Program Retreats at Emery House, West Newbury
A Guide for Guests
Emery House is a place for all people to experience the boundless love of God made manifest in creation.
It is our intention to live close to the land, observing and responding to its rhythms and seasons, growing much of our own food, and offering our praise and thanks to God through our regular round of daily worship.
As in the past, we will continue to offer hospitality, spiritual guidance, silence, retreat, and daily worship.
In addition, we will invite our guests to connect with God present in and through creation in myriad ways, including by working alongside us in our garden and in other outdoor tasks by which we grow in loving relationship with these woods, meadows, fields, and rivers. We pray that all who join us here will be transformed and empowered to join God’s mission of loving, healing and blessing the earth and all its creatures.
Location: Emery House in West Newbury
- Friday 6:00 pm – Sunday 2:00 pm, September 29-October 1, 2023
Offered by Brothers resident at Emery House
These seasonal, weekend retreats offer a balanced rhythm of activity and rest as participants form a small, temporary community alongside the Brothers. We offer guided engagement with the natural world, work in our garden, prayerful conversation, monastic worship, and restorative solitude. We particularly welcome those who are new to Emery House, interested in learning more about our new vision for inhabiting this corner of God’s creation, or making a retreat for the first time.
We strive to make retreat time available to all who seek it, and so the suggested fees cover only a portion of the expenses for making our facilities available. As such, we are always grateful for any additional donations in support of our retreat ministry.
$465.00 per person for this program retreat
$230.00 for students/young adults
Suggested fees can be reduced in cases of financial hardship.
Reservations are confirmed only upon receipt of a non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of your total fee.
Living in Creation’s Rhythm: September 28-October 1, 2023
Location: Emery House in West Newbury
Saturday, October 7, 2023, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm
Offered by Br. Todd Blackham, SSJE
The Christian story of God and Humankind begins in the Garden. When God became flesh in Jesus, he further revealed God’s character by using examples of growing and tending that were known not only cognitively but through the earthy, lived experience of regular people. As we labor in the soil with God’s help, we are more profoundly connected to God who loves and nourishes us.
Join us for a day in the garden, where we encounter God’s goodness down in the dirt of life. No gardening experience necessary!
We strive to make retreat time available to all who seek it, and so the suggested fees cover only a portion of the expenses for making our facilities available. As such, we are always grateful for any additional donations in support of our retreat ministry.
$40.00 per person
$20.00 for students/young adults
God in the Garden: October 7, 2023
Location: Emery House in West Newbury
Thursday 6:00 pm – Sunday 2:00 pm, October 12-15, 2023
Offered by Sue Wentworth, with Emery House Brothers
Now. Here. This.
Being present is miracle and mystery. This is eminently true of the presence of the Holy (Emmanuel, “God-with-us”), and also of one’s own presence – with oneself and with the rest of creation – and of the presence of every other creature. Yet how often, in our daily lives, do we find ourselves distracted and harried, more absent than present? In a technological milieu capable of modifying the ancient human experience of time and space, presence can feel like a casualty, displaced by instant and global “connection.”
This retreat — a weave of silence and conversation, solitude and community, stillness and movement— is an opportunity to explore presence in our own lives, trace the relation of presence and prayer, consider the grace in limit, and practice ways of cultivating presence.
Sue Wentworth (M.T.S., Harvard Divinity School; Ph.D., Religion, Emory University) taught theology at Emory and served as a lay leader in spiritual formation for Catholic and Episcopal congregations in Atlanta and Annapolis, Maryland, while raising two sons. Currently, along with gardening and learning to watercolor, she continues to learn and teach contemplative spirituality.
We strive to make retreat time available to all who seek it, and so the suggested fees cover only a portion of the expenses for making our facilities available. As such, we are always grateful for any additional donations in support of our retreat ministry.
$465.00 per person for this program retreat
$230.00 for students/young adults
Suggested fees can be reduced in cases of financial hardship.
Reservations are confirmed only upon receipt of a non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of your total fee.
Cultivating Presence in a Distracted Age: October 12-15, 2023
Location: Emery House in West Newbury
- Friday 6:00 pm – Sunday 2:00 pm, November 10-12, 2023
Offered by Brothers resident at Emery House
These seasonal, weekend retreats offer a balanced rhythm of activity and rest as participants form a small, temporary community alongside the Brothers. We offer guided engagement with the natural world, work in our garden, prayerful conversation, monastic worship, and restorative solitude. We particularly welcome those who are new to Emery House, interested in learning more about our new vision for inhabiting this corner of God’s creation, or making a retreat for the first time.
We strive to make retreat time available to all who seek it, and so the suggested fees cover only a portion of the expenses for making our facilities available. As such, we are always grateful for any additional donations in support of our retreat ministry.
$465.00 per person for this program retreat
$230.00 for students/young adults
Suggested fees can be reduced in cases of financial hardship.
Reservations are confirmed only upon receipt of a non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of your total fee.
Living in Creation’s Rhythm: November 10-12, 2023
Location: Emery House in West Newbury
Thursday 6:00 pm – Sunday 2:00 pm, November 16-19, 2023
The Rev. adwoa Wilson, with Emery House Brothers
Our cultural conditioning tells us that suffering is, at best, an unfortunate weigh station on the path to progress, from which to fearfully draw back, quickly pass over, or urgently eradicate. It is not a place to dwell with or discern God. It holds no wisdom. Contrary to this, St. Paul sees in the cross the very wisdom and power of God. Can this really be so in the areas of our own failure, pain, or marginalization?
This retreat is for those who wish to examine their theologies about suffering. Through the companionship of various contemplative theologians and scripture, we will bring a stable gaze on some particular area of our own suffering that we have habitually avoided. We ask can God be contemplated even in this? If so, what wisdom is waiting to reveal itself to us as courageous contemplatives of our own experiences of the cross?
The Rev. adwoa Wilson is an Episcopal priest and has been an Oblate of the Episcopal Order of Julian of Norwich since 2010. Through parish ministry, retreats, community chaplaincy, and teaching she enjoys supporting spiritual formation to help ordinary Christians strengthen their connection with God, one another, and the beauty and needs of the world. She watches birds, does amateur pottery, and is nourished by her many godchildren and most four-footed friends. She resides in Vermont.
We strive to make retreat time available to all who seek it, and so the suggested fees cover only a portion of the expenses for making our facilities available. As such, we are always grateful for any additional donations in support of our retreat ministry.
$465.00 per person for this program retreat
$230.00 for students/young adults
Suggested fees can be reduced in cases of financial hardship.
Reservations are confirmed only upon receipt of a non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of your total fee.
Contemplating the Cross: November 16-19, 2023
Location: Emery House in West Newbury
NOTE NEW DATES: Thursday 6:00 pm – Sunday 2:00 pm, November 30 – December 3, 2023
Offered by the Rev. Steve Blackmer, with Emery House Brothers
Learning from scripture, science, each other, and contact with the Earth herself, we will explore how the pattern of Christ shows a way of hope amidst climate and ecological catastrophe. We begin in awe and wonder at the beauty of the world. As we face suffering and grief at her wounds, we will hear a prophetic voice calling us to new ways and renewed faith. Complicit in death, we will stand by the cross and weep at the tomb. As bearers of hope, we will look for signs of new beginning. From creation to re-creation, we will enter more deeply into Earth’s cycles of life, death, and love.
Rev. Stephen Blackmer is resident priest at Church of the Woods in Canterbury, NH. Trained as a forest ecologist at Yale, he worked for 25 years to protect forests, mountains and rivers in his native New England. After a Voice called him to be a priest (notwithstanding that he had never been to church), he returned to Yale to study religion and ecology and be trained as an Episcopal priest. He founded Church of the Woods in 2014 as an outdoor community of prayer embracing all creatures and beings of the land—humans included.
We strive to make retreat time available to all who seek it, and so the suggested fees cover only a portion of the expenses for making our facilities available. As such, we are always grateful for any additional donations in support of our retreat ministry.
$465.00 per person for this program retreat
$230.00 for students/young adults
Suggested fees can be reduced in cases of financial hardship.
Reservations are confirmed only upon receipt of a non-refundable deposit equal to 50% of your total fee.
Practicing Hope in an Age of Ecological Crucifixion: Nov 30 - Dec 3, 2023
An Advent Retreat
Location: Emery House in West Newbury
Thursday 6:00 pm – Sunday 2:00 pm, December 14-17, 2023
Offered by Br. Jack Crowley, SSJE
At the darkest time of the year, we will explore what it means to pray with the darkness inside and outside of ourselves. Through a mixture of discussion, silent contemplation, and worship (both indoors and outdoors), we will prayerfully attend to the cycles of light and darkness as we await the coming of Christ.
In order to help us realize this vision…
We strongly encourage our guests to avail themselves of the opportunity to work alongside us brothers for an hour or two each day, discovering the joy of praying with our hands and communing with the earth. One of the brothers will coordinate the work of guests. Much of this work will begin in mid-May, after our last frost date.
We do not offer Wifi service at Emery House. We invite our guests to enter into the deep and restorative silence available here by informing their families, friends and work associates that they are “offline” for a few days, and by refraining from the use of cell phones, the internet, and other forms of technology during their time here.
We encourage guests to enter fully into our stream of worship. This daily round is designed to fulfill our monastic call to pray without ceasing, but it also invites alignment with the rhythms and seasons of creation. Through this constant offering we express our love for God, for all humanity, and for all created beings.
We invite our guests to live and move at a slower pace. We invite you to notice your thoughts and feelings and to deepen your attention to the created order. Let these contemplative practices feed your prayer.
We invite guests to support the Society and its ministries. The suggested fee per night at Emery House is $120, which includes meals and parking. Some guests may be unable to afford the suggested fee and may be eligible for assistance; please speak with the guest brother about this. Others can afford to pay more and can thereby support not only our Society, but also those guests who need financial assistance.
Availability and Getting Here
- Brothers resident at Emery House may be able to offer you spiritual direction during your retreat, depending on our availability. You are welcome to indicate a desire to meet with a Brother when you register for your retreat.
- Further availability for retreat in September 2023 and beyond, including a schedule of program offerings, will be announced by early summer.
- The C&J bus service to Newburyport has been discontinued, which has made it impossible for brothers to collect guests arriving by public transportation. If you choose to travel here on public transportation, C&J Trailways runs buses from Boston’s Logan Airport and South Station to Seabrook, New Hampshire, the nearest stop to Emery House. There is also train service from Boston’s North Station to Newburyport. Guests arriving by bus or train will need to hire a car from Uber or Lyft or call a taxi to get to Emery House. Guests are welcome to arrive by car; we have plenty of parking.
- Unfortunately, Emery House is not wheelchair accessible. Our 18th century house has steps leading into the house, into the refectory and into the chapel.