Biblical Women: a Retreat
posted on July 1st, 2011
“My Heart Exults in the Lord – Biblical Women Speak to Us” was the full title of a preached retreat recently given here at Loyola Hall. You may recognize the beginning line from the exuberant Old Testament prayer known as “Song of Hannah”, and Hannah was only one of a number of biblical women that was invited to “speak to us” on this six-day retreat.
The retreat was given to eleven participants by two Loyola Hall team members, Edel McClean and Karen Eliasen. Edel and Karen offered a variety of perspectives, ranging from the exegetical and the anecdotal to the reflective and the hands-on, on women from both Testaments. Each day opened to a theme chosen to bring alive ways in which we as modern biblical readers can relate to the wonderful, even if often unnamed women, that generously pepper the Bible. Thus we looked at women …. and call … and wisdom … and justice … and love, and last but not least, women and food.
On all days, presentations with visual images and music inspired our engagement with women such as Eve and Mary, Deborah and Anna, the Shulamite and the woman who anointed Jesus, to name but a few. But on the last day, themed women and food, we baked bread under Edel’s lively supervision – literally, yes, and very enjoyably messily so!
Next year Edel and Karen will be doing another biblically-based preached retreat: look for “Joys and Sorrows, Praise and Lament” given here at Loyola Hall in July 2012.