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On Friday 9 October 2015, twenty five people from various interfaith networks across Victoria, representing a wide variety of faith traditions, gathered at the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual Retreat Centre in Baxter for a 24 hour silent interfaith retreat.

This was the fifth year the Mornington Peninsula Interfaith Network have offered the retreat and it has become a significant part of our overall programs. People arrived at the centre from late afternoon and had time to settle in, walk in the grounds or relax in the beautiful living areas and chat with others coming for the retreat.  After a welcome to the retreat centre and indigenous acknowledgement of country by Helen Benards, we were led into a welcome of the Jewish sabbath by Bruce Levin. A  beautiful meal followed where we enjoyed catching up with old friends and meeting new ones before attending the evening session where Rev Jill Manton introduced the theme of the retreat "Love Makes A Way" and led us into silence. One of the retreatants, Jade Barker, played the flute at the beginning and end of this session and those of  the next day. The lovely music was one of the threads that held the different parts of the retreat together beautifully.

The following morning many of us began the day with an early yoga session with Carey Rohrlach followed by a silent meditation with Rev Chi Kwang Sunim. The morning session continued with Rev Jenni Georgiadis inviting us further into the theme. By midday, Aboriginal Elder Uncle Lionel Lauch took us for a 'listening to the land' walk around the grounds, provided us with a didgeridoo meditation, and asked us to participate in the making of an interfaith-aboriginal art painting.

All meals of the day were held in silence around the big table we shared - a new experience for some with a surprising sense of deep connectedness. 

The afternoon session gathered some of the threads of the retreat together, with Sister Jacqueline Russell and Rev Jill Manton leading us into the final session of gradually coming out of silence - with personal reflections followed by a simple ritual which gathered the retreat with thanks and laughter and led into afternoon tea and time to talk before leaving.

The silent retreat is each year organised by the Mornington Peninsula Interfaith Network with the aim of bringing people of different faith backgrounds closer through the power of silence.

 Report by: Jill Manton,  Mornington Peninsula Interfaith Network