners explored different forms of prayer. (more information).
2004 Retreat:
Why do Episcopalians do that?
July 9-11, 2004: All Saints parishoners, joined by the Reverend Churchill Gibson, explored the reasons behind such things as: Why we sit, stand or kneel at certain parts in the Eucharist, Why we bow toward the altar, What is the reason behind all that singing, etc. (Announcement in The Fishers).
2003 Retreat:
June 27-29, 2003: Theme: "Humor in the Bible"; Leader: The Rev. Churchill Gibson; Members of All Saints gathered to learn about the humorous stories in the Bible, as well as about what each person brings to his or her reading of the story.
photos © Beverly Bennet Shaw 2003