The Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca has remained in my brain for several days. I am moved by the power of such a gathering centered around a single purpose, and the impact it can have on individual lives.
I have seen similar transformations, although on a lesser scale than the Hajj, impactful nonetheless. I worked for 12 years in youth ministry with middle and high school youth. One of the most powerful aspects of our ministry were their Confirmation retreats. We did things a little differently in that we spread their Confirmation out over 6 years, 5th - 10th grades. We actually called this their Confirmation Journey.
As an element of their Confirmation Journey, each year there was an overnight retreat for each grade level. Yes, I planned and implemented 6 overnight retreats every year just for Confirmation. (That doesn't include the other trips and retreats with specific themes!) But the most important thing to realize is that the kids ATTENDED an overnight retreat at least once a year for 6 years. At least once a year, they gave up a weekend of friends, sports, work, dates, computers, cell phones, etc. to get away from the things that pull at them and influence them in their daily lives, and focus on their own personal journey with Christ.
You may be wondering what's the big deal. Kids spending the night away at a retreat once a year. But each year, each retreat produced something significant within the group or maybe even just within an individual or two. But this something significant was not anything you can plan. It's the product of the right kid, in the right place, with the right people around them, discovering something about themselves and their personal faith journey. This is a weekend where are no jocks, nerds, populars and un-populars. They are just christian kids who share the same faith. Now, this wasn't a miracle program. They are teenagers and they didn't just walk through the door and shed all the things that make them different. But they came having been prepared to know they were in similar company of faith, and that this is a safe place to live out your faith and also question your faith, together.
One year an 8th grade boy went home and told his mom he thought maybe he was supposed to be a pastor. A young lady from group went on to graduate from a Lutheran college where she studied theology, met her husband, and now they are both in seminary.
But those aren't the only stories.....the most exciting stories are the young person who taught his family to pray together; or the whole class who continued to get together once a month to volunteer. These are people who took a short pilgrimage, gave up things that were important to them to participate, and allowed themselves to grow in their faith and explore what that means in their daily life.
These are things that you sometimes can't see in a Sunday morning classroom setting. It takes the retreat....the pilgrimage if you will. Obviously the Muslim people know the significance of such a pilgrimage.
Amen!
~~Teresa~~
Saturday, May 29, 2010
4348 Miles to Worship
I've had this story on my mind for a couple of weeks and just hadn't taken the time to write it out.....so hear it is.
About 15 years ago I joined my husband in London for the last week of a month long business trip. I was so excited as I my travel experiences have been limited, especially out of the country. There was so much I wanted to experience in such a short amount of time. Since my husband had been in Europe for 3 weeks already, he felt pretty acclimated and ready to show me around.
I arrived on a weekend and one of the first things we chose to do was experience a worship service in England. We knew there were large and famous churches we could easily attend, but we found that there was a small church within walking distance of our hotel with a Sunday evening service. PERFECT! We were so excited. What an experience this would be. Our first opportunity to worship God with people 4348 miles from home!
As we strolled from our hotel in the cool evening air, just the walk was an experience as we were following directions given to us by the hotel staff. The church was beautiful as we approached it. It's old and historic look from a block away was totally London! Did I mention how excited I was?
As we entered the church we were greeted by Londoners with that wonderful English accent that makes every word sound musical. We found a seat in a pew that allowed us to take in all visual aspects of the room. We didn't want to miss anything when it came to this worship experience. We anticipated the music, the liturgy, the sermon by a London pastor! What would his message be about? How would he address his congregation? Would it be based on scripture and bible readings? Would it be contemporary and address an issue of today's world? And to hear the words in that beautiful English accent and dialect. We were so ready!
And then it begins. A couple of beautiful traditional hymns......and then the Pastor began to speak. Wait....where's the English accent? What did he just say? Thank you? And that he's honored and excited to be visiting from where? Yep.....we traveled 4348 miles from Omaha, Nebraska to a beautiful church in London, England to hear a very nice pastor from TOPEKA, KANSAS! True story! It was a very nice service and great message....and the pastor was SO excited to greet us after the service when he realized his "neighbors" had come to see him!
Check in again soon!
~~Teresa~~
About 15 years ago I joined my husband in London for the last week of a month long business trip. I was so excited as I my travel experiences have been limited, especially out of the country. There was so much I wanted to experience in such a short amount of time. Since my husband had been in Europe for 3 weeks already, he felt pretty acclimated and ready to show me around.
I arrived on a weekend and one of the first things we chose to do was experience a worship service in England. We knew there were large and famous churches we could easily attend, but we found that there was a small church within walking distance of our hotel with a Sunday evening service. PERFECT! We were so excited. What an experience this would be. Our first opportunity to worship God with people 4348 miles from home!
As we strolled from our hotel in the cool evening air, just the walk was an experience as we were following directions given to us by the hotel staff. The church was beautiful as we approached it. It's old and historic look from a block away was totally London! Did I mention how excited I was?
As we entered the church we were greeted by Londoners with that wonderful English accent that makes every word sound musical. We found a seat in a pew that allowed us to take in all visual aspects of the room. We didn't want to miss anything when it came to this worship experience. We anticipated the music, the liturgy, the sermon by a London pastor! What would his message be about? How would he address his congregation? Would it be based on scripture and bible readings? Would it be contemporary and address an issue of today's world? And to hear the words in that beautiful English accent and dialect. We were so ready!
And then it begins. A couple of beautiful traditional hymns......and then the Pastor began to speak. Wait....where's the English accent? What did he just say? Thank you? And that he's honored and excited to be visiting from where? Yep.....we traveled 4348 miles from Omaha, Nebraska to a beautiful church in London, England to hear a very nice pastor from TOPEKA, KANSAS! True story! It was a very nice service and great message....and the pastor was SO excited to greet us after the service when he realized his "neighbors" had come to see him!
Check in again soon!
~~Teresa~~
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