Donate
- To make a contribution online, please use the secure donation form below to help support Dayspring Silent Retreat Center. We are a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, so your donation is tax-deductible. The generosity of our supporters helps make the silent retreat ministry possible.
- If you are using this page to make a payment for a retreat, use the "write us a comment" option on the donation form below and please tell up what your payment is for. (Note that payments are not tax-deductible donations.)
Dear friends,
As I write to you here at the beginning of Advent, words of Meister Eckhart, the 13th century mystic, come to mind: “When all things lay in the midst of silence then leapt there down into me from on high, from the holy realm, a secret word.”
What a rare thing it is in today’s world to give a day, or a weekend, to opening in quiet stillness to the presence of God. And yet, that is what Dayspring Silent Retreat Center is here for – to help people open to the Spirit in the sacred container of retreat, a container formed by silence, the beauty of the natural world, wise leadership and the gathered spiritual community – as well as the larger spiritual community which holds the mission in prayer. On the first weekend retreat I attended, some 25 years ago, I was lucky enough to be with Dorothy Devers, who had the call to start Dayspring in the early 1950’s. As we sat in the opening circle, a fire crackling on the hearth, embraced by the knotty pine walls of the Lodge, Dorothy said, “This is a well prayed in place.” No one can say how those prayers infuse a place, but they do, and many of us feel it.
The Retreat Mission Group rejoices that new people are finding silent retreat at Dayspring every month, making our retreats more diverse in every way. I often hear people say when they come on retreat that it feels like coming home, both first time visitors and people who have been coming for decades. But,
Dear friends,
What a gift it is that Dayspring Silent Retreat Center exists. Dorothy Devers made the first generous donation toward a retreat fund, and a few years later, in 1953 (70 years ago!), Dayspring was purchased by the ecumenical Church of the Saviour. The purchase was made possible by the sacrificial donations of the community. In 1956 the Lodge was completed, built almost entirely by their hands. In 1961 the Inn, designed by church member Claude Ford, was built, and the silent retreat
center as we know it was complete. In the decades since then it has become a spiritual home away from home for countless seekers.
Psalm 46, which describes a tumultuous time not unlike our own, contains the line, “Be still, and know that I am God.” In the stillness and quietude of retreat, in the simple yet beautiful buildings, in the strong container of spiritual community,
embraced by the rolling meadows and forests, ponds and streams of Dayspring, it is amazing how many people have come to know God more deeply. Here, we heed Jesus’ invitation to “dwell in my love,” so that we may “love one another as I have
loved you.”
even as the silent retreat ministry is thriving, it is a struggle financially to maintain the buildings and grounds and pay the dedicated staff. So, we invite you to be a part of the community that makes Dayspring possible by making a generous donation today. Your support makes it possible for us to keep our fees affordable, and to offer financial assistance to those who need it. Without the support of those who love silent retreat, Dayspring wouldn’t be here. And who can measure the healing impact of the “secret word” heard “in the midst of silence” on our world?
With deep gratitude on behalf of the Retreat Mission Group,
Nat Reid, Director (December, 2024)
by Heart Light Digital