Led by Anne Booth

A weekend with Matthew 18: 3 - exploring the spirituality of storytelling and childhood

How do we accept the Kingdom of God like a little child, as Jesus tells us to do, and how can stories help us experience that openness, vulnerability and joy? This weekend will explore how storytelling can help us in our spiritual journey, and how looking at our life through a child’s eyes can draw us closer to God the storyteller, and inspire us as adult disciples. We will take a deeper look both at the stories we are told by society and our families, and the stories we tell ourselves, and compare them to the stories Jesus told us about the Kingdom of God and our place in it. We will ponder how we imagine and experience God as storyteller in our lives, look at images of childhood itself,  and discover a range of beautiful classic and contemporary picture books for children, using them as a basis for prayer.

Arrive in time for supper at 7pm on Friday and depart by 3pm on Sunday.

Cost:

Standard: £240

En-suite: £260

Day guest : £125

Anne is a married mum of four, with an MA in Children’s Literature and another in Creative Writing and a postgraduate diploma in Pastoral Theology from Heythrop College. She is a qualified Spiritual Director. She is an author of more than twenty-five books for children and two novels for adults, published by Penguin Harvill Secker, and regularly writes a column for ’The Tablet’. She believes in the power of storytelling, and the use of fiction to help our relationship with God. She is a passionate fan of Children’s Book illustration and, as well as working on future books, is currently studying part-time for an MA in Children’s Book Illustration at  Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge.