Ridley Hall, Cambridge

The Simeon Centre for Prayer and the Spiritual Life: Retreats and Conferences

Upcoming events

Spirituality and Photography: Saturday June 9th
 

The Simeon Centre for Prayer and the Spiritual Life is holding a day event to explore spirituality and photography on Saturday June 9th, 2012.

Places will be limited to 15 so please book early to avoid disappointment. There is a registration fee of £25 for the day, and you can book your place now by clicking the link below.

The day will be held at Ridley Hall from 10am to 4pm, with speakers Adrian Chatfield and Jane Willis. For more details download the event flyer (see page two of the flyer)

Book now for a place on "Spirituality and Photography"
(£25 per person)

Please bring your own packed lunch. Refreshments will be provided. Download the two-page flyer.

The Great Journey of Life

Living well in the light of eternity: A day of Lenten preparation

The Simeon Centre continues its rhythm of Lent Days with this opportunity to explore together how we can live well in the light of eternity. The day will be held at Ridley Hall on Saturday 25th February, from 10am to 4pm. To book your place now (£20 per person) click the link below. Refreshments will be provided; please bring a packed lunch with you.

Book your place on the 2012 Simeon Lent Day

Early booking is advised as Simeon Days are regularly sold out. Download the flyer.

Past events

Dying Well: Faith and Compassion in Dialogue

September 15-17, 2011

It is impossible to capture in a few lines the substance of this important interchange of views on the care of the dying.  One delegate wrote:  ‘It was such a pleasure to hear opposing views well listened to. I need to download the slides and continue reading (and thinking).’ So here, as requested by many, are some downloads of the presentations, and also of the worship sessions which undergirded the conference. If you were there, these will remind you. If you were not, you can still gain some benefit!

• Adrian Chatfield: Introductory remarks (pdf)
• Adrian Chatfield: The Spirituality of Dying (pdf)
• Charles Foster: Dignity in Dying (pdf powerpoint slides)
• Kate Picot: Humour in Care of the Dying (pdf)
• Nick Jackson: Dying Well (pdf)
• Paul Badham: On Dying (pdf, full text)
• Paul Badham: On Dying (pdf powerpoint slides)
• Paul Badham: On Dying (pdf)
• Rajesh Munglani (pdf)
• Richard Higginson: Different Understandings (pdf)

• Opening worship (pdf text)
• Thursday evening worship (pdf text)
• Friday morning worship (pdf powerpoint slides)
• Friday evening worship (pdf text)
• Saturday morning worship (pdf text)
• Closing worship (pdf text)

The Prayer of Asking - Saturday 5th March

Full house again for a Simeon Centre Quiet Day!  This time the focus was on intercessory prayer, and on creative ways to express our prayers.

The photo shows one of the more active afternoon workshops: ‘Prayer in other languages’. Our thanks to all the speakers, and to those who brought their different skills: music, dance, visual arts, poetry, and tireless hospitality!

It Was Good: Being Creative to the Glory of God

Simeon Centre Day: September 11, 2010

Knowing how I felt about joining a music workshop with absolutely no recognisable musical talent, leads me to suspect that quite a few of us had our reservations about September’s Simeon Day! However, they soon evaporated and it seemed that in no time at all, the buzz was, “When are we doing this again?” “I want to do all the workshops.” “What about trying this over a whole weekend?” So how did this sea change come about?

There were of course, the familiar ingredients of worship and welcome, the joy of meeting friends and making new ones. The workshop leaders were however, inspirational. Each of them – Chris (drama), Eleanor (music), Simon (story-telling) and Tricia (art) all created a safe environment for each of us to ‘have a go’ and as one participant wrote, “It was fantastic to be given the opportunity to try something new and not to worry if I was ‘any good’ at it.” As the day unfolded we each discovered that we could do things we’d never dreamed of, enjoyed God’s presence in new ways and experienced the exhilaration of creating, both in the company of others and together with others. It was indeed good – and great fun.

Jane Keiller

Wild Wanderings - the day of preparation for Lent 2010

The Wild Wanderings Quiet Day in February 2010 generated much interest, and another full house. The three main addresses on Adventure, Listening, and Wilderness gave participants a framework for reflecting on ways in which they might explore lives of greater trust, risk and fun with God.

Restoring Prayer - in images

Photographs are copyright Mark Woods-Nunn

Eugene PetersonPhoto © Mark Woods-Nunn

Plenary session with Eugene Peterson
Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Adrian Chatfield
Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Tea and conversation
Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Worshipping together
Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Paula Gooder
Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Jane Keiller
Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Paula Gooder speaking on Corinthians
Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Sculpture by Toddy Hoare
Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

Eugene Peterson
Photo © Mark Woods-Nunn

 

Restoring Prayer - Conference CDs

CDs of the addresses given at the 2009 Simeon Centre international conference are still available for order from Ridley's online shop. They can be purchased as individual CDs or sets:

1. Eugene Peterson 1: Prayer and all the Saints £6.99
2. Eugene Peterson 2: Prayer and all the Fulness £6.99
3. Eugene Peterson 3: Prayer and the Wiles of the Devil £6.99
4. Eugene Peterson: Set of 3 £18.00
5. Paula Gooder 1: 2 Corinthians 3 £6.99
6. Paula Gooder 2: 2 Corinthians 4 £6.99
7. Paula Gooder 3: 2 Corinthians 5 £6.99
8. Paula Gooder: Set of 3 £18.00
9. Alister McGrath: Adoration: The Consummation of Theology in Prayer and Worship £6.99
10. Full set of 7 Conference addresses £40.00

All prices include UK P&P. Order now from Ridley's online shop.

Free 'bonus track'

Listen for free to Eugene Peterson's sermon on John 12:20-33 delivered during the Sunday morning service of the Restoring Prayer conference, using the audio player below. Use the control on the right to adjust the volume.

  Eugene Peterson speaks on John 12:20-33
(Lesson read by Jane Keiller)

Listen to more: Eugene Peterson's conference lectures and those of other speakers at 'Restoring Prayer' are available on CD from Ridley's online shop.

Supplementary materials to Paula Gooder's presentations

If you attended the conference, you might like to know that Paula Gooder has made available notes and meditations from her conference lectures as a download on her website.

The Crucible of Waiting: A Day of Preparation for Advent

Simeon Centre Day: November 2009

“I want to thank everyone involved in the Quiet Day on Saturday.  It did me a lot of good to be there.  Everyone was very welcoming.  The talks by Adrian and Jane were relevant to me as I am in a ‘waiting’ phase of my life, so I came away with plenty of food for thought, and felt encouraged. I had not expected to laugh so much though!”

“I was so thankful for the instructions about silence.  It was great to be able to catch up with old friends, and make new ones.  But I really had gone to meet with God and this was valuable protection of that space – permission to be quiet without apology.”

“The worship was wholly appropriate. Val Kilner had to lead us into settling down from travelling and arriving, then getting us into the mood of being in the Lord’s presence.  It quietly achieved this.  The final session and the worship contained that uniquely Ridley ability to lift an ordinary activity into a living act of worship; it almost becomes self-generating because everyone becomes fully participating and putting in their own thanksgivings