“Who among us has not yearned to know the Unknowable? The Psalms have ever been a response to these deep yearnings: cries of the soul ... songs of surrender ... paeans of praise.” - Nan Merrill, author of Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness

In Psalms for Praying Nan Merrill reworks the Hebrew Scripture Psalms into a poetic dance between the human heart and Divine Love. The language is all about “aspiring to live in a spirit of cooperation, co-creation, and companionship with the Beloved.” Though mindful of our personal struggles, we are invited in prayerful dialogue to come to know our deepest truth and to join with others on a journey towards wholeness.

Using Nan’s psalms as the framework for our retreat, we will have the opportunity in solitude and together to explore and rest in the assurance of God’s presence and peace. Our time will include brief meditations, silence, chant, creative writing and art-making, and plenty of spaciousness for restoration amidst the beauty of the environs.

Our guide will be contemplative retreat leader and artist Trish Stefanik, a resident of Rolling Ridge Study Retreat Community and a caretaker of Friends of Silence.

For more information, see www.friendsofsilence.net, email lindsay.rollingridge@gmail.com, or call 304-724-1069.

The retreat fee is $235, which includes 3 nights lodging, all meals, and program materials. Please send a $100 deposit (checks payable to Friends of Silence) to: FOS Retreat Ministry, c/o Lindsay McLaughlin, 120 Jubilee Lane, Harpers Ferry, WV 25425. Retreatants are welcome to arrive and settle in anytime after 4:00 pm on Thursday. Our program will begin with dinner at 6:30 pm and end with lunch on Sunday.

We are located on 1400 acres of nature preserve in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, near Harpers Ferry, less than two hours from the Washington-Baltimore area.