CWM Spiritual Retreat 2020

Finding God when the Signposts Fail: Yearning as path.

Our June Spiritual retreat was to take place at the Hills of Peace Campground.  Due to present circumstances the venue had to change. Welcome to the “Zoom” stage. It happened! Participants from Canada West, Canada East and the USA ‘gathered’.

To say the intent and purpose of the retreat was timely is an understatement. We were invited into an exploration of our deeper Spiritual longings, into that lingering hunger (past, present  & future).

How does one navigate this journey of life when things don’t make sense? Where our practises or answers are ineffective? “O God we call. From deep inside we yearn. For You.”

Charmaine and Tony Chvala-Smith lead us down several paths of ‘adventure’:

1. When signposts fail; Describing the inner terrain (learning to lament; Praying the Psalms).
2. Meandering through the wilderness; Recognizing God; (Lecto Divina-The road to Emmaus). Where have yearnings for God/ Christ/ Spirit been surfacing?
3. The darkness of Faith; Light and dark as partners.
4. Oasis in the desert: Planning pauses on the path.

Through meaningful script, visuals and practise our time together flew by and yet never seemed hurried. It was indeed a thought provoking, hope enhancing, and yes, a thirst for more journey. An air of openness seemed to allow us to explore our longing for the One who knows us and longs to be known. Poetry, song and sharing also played a part in the experience, exploration and ongoing discovery.  “Let this mind be in us. That is also in Jesus.”

In our final time together Sunday morning with the theme of ‘You are your own path’ we were encouraged and challenged onward. A beautiful scripture; Philippians 1: 3-8 verse by verse…. I know there were moments of ‘filled to overflowing’. A message of Love and belonging. That there are ways/paths for us ahead with reminders of God’s grace for us, for others, for all. We were blessed by the wonderful ministry of presence from Tony and Charmaine. A big thank you to Lisa Neudorf for piloting the electronics, to Gloria Stanton and Clarissa McLean for their gift of prayer and to everyone for their participation.  I search for, yes, I search; I search for ‘Home’, always for Home, unaware, of course, that I am already there.
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Denise Esch and Brenda Senga