Peace Hill at Avila

Breathing Space
2024-04-12 16:00 - 17:00, 2024-03-08 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Avila, 711 Mason Road, Durham, NC, 27712, United States
Participants will come together to hold a space for each other where we can stop, breathe, enter the stillness, and experience the moment-to-moment awareness that can lead to healing and wholeness. We will open to these possibilities through the use of meditation, prayer, nature walks, noble silence, reflection, music and other methods.

Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself thatthis very moment is the only one you knowyou have for sure.
Oprah

Fashioning Life’s Working Paper in Chaotic Times: An Overnight Retreat with the Words of Howard Thurman
2024-04-05 16:00 - 2024-04-06 16:00 | Avila, 711 Mason Road, Durham, NC, 27712, United States
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Led by Dumas Harshaw and Phil Mathews

Participants will explore Howard Thurman’s life, legacy, and writing to discern how to continue developing and embodying humane, loving and liberating “working papers” in a time of seeming chaos and unprecedented change. The resources for this time of reflection, rejuvenation and renewal will include the documentary “Backs Against the Wall: The Howard Thurman Story,” as well as a few Thurman books including Jesus and the Disinherited, Deep is the Hunger, and Meditations of the Heart.

Meals are provided for Friday supper, and Saturday breakfast and lunch. Fruits, snacks, and beverages will be available. Special attention will be paid to dietary needs. Overnight lodging options are:

small, single rooms in a 6-person dormitory with two full, shared baths

larger rooms with two double beds for an individual or a pair. Every two rooms share a full bath.

To see photos, visit https://avilacenter.org/lodging/

Pricing

Single room, meals, and retreat: $155

Double room for an individual, meals, and retreat: $180

Double room shared, meals, and retreat: $135

About the Retreat Leaders, Dumas Harshaw & Phil Mathews

Dumas Harshaw is the recently retired pastor of First Baptist Church in Raleigh and has served as an adjunct instructor at Campbell, Duke, and Shaw Divinity Schools. Howard Thurman has long been the subject of his research beginning with his doctorate and more recently with the publication of a paper, “Howard Thurman’s Spirituality and the Beloved Community.”

Phil Mathews served in pastoral ministries for nearly 40 years, retiring at the end of 2012. He believes that each of us is a unique and ever-changing expression of the manifestation of love. We’re all trying to find our way home, which means living the truth of who we really are.

Both Phil and Dumas serve as board members of Peace Hill at Avila.

They offer the following Thurman quote they will be using as a unifying theme for the retreat.

“For every person there is a need to establish as securely as possible the lines along which they propose to live their life. In developing their life’s working paper they must take into account many factors … The life working paper of the individual is made up of a creative synthesis of what the person is in all their parts and how they react to the living process. It can never be determined just what a person will fashion.”
from Jesus and the Disinherited

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Morning Silence
2024-04-03 08:00 - 09:00, 2024-03-20 08:00 - 09:00, 2024-03-06 08:00 - 09:00, 2024-02-21 08:00 - 09:00, 2024-02-07 08:00 - 09:00, 2024-01-17 08:00 - 09:00, 2024-01-03 08:00 - 09:00, 2023-12-20 08:00 - 09:00 and 9 more dates
Morning Silence is an ongoing event that occurs on zoom on the first and third Wednesdays of each month from 8-9 am. Rotating facilitators provide a few words about the theme(s) for the day to introduce each session. 2 sessions of silence (20 minutes) follow with a brief time of stretching in between. The time concludes with 10 minutes of sharing from the participants. To be added to the notification list, please go to contact us page.

Seasons Within
2024-03-19 09:00 - 15:00 | Avila, 711 Mason Road, Durham, NC, 27712, United States
A quarterly retreat series in 2024to celebrate the equinox and solsticesponsored by Peace Hill at Avila

Participants will gather together each solstice and equinox to acknowledge, integrate and celebrate the silent changes in nature and within our own beings. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience transformation through silence, stillness, journaling and sharing during these gatherings.

Facilitator: Phil Mathews, Peace Hill Board of Directors

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Dignity, Justice and Joy: Holding on to Our Dignity in Challenging Times
2024-02-16 19:00 - 20:30 | Mt Level Missionary Baptist Church, 316 Hebron Road, Durham, North Carolina, 27704, United States
Peace Hill at Avila is proud to offer two opportunities for hearing the accomplished author and poet, Cole Arthur Riley on Friday, February 16.

At this evening event, participants will gather at Mt Level Missionary Baptist Church in Durham from 7-8:30pm. Cole will be signing books after the event. Local bookstore, Rofhiwa Books, will be on site with Cole Arthur Riley’s latest book, Black Liturgies. To ensure you get a copy, use their link below to make your purchase now, and pick it up at the event. Be sure to indicate whether or not you will be picking up the book at Mt. Level.

Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems, and Meditations for staying Human

Cole Arthur Riley is the author of the NYT bestseller, This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, Guernica, and The Washington Post. Cole is also the creator and writer of Black Liturgies, a project that integrates spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black literature, and the Black body.

This event is co-sponsored by Duke University Chapel, Living the Word Justice and Equity Ministry, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Resource Center for Women & Ministry in the South, Racial Justice and Reconciliation Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, and Episcopalians United Against Racism.

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Dignity, Justice and Joy: Holding on to Our Dignity in Challenging Times
2024-02-16 14:00 - 15:30 | Miller Morgan Auditorium, NCCU, 500 Nelson Street, Durham, North Carolina, 27707, United States
Peace Hill at Avila is proud to offer two opportunities for hearing the accomplished author and poet, Cole Arthur Riley on Friday, February 16. At this afternoon session, Cole will address an audience at Miller Morgan Auditorium on North Carolina Central University campus. There is no fee for attendance but registration is recommended.

Cole Arthur Riley is the author of the NYT bestseller, This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories that Make Us. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, Guernica, and The Washington Post. Cole is also the creator and writer of Black Liturgies, a project that integrates spiritual practice with Black emotion, Black literature, and the Black body.

This event is co-sponsored by Duke University Chapel, Living the Word Justice and Equity Ministry, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, Resource Center for Women & Ministry in the South, Racial Justice and Reconciliation Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, and Episcopalians United Against Racism.

Register Here

Be Still And…
2023-11-16 09:00 - 16:00 | Avila, 711 Mason Road, Durham, NC, 27712, United States
A quiet, contemplative autumn day for clergy facilitated by Rev. Susan Mazzara. The day will include guided practices, times of quiet, colleague conversations, a nourishing lunch & snacks. $45.00 per person

Susan Mazzara is a bivocational minister at large in New Hope Presbytery who has over 30 years’ experience leading retreats and spiritual practices. She received her MDiv from Duke Divinity School, is trained as a Stephen Minister and Stephen Leader, and is a meditation teacher certified by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program. As a pastor, her greatest joy is to create space in which people can deepen their relationships with God. She sees her ministry as an offering of hospitality in which people can grow in friendship with themselves, others, and God.

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Blessed & Beautifully Broken: A Spa for the Soul Experience
2023-09-29 17:00 - 2023-09-30 17:00 | Avila, 711 Mason Road, Durham, NC, 27712, United States
Participants will experience specially curated opportunities to relax, restore and explore their intrinsic beauty, as they are led through a variety of holistic mediums and techniques such as: meditation, guided imagery exercises, breathwork, journaling, large and small group community sharing, as well as individual time and space, in which to encounter one’s sacred center of the soul.

Facilitation will be by Shirli Hughes, a noted motivational speaker, workshop facilitator, Certified Reiki Master and spiritual director. She is also a published author, songwriter, composer and sought after pianist, arranger, choral conductor and solo vocalist.

Shirli regularly leads Peace Hill morning silence meditations. Peace Hill is delighted to welcome her to Avila for this spa weekend for the soul experience.

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