I’m writing this on Tuesday morning, and I have to say I’m still feeling the positive energy afterglow from the weekend’s Church Leadership Retreat.
I don’t have the space here to recount all that was wonderful about the weekend twenty of us spent together at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos, but more than anything, I believe the retreat was important because it solidified among the participants the idea that we need to deepen our spiritual journeys–not as an escape from the work of doing justice, but was a way of strengthen our souls for the work of doing justice.
Printed below is a photo I took of the Labyrinth at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos. People use labyrinths for different kinds of prayer, but when I walk labyrinths, I try to focus my prayers inward, praying for myself as I move toward the center, and then outward, praying for others and for the world as I move back out of the labyrinth. I’ve used this prayerful method whenever I have walked labyrinths, but this labyrinth was special. It is the only labyrinth I’ve walked that has a tree growing at its center. For me, walking into the center and finding a living, growing presence was an experience that moved me deeply, especially since the tree at the center is an olive, a tree with significant meaning for Christians: olives symbolize peace, the end of Noah’s flood, and the grace of adoption into the family of God; olive oil is used to anoint people and to provide fuel for lamps. Jesus spent part of his last earthly night praying in an olive grove. Also: olives and olive oils are tasty–or they can be when prepared properly.
For me, having an olive tree at the center of the retreat center’s labyrinth was a perfect metaphor for the work we did over the weekend: we journeyed to the center to find strength for going out into the world to do God’s work of justice; we found peace within ourselves in order to make peace with others; the living beauty we found in our souls inspired us to preserve the living beauty in God’s creation.
The weekend away confirmed in my mind the importance of retreats as times of reflection and restoration. This is a segue into a final push to get signups for our September retreat at San Antonio. I still need a few more commitments in order to make the weekend work, and there is plenty of room. Please reach out if you have any questions and let me know by Sunday if you want to come. I am really looking forward to it. I think the San Antonio retreat has the potential to build on the good work we did and deepening sense of community we fostered in Los Altos. For more information on the San Antonio Retreats program, here is a link to a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-d9qJwQlVo
God’s Peace,
Ben