Sound the retreat...

In recent weeks, I have been challenged to think about the business of 'going on retreat'. I have always found this an odd concept because the word retreat has a mixture of meanings, and it is the one of running away that always comes to my mind first. Yet, in a holy life, in a life that strives to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, 'retreat' should be a part. Jesus often took himself away from the crowds and his disciples, to pray, spend time with God and prepare for the next step along the path that he was travelling. And a poignant example of this is that moment in the garden of Gethsemane, although anguished, was a time of retreat, preparation, a time with God.

In a busy schedule, with more work to do than is probably feasible in the hours available, 'going on retreat', especially when you're not quiet with the programme, goes by the wayside. Or so I might think. As I was out walk the dog, thinking about this question of should I be making time to 'go on retreat', I realised that actually I was at that moment on a sort of 'retreat'. Out on that path with the dog, away from the books, meeting agendas, telephone and emails, I quietly walk with God mulling over what has been and what is to come.

Now, I pretty sure there are those out there who will tell me that really isn't enough. I really should make time and 'go on retreat'. And I get it, honest, but I just cannot shake that picture of running away. Will spending a few days at a Retreat House, really prepare me what is next, or do I need to be 'on retreat' where maybe the trouble can find me, like in the garden of Gethsemane?

Last year, Luther (that's the dog not the Reformer) and I walked a path through the Suffolk countryside that links two places in the pastorate I partly serve. We did this to raise money for a couple of causes and so walked with purpose, with our sights on the end. Yet, as I shamefully watched the romantic comedy 'About Time' last night, I began to wonder if it was time to walk that path again, but this time with a little less purpose. In the film, the key character has the inherited gift of travelling in time, and his father, also with this gift, guides him through how best to use it. And one thing his father suggests is that he lives each day twice, once as it comes and the other taking the time to look around and take pleasure in different moments within the day. And maybe as I prepare for what is ahead in the pastorate I serve in the coming months, that is what I need to do. Not living each day twice (that would be a little impossible), but walking a path that is significant, taking time and not just aiming for the end.

So maybe there lies the answer for what 'going on retreat' has to be for me... well at this moment in my ministry at least.

Dancing Sheep

I realise I have not posted for some time on my blog... ministry, a PhD and a dog have meant that blogging has become something I did rather than I do. However, I have just had to sit down and right the church magazine pastoral letter for next month and thought I would share it as stand on the eve of Pentecost...

Living in a county where farming and agriculture is still a big part of its economy, the fact there are annual events that promote these crucial industries is good. And going along to some of these things when the sun is shining is even better. However, as I stood watching, and enjoying, the Sheep Show at the Wool Fair at Ickworth House, I got to thinking about how what was happening here is maybe something we’ve lost the ability to do as the church—well that was until the sheep started dancing! 

The Sheep Show, like the other demonstrations at the fair, were there to educate the crowds about sheep, what they provide us with, and how important they are. They also showed how farmers/shepherds manage their flocks and care for them. It was all good stuff, engaging adults and children alike. Those who were speaking were passionate about what they did and clearly wanted to share the joy they had in their work, although at times it was hard. If only we could be like that about our faith, I thought to myself. But then came the gimmick, the crowd-pleaser to end the show—the sheep dancing! Or more accurately, the sheep vaguely moving to music.

 Why? What was the need? Why is the passion for what you do not enough to get across what you are trying to tell the crowds.

 It is all too easy, I suppose, to think that the only way a message might get across is by dressing it up some way, especially if it lightens a heavy topic. But is there not a risk in this? That we spend more time trying to get the sheep to dance than working out what the important facts are that need to be shared and remembered!

 The Church is now in the season of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is again at the forefront of our thoughts, as is what the Holy Spirit has done and can do in the life of the Church. It should be the time, like that first day the disciples experienced the true power of the Holy Spirit, when the Church is again impassioned to speak, to tell it as it is! But are we? Or are we busy searching for the gimmick that will draw the crowd better than just us talking passionately about what we believe? The Holy Spirit is here to empower us to speak. So maybe it’s time to take the easy option and tell the world what is really on our hearts. And that doesn’t require dancing sheep!