2026 Women's Retreat: Hope-Filled Living

The world can feel overwhelming, and yet hope persists. Join with women from across our community for a weekend of rest, renewal, and shared discovery. Together we will explore hope both spiritually and practically: the sacred stories that shape our lives and the practices that can set us free for vibrant, hope-filled living. This retreat offers a chance to step away from daily demands, breathe deeply, and reconnect with God’s gifts of strength and possibility. MaryAnn McKibben Dana, pastor, ministry coach, and author of Hope: A User’s Manual, will guide our time with wisdom, warmth, and humor.

Retreat Schedule 

5:00 - 8:00 pm Friday
Dinner, conversation, small group time and reflections on our retreat them.

8:45 am - 5:00 pm Saturday
We will deepen our engagement with our retreat theme through Scripture, journaling and a small group contemplative experience. There will be free time for gentle guided movement for your body, mandala coloring, walking the labyrinth or the grounds and/or viewing clips from a movie that support our pondering about our part in God’s larger purposes, for life! We will close out our time together with worship and communion. Lunch provided. 

Meet Our Speaker: Rev. MaryAnn McKibben Dana
The Rev. MaryAnn McKibben Dana is a writer, pastor, speaker, and ministry coach living in the Virginia suburbs of DC. She is author of four books, Better Than Normal (2026), Hope: A User’s Manual, God, Improv, and the Art of Living, and Sabbath in the Suburbs, and writes a weekly newsletter for thousands of subscribers called The Blue Room. Her writing has also appeared in multiple outlets including TIME.com and The Washington Post. She was featured on PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly for her work on Sabbath and was recognized by the Presbyterian Writers Guild with the 2015-2016 David Steele Distinguished Writer Award.

MaryAnn currently serves as associate pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Herndon, VA. She is a graduate of Rice University in Houston, Texas and received her M.Div. from Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. She is a mother of three, an imperfect knitter, and an occasional ultramarathoner.

Pricing

• Friday ($45/person)
• Saturday ($50/person) 
• Friday & Saturday ($65/person) 

Meals
Our meals will be buffet style this year. 

Mission Partner
Our mission partner for this year is Thistle Hills, which helps women who have been trafficked and addicted transform their lives. Thistle Hills is a safe & supportive place to live, a meaningful job and a lifelong sisterhood of support As an optional donation, we’re collecting gift cards for Walmart, Target, WAWA and Giant in small $25 or less denominations to support their ministry.