Monday Meditation
community, conviviality, conversation
Last week, we concluded the annual pastors’ retreat in Estes Park, Colorado. With the exception a Covid year absence, we’ve met each year since 2011. The model, which is a spin-off of the pastor-theologian program of the Center for Theological Inquiry, remains the same. Each morning begins with silence and morning prayer (and a lot of laughter around the breakfast table). We then set out for walking, hiking, and birding, along paths through the forests and mountains, along streams, joining all creatures of the earth. After an afternoon rest, there is lively conversation drawn from books chosen for the week. Each evening we share a communal evening meal wonderfully prepared by Claudia, with bread, wine and much conviviality. Evening prayer ends the day. In the night, around the fire we share personal stories and song, pausing to listen for owls, coyotes, bears and common poorwill. For some it’s the first time to hike at high elevation, to see a moose, swim in an alpine lake, and come away with several life birds. In the process, a community of friendship and collegiality is nourished.
In past years, we’ve selected four books, a novel, a theology text, a memoir, and a book of ministry practice, to guide on conversations. The last couple of years we narrowed on focus to a theme or single writer. This year our “guest author” was the novelist, essayist and theologian Marilynne Robinson. She has a large body of work, including her most recent one, an exploration of Genesis. We gave our attention to her novel Home and a book of critical essays, The Death of Adam. Though only two books, it was a feast for reflection on the nature of forgiveness, family reconciliation, the surprising riches of the much-maligned Puritans and the moral example of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Robinson, in her essay on Psalm 8 helped us explore the sheer wonder of being a human being in the image of God. In her reflections, she reminds us of the the necessity of asking “what is not being seen, that needs to be seen? What is not being said, that needs to be said? What needs your attention?”
Each of the participants is deeply engaged in pastoral ministry in different settings, from California, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Minnesota and Washington, DC. What a joy it is for us to set aside this week for time of reflection, laughter, music, prayer. It’s also a gift put down our books and our burdens, strap on our backpacks to go exploring what John Calvin called the “theater of God’s glory.” What does this have to do with congregational leadership? Everything. When a pastor attends to theology, collegial friendships, and abundant life in the Rocky Mountains, the congregation will gain a leader who is alive and well.
I hope you who have pastors will encourage them to step away and be renewed in their vocation.
