Thursday, March 24, 2016
Wilderness Retreat!!
Hello everyone!! I don't know about you guys, but I had a great time on the retreat :) I do know that most of us felt really stressed leading up to it, but I realized once I got there that I definitely needed a break. I'm curious, what stood out to you guys from all of the teaching we heard? Is there a spiritual discipline you now know you need to work on, or was there a symbol or metaphor used during our worship time that stood out to you? How did you feel about the small group experience/washing of feet? How did you stretch yourself out of your comfort zone last weekend? Did you sense God's presence? Did you have fun?! Sorry, that's a lot of questions...
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I was also very stressed leading up to the retreat and overwhelmed with school work. I was dreading going on the trip for that very reason. The problems seemed to disappear over the weekend due to fact that I just never worried about them, however, the stress immediately returned the night we got back, and I guess that's college for you. Through the experience of retreating in general and learning about all of the different spiritual disciplines, I came to realize very quickly how ungrounded I am at this point in life. Did some of the activities such as the foot washing service feel forced? I would say yes, but I think that the benefits of the moment in that particular time and place outweighed the cons of forcing such an activity. Small groups might have been best time though. My group laid everything out there and completely opened up about our lives. There were some heavy things shared, but it is good to be able to bear each other's burdens and struggles to walk beside them. So coming away from the retreat, I was tired and sore, but it was worth it.
ReplyDeleteI was also not looking forward to going on this trip at first, but not necessarily because I felt stressed, but because I was nervous about not knowing very many people. I struggle with being in situations where I do not know people on a deep level, and having to interact them for a long period of time. The spiritual discipline that I struggle with the most is probably confession. I struggle with telling people that I care about my biggest mistakes because I do not want to disappoint them. The foot washing did seem kind of forced and it made me feel a little uncomfortable. But, the words of affirmation to me were really encouraging and one of my favorite times. My small group was very vulnerable and open and it made it really easy to connect with them. Overall, I really enjoyed the trip and felt like I made a lot more friends. I was very blessed by the experience.
ReplyDeleteThe retreat was super refreshing and much needed. I hadn't been looking forward to it a whole lot before hand, but it was a really good weekend and I was extremely glad I went. I really appreciated the worship times and practical ways we could engage in the spiritual disciplines after learning about them. I especially enjoyed the self-examination time, it was a good time of reflection and letting God work in my life as I connected different areas in which I was struggling and experiencing growth. I really loved the small group time and thought it was super beneficial to share with one another and really get to know each other on a deeper level. And the foot-washing thing was really cool; my church used to always do that when I was really young, but we haven't for years. I thought it was neat. Also, the zip lining was fun and I faced my fear of heights so that was thrilling. 'Twas a good weekend all around.
ReplyDeleteThe retreat was so refreshing. I was honestly dreading it because of how much I needed to get done for the following week, but being there reminded me that it's important to rest, be with friends, and be with God. The entire experience was really awesome for me.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that honestly stretched me the most was the fact that I lost my voice. I know that sounds weird but let me explain. As most of you know, I'm a pretty talkative, outgoing person. Being sick and losing my voice completely made it really hard for me. Instead of voice my thoughts and opinions, I was forced to just participate and listen. I was forced to just observe and be present with people. It kind of messed with my head because I felt like it wouldn't make a difference if I went or not, but then I remembered why we were there; to be refreshed and spend time in community with God. So that's what I did. I was able to reflect more, and really be present in God's creation and listen to not only others, but to God. I was able to appreciate my voice a little more, appreciate the people there and their stories, and God's beautiful and wonderful creation.
I was able to deepen relationships with some and create those with others. It was a lot of fun and I loved being with everyone. I thought the weekend was really awesome and I'm really glad I went and that everyone who was there went as well.
I first of all want to say that I really enjoyed the retreat. I went into it with a sour attitude for no real reason. I was tired from a long and exciting spring break and then into another week of school that I did not feel like going and socializing and hiking. I am glad that my attitude changed. I loved spending time with people I normally wouldn't. I decided that it I left it mentally relaxed but physically exhausted - which is in essence what a retreat is supposed to be! I love all of you and am so glad we got to do this together.
ReplyDeleteThe ziplining was amazing even though I'm a scaredy cat. I actually want to do it again :)
I felt very comfortable with the group of people and loved my small group as well. The mornings were my favorite at breakfast time. There's something about breakfast that makes me sentimental. Weird. lol.
Anyways, looking back I want to do it again. :)
I feel like I'm going against the norm, but I feel a bit differently about the retreat overall. I explain more of this in my reflection paper, so I won't ramble on, but I felt spiritually frustrated with the retreat. I will warn you (whoever is reading this) that my review of the retreat can be considered very harsh. I don't mean any personal offense by anything I'm saying, but I wanted to articulate my points in very specific regard.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the hiking and zip lining. I loved seeing Hocking Hills and being able too really take a few moments to look around and just be present in nature. The zip lining was also fun, as its something I've never done before. I would go back to Hocking Hills in an instant if I could.
I felt the spiritual component, however, was greatly lacking. I felt we reverted to stereotypical "Sunday School" answers in regard as to why we practice spiritual disciplines. We reverted back to "Because the Bible says so" in our logic and it spiritually frustrated me. I was looking forward to the trip, in that I thought I was going to be challenged. I thought I was going to come away from this trip with some new found deep spiritual realization, but I did not. I came away feeling like the spiritual discipline lessons were a waste of time, that I was just some guinea pig used for others to practice their preaching skills. The lessons were all about this book, and that's great, but there was no personal component to it. There were no outside sources that could make the lesson deep. I was spiritually frustrated because I felt like my spiritual growth was undervalued. I thought the circle lessons were just a manifestation of conformity and manipulation to influence us to feel how we "should" feel. I've always had a problem with certain components of sermons, such as playing a soft tune while praying or something like that because I feel its manipulative. We are influencing others' emotions whether we mean to or not. We are trying to force them to feel regret and to repent because that's what we think people should feel.
I was also frustrated with the worship songs (as I am also frustrated with them in chapel) because if we truly believe God is so great and wonderful, then how come all our worship songs are the same? Why can't we come up with some deep, symbolic songs, or words to describe God? Why are we stuck in a rut of words we use to describe God and mask it with the label of "tradition"? One of the reasons I enjoy Twenty-One Pilots is because every single one of their songs is symbolic. Even their name is symbolic. Such as, in one of their songs, they say, "Death inspires me like a dog inspires a rabbit." Now, the lyric sounds funny alone, but when you really reflect on what that means, you come to realize they are saying the idea of Death scares them and causes them to have anxiety or to panic, that it's something they don't want to think about because the thought is so terrifying to them. I love that. I love that symbolism because I feel like it releases God from this traditional box we've placed Him in. Now, I know a lot of the lessons over the retreat were based off a basic theology of God, but I wished the lessons would have gone farther than the rubric required them to.
I realize as I look back on all that I've written, that I ended up rambling a little anyway. But I think I've illustrated my points and probably have offended people in the process. I loved the wilderness part of the retreat. And maybe I didn't take away from it as much as the others because we're all different people and we all interpret situations differently based off our prior experiences and personalities. I'm not sure why my view of the retreat is so much different than everyone else's. But I don't think there's anything wrong with the way I interpreted the weekend. I would definitely repeat all the hiking and the zip lining. I'll end my post by emphasizing that.
I think most of what I took away from the retreat teachings was the taking into account the big picture of what our call to ministry is. I think the biggest thing that stuck out the most was the idea that our sin, the things we have just failed at, are not a part of our ministry; they do not define us.
ReplyDeleteIs there a spiritual discipline you now know you need to work on, or was there a symbol or metaphor used during our worship time that stood out to you?
I need to continually be working on meditation and study and perhaps lectio divina as well. I don't give God enough room to speak through the words that have been given to us. I know that meditation and study are things that I love to do, but they seem to take such a low priority on my list of things to do. I owe it to God an myself to see them through and just do the hard thing.
I loved the small groups and the intimacy that it brought. I'm a very relational personal and this time to see a person for who they are and not what they want you to see was so incredible and mind blowing to me. The thing about intimacy is just knowing and being known. I think these groups (in my case at least) brought that is just a way that I have never seen before and really gave all of us an opportunity to talk about our dreams, fears, hopes, doubts. All of these things just blew me away.
I think during small groups, being open more than I usually am was something that was very hard at some points. Some of the guys I was with may have only talked to me in passing but cutting through all of superficial things was probably what made it easier that I thought it was going to be.
During lectio divina in middle of Mark 4:39 I just hit with a train with “Peace! Be still!”. I have been wrestling a lot with my call and all of the things that it will entail. I have a lot of fears, but then at the very moment the words just popped of the pages and told me that I am my own storm. I need to have trust. God has this thing figured out and God needs me to just follow and trust that things are going to go as planned.
Absolutely. I haven't had that much fun for a class ever.
I think most of what I took away from the retreat teachings was the taking into account the big picture of what our call to ministry is. I think the biggest thing that stuck out the most was the idea that our sin, the things we have just failed at, are not a part of our ministry; they do not define us.
ReplyDeleteIs there a spiritual discipline you now know you need to work on, or was there a symbol or metaphor used during our worship time that stood out to you?
I need to continually be working on meditation and study and perhaps lectio divina as well. I don't give God enough room to speak through the words that have been given to us. I know that meditation and study are things that I love to do, but they seem to take such a low priority on my list of things to do. I owe it to God an myself to see them through and just do the hard thing.
I loved the small groups and the intimacy that it brought. I'm a very relational personal and this time to see a person for who they are and not what they want you to see was so incredible and mind blowing to me. The thing about intimacy is just knowing and being known. I think these groups (in my case at least) brought that is just a way that I have never seen before and really gave all of us an opportunity to talk about our dreams, fears, hopes, doubts. All of these things just blew me away.
I think during small groups, being open more than I usually am was something that was very hard at some points. Some of the guys I was with may have only talked to me in passing but cutting through all of superficial things was probably what made it easier that I thought it was going to be.
During lectio divina in middle of Mark 4:39 I just hit with a train with “Peace! Be still!”. I have been wrestling a lot with my call and all of the things that it will entail. I have a lot of fears, but then at the very moment the words just popped of the pages and told me that I am my own storm. I need to have trust. God has this thing figured out and God needs me to just follow and trust that things are going to go as planned.
Absolutely. I haven't had that much fun for a class ever.