01.03.2023
Inspiring Third Day for Clergy on Joint Retreat in Jordan
Clergy from the United Dioceses of Dublin & Glendalough are currently in Jordan for a joint retreat with clergy of our partner Diocese of Jerusalem. This is the ‘second leg’ of the retreat. Clergy from Jerusalem visited Dublin & Glendalough before Covid. Here, Canon Peter Campion, Chaplain of the King’s Hospital School, reflects on the third day of their retreat on Tuesday February 28.
The day began with breakfast followed by morning prayer. Archbishop Jackson then led the morning’s session with all the clergy. We were focusing on hope and resilience. We had a very open discussion on the 3rd and 4th chapters of the First letter of Peter.
After coffee, we were packed on a bus headed to Madaba. We arrived in time for lunch which was a wonderful feast of delicious Lebanese dishes. We then went to St George’s Orthodox Church to see the magnificent 6th Century mosaic. We were given a history lesson by Canon Fa’ek Haddad on the famous Madaba map, a masterpiece of Byzantine design and a working map of Jerusalem and the Middle East in the 6th Century.
The bus then took us up the mountain to Mount Nebo. We were all blown away by the panoramic view of the Dead Sea and the distant Promised Land. There are some places where it is difficult to imagine what it must have been like in biblical times, this was not one of them. For miles, there were no distractions or anachronisms to spoil the view (unless you were looking hard for them). It was breath taking and extremely moving. The two Archbishops led us in worship in the church there which was also very moving to hear the words about Moses on Mount Nebo in the book of Deuteronomy.
Our next stop was the river Jordan, where we saw the original site of where Jesus was baptised. We were running late at this stage, but we had the place to ourselves. We all sang together by the river.
We came home, ate, worshipped in the service of compline and retreated to bed very happy and inspired.
