CHRISTIAN VIEWPOINT: Retreat centre is like Lord of the Rings sanctuary
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Claire exclaimed to her husband John the first time she volunteered at the Coach House in Kilmuir: “It’s like working in heaven! It makes sense of all I am.”
The house, just six miles from Inverness across the Kessock Bridge, reminds me of Rivendell and Lothlorien in The Lord of the Rings where weary travellers find welcome, peace, and nourishment.
It’s a retreat centre founded in 1992, and open to people of all faiths and none. Folk come seeking space, silence and meditation; ‘to get off the hamster-wheel of life’ as Claire, now co-director of the centre puts it.
Claire likens coming on retreat to pond-dipping. Our jar of life may appear full of murky water, but when, with time to stop, we put it down, we can watch the sediment settling. And there is light and life: there’s a shrimp! Is that a tadpole?
Claire, her co-director and team of volunteers offer ‘spiritual accompaniment’, a way for people to share what they see in the pond-dipping jar of their lives and look more deeply. To notice what in life is filled with love and energy; to notice also what saps their energy and feels anxious or stressful.
Claire is aware of the privilege of accompanying people as they look at their lives, and know themselves valued and loved. Some people speak of God, The Divine; others of Love and Light; and some people don’t relate to a higher power or Creator.
Claire is well-equipped for the role, not just in her training, but in her own distinctive experiences as a spiritual traveller with an almost constant awareness of God’s presence.
Unwell following the birth of her third child, she had an encounter with the bright light of Jesus by her bedside. She realised that he spoke to her in exactly the same way as God did.
Later, sitting in St Andrew’s Cathedral in Inverness, grieving following John’s death, she had a sense of The Shepherd addressing her. ‘It’s OK. I’ve got you. Keep your eyes fixed on me, I’m taking you to a new pasture. Don’t look back.’
Claire speaks of sinking ‘into the deep silence of God’s love,’ of realising how much bigger God is than the whole cosmos. It’s as though the whole of creation is this tiny thing enveloped in an enormous, tender sphere of divine love and peace.
I’d wondered if I might feel intimidated hearing of Claire’s deep spiritual experiences, but in her presence, in the ambiance of the Coach House, I sensed only the love and acceptance of God. And visitors to the house almost without exception find themselves immersed in this great love which makes sense of all we are.
