St James' Retreat: God Give Me Joy
Event description
5pm Friday 6th to 2pm Sunday 8th September
St Mary's Towers, Douglas Park
$230 per person, includes accommodation and all meals.
Our theme for the annual retreat is ‘God Give Me Joy’. We’ll focus on psalms, readings, prayers and poetry that speak of joy and about giving thanks to God, the hope of the Resurrection, and the joy contained within the praises of the liturgy. A quartet of singers from The Choir of St James’ will lead us in the singing of Evensong, Compline, Matins and the Eucharist.
God Give Me Joy by Thomas Curtis Clark
God give me joy in the common things:
In the dawn that lures, the eve that sings.
In the new grass sparkling after rain,
In the late wind's wild and weird refrain;
In the springtime's spacious field of gold,
In the precious light by winter doled.
God give me joy in the love of friends,
In their dear home talk as summer ends;
In the songs of children, unrestrained;
In the sober wisdom age has gained.
God give me joy in the tasks that press,
In the memories that burn and bless;
In the thought that life has love to spend,
In the faith that God's at journey's end.
God give me hope for each day that springs,
God give me joy in the common things!