Welcome 

Companions Retreat June 1-5th, 2026

Dear companions,

This year, for our June Community Retreat, we have responded to requests to offer a silent retreat for companions. Silence in community, to nourish our contemplative rhythm of our year. One to one spiritual accompaniment, will also be a part of the retreat experience.

Those companions who have not experienced a silent retreat will be given priority in the registration.

In the re-visioning, people who had come to Rivendell, expressed a desire to have more silent retreats available. We now have a team of community leaders to attend to our monthly silent retreats. The decision was made to annually offer; nine, three day retreats and three, ten day retreats at the Lodge and five silent retreats at the Hermitage. There are also many organizations that book Rivendell for their own silent retreats.

Becoming familiar with the rhythm of a silent retreat and seeing the ways as host we accompany those in silence, has become a vital part of the life of Rivendell.

June 1- 3pm arrival, 5pm start- June 5- 12 noon departure

We are so very grateful for all that you bring to this community. And we offer these retreats as a way of saying thank you and helping us to stay connected as a larger community. While we don't ask for financial contributions towards accommodation and facilitation for these retreats, we welcome financial contributions - within your means - towards the catered food costs.  

Welcome to our new companions!

Here are a few reminders or things you may not be aware of:

Rivendell is happy to pay for your ferry travel when you are coming to Rivendell for service or on a companions retreat. You can purchase a Ferry experience card at the ferry terminal (you will need to preload it with $130) please save your receipt and bring to Jeni in the lodge office and she will show you how to write an expense form to be reubursed for your travel.

Rivendell is happy to pay for your mileage when you are coming to host or serve at one of the sites on Bowen. We ask that you cover your own mileage when attending a companions retreat.

There is a great Bowen Ferry app you can use to track the ferry and see how full it is on the horseshoe bay side the website/app is: bowenferry.ca

Journey Group Purpose, Guidelines, and Process 2026

Purpose: To strengthen the Christian contemplative community serving Rivendell. As a means of strengthening our community life, all our Journey Groups meet using the same guidelines and process. The groups will meet between 1 and 2 hours.

Guidelines:

1. Bringing to the group our authenticity, vulnerability and friendship as we commit to follow The Rivendell Way and serve the community.

2. Honoring spirit within one another, listening to each other respectfully and with lovingkindness, humility and non-judgement so that we allow/encourage/leave space for spiritual growth and change.

3. Holding confidentiality, treating each story as sacred and not to be shared beyond circle without permission.

Process:

1. A simple contemplative opening with a reminder of the guidelines.

2. A brief check-in

3. Share the monthly contemplative practice for 10-20 minutes.

4. Highlight the monthly value with a simple reading.

5. Each member participates in a short time of focused sharing based on one of the questions:

• What am I learning in my service at Rivendell?

• What am I learning about myself, my contemplative journey?

• What am I discovering about living the values and practices in my service?

6. A simple contemplative closing with gratitude for our time together. You are invited to participate in at least one Companion Retreat in 2026

(January 9-11, June 1-5, and October 2-5).

Rivendell Companions Covenant 2026

1. I commit to participation for the coming year, in a Journey Group. This group provides mutual support, nurturing, and accountability in the contemplative journey and my service.

2. I will attend one or more of the Companion retreats offered during the year.

3. I will seek to follow the Rivendell rhythm of life by intentionally living into the Christian values that shape our faith journey and soul life: prayer, silence, simplicity, hospitality, and social justice.

4. I will serve in support of Rivendell’s sacred spaces according to my gifts and means.

5. I will receive regular spiritual accompaniment.

Spiritual Direction

Greetings Rivendell Companions. 

Tender graces as we move through the coming year.

Our Journey groups once more welcome us to nourish our own thirst in the world. Together we are deepening our comfort of spiritual practices to help us deal with the complexities of our daily living. A source of companionship to nourish ourselves and Rivendell.

Being aware of our own spiritual longings for renewal and growth helps us to respond to these needs in others. In the safety and acceptance within each journey group, we can explore questions. As we experience the kindness of community, with courage we enter into the sacred ground of welcoming our own honesty and vulnerability.

Our experience of being part of a tender spiritual community, often awakens a desire to explore further our own spiritual well being. To sit with someone who listens carefully to who you are and what you long to understand, is called spiritual accompaniment. No judgement, no answers, but for your own. We encourage everyone to take the risk of seeing what the experience of spiritual accompaniment might open for you.

There are members of our community who are willing to sit with you and listen. They have offered themselves as experienced spiritual directors. If you like, please be in touch with one of the following people. There will be a sliding scale fee that can be discussed between the two people involved.

Margie Savigny margie.savigny@gmail.com

Joy Banks listeningpostjoy@gmail.com

Joy Hunter joyphunter@gmail.com

Pauline Barrett paulineandbern@gmail.com

Nancy Talbot nancytalbot@shaw.ca

Dan Heavenor danjheavenor@gmail.com

Melissa Rahme melissarahme@hotmail.com

 Sharon Salomons sdsalomons@gmail.com

 From the Community Life Team, Margie, Jan, Annette, Dilly, and Sharon