Faith Journeys.....

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~~