This is a long email but please take the time to read it— there are things to consider and be aware of as you prepare for retreat.
Dear Friend,
We are looking forward to our next retreat, March 22-24 on The Art and Practice of Spiritual Discernment. An increasing capacity to discern and do the will of God is one of the tangible outcomes of our spiritual transformation as Paul notes in Romans 12:2. It is exciting to have arrived at the point in our Transforming Community experience where we are ready to explore this together.
Reflecting on the Last Quarter
As this quarter draws to a close, please remember to carve out time to reflect on the questions found in your During the Quarter document (click here) and prepare your 2–3-page paper related to the themes from the last retreat. This written reflection will form the basis of your sharing with community members over dinner. There is also a copy of the questions in your retreat folder that will be arriving shortly.
Even if you are not handing in a paper for the certificate program, we would encourage you to write down a few of your reflections as a way of pulling your thoughts together in preparation for sharing with community members over dinner.
Small Groups
The hardest thing to facilitate in a hybrid retreat model is the Monday night dinner in small groups. We have gone over several scenarios trying to take into consideration many competing values and there isn't one that works perfectly, so please bear with us.
All of our small groups have at least one person who will not be present in person so we are going to have to handle the dinner hour differently and this is what we feel will work best: Those who are present in person will have the choice to eat at a table with no more than two others. This grouping can be with your small group or with other people in the community you don't know as well. If members of your group are comfortable eating together, you are welcome to do that and discuss the questions. You also have the option of eating meals alone if you do not feel comfortable being less than six feet apart from others without masks. We will need to respect each others’ choices on this.
The Q dining environment is noisy enough that it will not be not possible for people to join their group virtually in that space, so those joining virtually will be placed in small groups with other virtual attendees for your guided conversation over Monday dinner using the questions provided in the folders. We are going to have to trust that this far into our experience, even community members we don’t know well are safe for these intimate conversations. And it is always up to your discretion as to how much you want to share.
Because established small groups will not be together during the dinner hour, we are asking you to consider sharing some of your reflections on the previous quarter with your small group by email prior to the retreat.
Before we head into the content of the discernment retreat in which you are coming with a question for discernment, it will be very helpful ito process the past retreat so everyone in your group has some idea of what you have identified as your Enneagram number or at least the darker patterns God has been revealing to you. As I shared in our last retreat, the transformational journey is different for each Enneagram number and having this information about each other will help us be more effective spiritual companions. I will say more about this when we come together on the first night. Please note that you will be meeting with your entire small group for group spiritual direction on Tuesday night in a room large enough to physical distance and with the aid of a computer for those on Zoom.
For those coming to Q Center...
We will gather at 5:30 PM CT in the Riverwoods Amphitheater (directly above the St. Charles Amphitheater) for a few orienting comments and then walk together to dinner at 5:45. We will provide guidance about what to expect in the dining room and will describe in greater detail the options regarding food choices and seating. Whether you are sitting with your small group, with others in the community, or sharing a meal virtually, we ask you to be intentional in using the questions provided to share what you have been experiencing in your practice of self-examination, self-knowledge, and confession.
We will be sending more details early next week with even more information about what to expect at the Q Center.
For those joining us via Zoom...
You will be with us virtually as we gather at 5:30 PM CT. Please refer to your personal schedule for the correct time zone. Following a few orienting comments, we will send you into virtual breakout rooms with smaller groups so you can share about the last quarter over your meal or snack. Please think ahead about your plan for dinner so it is ready once the call begins.
Early next week we will send more information on what to expect in the virtual experience as well as the Zoom link just a couple days before retreat begins.
For the entire community...
Since the theme for this retreat is The Art and Practice of Spiritual Discernment, I encourage you to come with a real decision or question for discernment—large or small—that you're willing to work with while on retreat. This will ensure you actually begin practicing the principles of discernment rather than merely engaging the material in a theoretical fashion. Some of you are facing significant issues that require more than human wisdom; they require the wisdom of God that is given as pure gift. It takes courage to bring a significant question or decision into a discernment process, but I pray you will consider doing so.
Grace and peace,
