“When should I make a retreat? When there is no time to do it, that’s when you most need to unclutter the calendar and go apart to pray. When the gridlock of your schedule relentlessly forbids it is the time you most need a retreat. That is when your heart beats against the prison walls of your enslavement and says, “Yes, Lord, I want to spend time with you.””
Jesus often withdrew to quiet places and prayed (Luke 5:16), even amidst the busiest moments of his life. He didn’t allow the stress — or success! — of his work to outweigh his need to break from his regular rhythms and get away to spend time with his Heavenly Father. We’d like to invite all of our Redeemer family to attend our Men’s or Women’s Fellowship retreats this spring. Each will have some good biblical teaching, conversations for connection and encouragement as we listen for God’s direction, and plenty of time for rest and play.
Both retreats will be at the Roslyn Retreat Center. Though it’s a short drive from the city limits, we encourage you to do all you can to stay overnight. Interrupting a two-day retreat with a night back home is like walking away from a newly lit fire just after the spark has caught. When you return, even if you’re gone for just a short time, you’ve lost some momentum and will likely have to start over again. The tasks and concerns awaiting us at home come rushing back. Those who do stay overnight know the gift of unhurried conversations where old friendships are deepened and new friendships are made in a way that is much harder to do when everyone is scattered in their different every-day routines. Come retreat with us!
“I have attended the Women’s retreat the past few years and have found it to be such a spiritually and relationally enriching time. Even though I live close by, I’ve chosen to stay the night and have loved the extra time in fellowship with others. Staying overnight helps the retreat to feel like a real getaway and a reset from the busyness of life.” Becca Goodall
“I believe in sleepovers. There is something powerful about stepping away from the demands of daily life and fully entering into the content, rest, and fellowship offered in a retreat. In a culture more interpersonally isolated than ever, we can proclaim the goodness of the incarnation to one another as we offer our presence for 24 hours. Is your bed more comfortable? Probably. Is your coffee better? Definitely. Is it beneficial for you and our parish to invest in time away together? Absolutely. Intentionally doing life together may bring us out of our comfort zones, but it provides a beautiful context for embodied connection. Our lived experience of the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us creates a place where our stories can be held. As Curt Thompson says, these encounters weave "a community of disparate people into the tapestry of God's family." We desire to become that together. Please consider this my most sincere invitation to join us overnight at the beautiful Roslyn Retreat Center, where we will practice the goodness of being known together.” Lindsay Fauver
