• 21 - 23 Sep 2026
  • Weikert, PA

The Tenacity to Hope: The Courage to Walk the Path

What does hope look like in the midst of difficult times? This Circle of Trust® retreat offers clergywomen the opportunity to come together to pause, reflect, and reclaim the courage to hope.

Through this in-person Circle of Trust® Retreat, we will explore what hope looks like in the midst of our current circumstances. While living in a time that makes hope hard to see, how do we have the courage to embody hope?

Engaging in reflection, conversation, and guided activities, we will practice together what it means to live into hope as clergywomen.These practices will allow participants to cultivate the resources of stillness, gratitude, and healthy boundary-setting.

Based on the work of author and spiritual elder Parker J. Palmer, this retreat will also provide the opportunity to engage in a Clearness Committee to:

  • Discover a process for discernment to reach clarity
  • Explore the connection between inner landscape and outer world
  • Learn healthy ways to embrace paradox and hold tension in life-giving ways
  • Be within a community of mutual respect and caring that welcomes the soul

What to Expect: In the retreat, skilled facilitators help to create a quiet, focused, and disciplined space — a Circle of Trust® — in which the noise within us and around us can subside and we can begin to hear our own inner voice. In large group, small group, and solitary settings, we will explore what it means to have hope in our lives, making use of stories from our own journeys, as well as insights from poets, storytellers, and various wisdom traditions.

9/21/26 – 2pm – Site Open to Check In
– 3pm – Retreat Begins
– 5pm – Dinner

– 8:30pm – End for Evening

9/22/26 – 8am – Breakfast
– 9am – Session
– 12pm – Lunch
– 3pm – Free Time to Explore
– 5pm – Dinner

9/23 – 8am – Breakfast
– 9am – Closing Session
– 12pm – Lunch
– 1pm – Retreat Concludes

Wesley Forest camp and retreat center is 440 acres of pristine woodland. Nestled at the base of White Mountain in Central Pennsylvania, Wesley Forest Camp and Retreat is a place of rejuvenation for you. The site’s hospitality and picturesque surroundings await your arrival. 

https://suscrm.org/wesley-forest/

Please submit your payment in full* to Michelle Bodle, @abideinthespirit, or https://www.abideinthespirit.com/retreats.html#/
Your registration is not complete without payment.
* Cost is $400 by the registration deadline of August 21st, 2026. There is an early registration discount ($375) for registrations received by July 1st, 2026.

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