Yesterday, instead of working on revising the sermon I'm preaching this Sunday I found myself browsing Amazon, Morehouse, and Church Publishing type book websites. Because I'm going to do some children's chapel in my new position I was looking for some books on praying with pre-school aged children and how to make faith and God accessible to them in a way they can grasp, that sort of thing.
You do know that Amazon.com and similar book type websites are the black hole of the universe, don't you? So at some point I was looking at books on spirituality trying to get an idea of something I'd want to teach this fall, and ran across a book on retreats. Well that sparked a tangent.
Retreat, oh yes, I'd like to do a retreat. Probably won't have time right away, although that could be a good way to start a position, but definitely have been thinking I'd like to intentionally do one before my priesthood ordination, and I've always wanted to go spend time with the SSJE brothers (Society of St. John the Evangelist, in Massachusetts). So then I went to their website for information.
They do have some good 5-day retreats that includes meeting daily with a brother for spiritual direction (which I think would be better for me than just being left to my own devices). Then I ran across this really cool thing. This fall and again in February they are having a retreat to teach beginners how to paint an icon. You're blending the mystical (retreat/prayer) with the creative (playing with paints and other craftsy stuff)?! I got all excited about the possibility of attending since I will have 4 weeks of vacation to use in the next 12 months (I've never had 4 weeks of vacation before!).
The one in February will actually be not too far off from my 40th Birthday. I started thinking, what a neat way to spend my 40th Birthday, doing something that I've always wanted to do and feeding my creative side. I'm going to have to remember about it and look into making arrangements to attend. It's limited to 6 people.
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