Create your own string of Anglican Prayer Beads. Lead by the son and grandson of beadmakers, this workshop will include materials and guided instruction, along with a brief historical background of this prayer tradition. Materials will include specially customized beads and icons.

Please add-on this workshop to your registration for the Festival if you would like to participate.

This year marks the 800^th anniversary of the death of the Poverello, the little poor man of Assisi. Francis  left an indelible mark on the spiritual heritage of the Church, including Anglicans. This interactive workshop will trace the life and witness of Francis (and Clare) of Assisi by engaging some of the stories and legends that have come down to us through the Franciscan tradition.  

How does one follow Christ in their footsteps, especially in these times of ecological crisis, hyper-consumerism, and war? The Franciscan way of simplicity, joy and love for all creation offers some answers.

The Reverend Dr. Mark Barwick, priest and member of the Third Order of the Society of Saint Francis

Spiritual direction, spiritual accompaniment, soul friend, Anam Cara, all refer to a significant, caring one to one listening relationship with a trained director who helps the directee to seek to listen to God. Usually a directee meets every six weeks or so with their director to discuss whatever they wish to bring no topic is off limit. 

This workshop will introduce the practice of spiritual direction, discuss how spiritual direction is different to psychotherapy, counselling, or life coaching and explain how to find a spiritual director. Those who are interested to go deeper in their spiritual life, or those mature Christians who would like to know more about training as a spiritual director are encouraged to attend.

The Reverend Canon Dr. Alison J Gray is a retired psychiatrist, a spiritual director and canon for spiritual development in the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe.

What can intentional Christian communities teach us about living a life rooted in prayer? Drawing on my experiences living in three different Anglican intentional communities across Canada and the UK, this workshop will explore how shared rhythms of prayer, hospitality, reconciliation, and retreat can shape the way we follow Christ together. We’ll look at the different ways neo-monasticism is practiced across the Communion, and what daily life in community actually looks like: How do communities navigate conflict between members? Maintain a consistent rhythm of prayer? Live across cultural differences? All while making sure the cooking and cleaning get done!

We’ll conclude by reflecting on how these practices might inspire both our own lives as lay leaders and priests and the life of our parish communities. What are individuals and churches already doing, and what might it look like for churches throughout Europe to draw on ancient rhythms of prayer, hospitality, study, and service and adapt them for our contemporary context?

Welcome to a space where lines meet meaning, and drawing becomes a doorway to stillness. In this workshop, you’ll participate in Zentangle—a meditative practice of simple pattern drawing. Eli will guide you safely through every stroke while she invites process over perfection, and you discover the sacred in small gestures. Come for art expression, spiritual grounding, or a peaceful moment. Never drawn before? No worries, if you can sign your name, you can Tangle. Take courage, and join others in creating something holy.

Eli Harlan is a Mixed Media Artist and Teacher who has been living in France for 3 years and is a 30-year Clergy Spouse.

Look above you! Look below you! Note it. Read it. God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink. Instead, He set before your eyes the things that He had made. Can you ask for a louder voice than that? Why, heaven and earth shout to you: ‘God has made me!’  (Saint Augustine, Sermon 126.6)

The God-created world, as we encounter it day by day, speaks to us of God. What better occasion and place to pray – to listen and respond to God’s presence and word all around us? We will briefly look at what it means to become more and more aware of God’s revelation in nature and how it invites us to be attentive and responsive to it. There will be time for praying in and with nature and the sharing of our experiences.

The Reverend Thomas Muller – Santa Maria a Ferrano Retreat Center for Art, Spirituality and Creation Care (Florence, Italy)

Sometimes, we can sit quietly in a chair and pray, and sometimes, we need the scratch of pen on paper or the clicking of keys to lull us into the place where we can be still enough to know that God is God. In this session, we will explore various techniques for praying through the written word. In true workshop form, we will do a writing exercise within the session, with opportunity at the end to share what you’ve written (or not) and discuss. 

Megan Preston Meyer is a founding editor of Via Media Review, a contributor to Forward Day by Day, and the author of five books.