Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

I like the multiple meanings of the word retreat. It is, of course, both noun and verb, a backing away, to withdraw.

For our church this weekend, retreat is a time for fellowship, star-gazing, worship, and good food. It is a backing away, as we’ll be perched on the top of a mountain in central Kentucky, 30 minutes from a reliable wifi connection and a Big Mac. We will withdraw for two nights from our schedules and move to the rhythm of the dinner bell instead of Outlook calendar reminders. We will swim and spelunk, hike and rappel, find a shady spot and read, and pull up camping chairs and tell tall stories.

On Saturday night, far from the city and its light pollution, we will lie on the ground and watch the stars and marvel at the Perseid meteor shower.

We will retreat. And advance.

This time together binds our congregation. It creates and deepens community. For many of the more than 100 people at the retreat, it will become an emotional and spiritual keepsake, a time when the Word becomes flesh, the Body incarnate.

We are too often too busy for this. Who can set aside three days—a whole weekend—especially when there’s no set agenda other than three square meals and daily worship?

The Type A’s and achievers, like me, might at first think it wasted time, a backing away. But I’m reminded on this mountaintop of how retreat can transform into advance. Of how time together, in community, is never wasted time. And of how God can take Newton’s laws of motion and apply them to our spiritual growth:

An object at rest will stay that way; a church without time set aside for spiritual renewal won’t renew. And for every action, there is a reaction. For retreat, there can be great advance.