Dear Friend,
It is hard to believe that our next retreat is just around the corner, April 25–27, 2021. The topic of this retreat is Prayer: Deepening Our Intimacy with God, and our aim is not just to talk about prayer, theorize about prayer, and figure out how to teach others to pray. Our aim is to actually pray ourselves.
REFLECTING ON THE LAST RETREAT
The theme of our first retreat was the nature of spiritual transformation, the significance of a leader’s ongoing commitment to his/her own process of spiritual transformation, and the importance of desire as the dynamic that fuels the spiritual journey. It is important not to rush this part of the process. So, how is your desire? Are you still in touch with the longing you named in God’s presence on retreat? How are your longings calling you to cultivate spiritual rhythms that are consistent with what your heart most wants? As St. Augustine said, “The entire life of a good Christian is never less than holy desire.”
Desire is sometimes frightening in its intensity. It can be hard to stay true to our desire, especially if it seems too far out of reach. However, as we learned from Bartimaeus, naming our desire in Christ’s presence, while it feels risky, opens us to God's fulfillment of those desires—sometimes differently than we expected or envisioned.
PREPARING FOR UPCOMING RETREAT
In preparation for our time together, please spend time reflecting on our first retreat, along with your experiences and readings over the quarter. If you are earning a Certificate in Spiritual Transformation, you have probably already submitted your reflection paper. Even if you are not earning the certificate, you might want to prepare a 2–3 page reflection paper in order to process your learnings. The following questions might help to stimulate your thinking:
What was the desire that you began articulating while on retreat?
How are you experiencing your desire these days? Has it intensified, lost intensity, or stayed the same?
What choices or changes have you made in response to clarifying your desire? What new rhythms have you explored that enable you to live in ways that are more congruent with your heart’s desire?
How have you experienced God with you and for you in the midst of your desire?
What questions or challenges have arisen for you in the context of your reading and exploration?
Be sure to interact with Scripture and with the required readings that have been valuable to you. The written reflections are for your benefit in summarizing the learning and experiences of this quarter, and they will also form the basis for your sharing in Community. These questions can also be found in the During the Quarter handout in your folder.
SOME ADDITIONAL NOTES:
Small Groups. We will give you the opportunity to meet in small groups on this retreat but since the entire community will not be together in person, it is likely that we will have some shifting in the groups before we officially name them for the remainder of your community experience. As I mentioned during our last retreat, the process of assigning the small groups is covered with intercessory prayer, and we would appreciate your prayers regarding this important component of the Transforming Community experience. If any of you know other TC17 participants from any other area of your life (past or present church, community or employment), please reply to this email by Tuesday, April 20, so we will not place you in the same group. If you already did this at the last retreat or via email, thank you!
Community Commitments and Covenant. Please reflect on the teaching regarding spiritual community and go over the Community Commitments and Covenant handout we distributed at the first retreat. At the upcoming retreat, we will take time to discuss the covenant, receive your feedback, and then commit ourselves to it together.
One final note of encouragement: If you have struggled with incorporating the basic rhythms we talked about on retreat into your life back at home, don’t let it discourage you! The last thing those of us in leadership need is more burden or self-incrimination. You still have time to work with the teaching and rhythms we explored and to engage the readings and reflections offered in your handouts. God is faithful to honor whatever time and space we are able to create for him.
You will receive an additional e-mail before the retreat with some logistical details. Watch for it! In the meantime, may God enable you to stay faithful to the journey of spiritual transformation he is inviting you to and may you discover delight along the way.
With you on the journey,
Blessings on you all,
