Church retreat weekend
Youngest Kid and I spent this weekend at a church retreat at Bishop's Ranch, a couple of hours north of San Francisco. It was nourishing in many ways.
First, it was nice just to get out of the city. We chose city life very deliberately, and I love living in San Francisco, but I am discovering that getting out into nature every month or two is a key part of happy, healthy city living. This really hit home for me in October, when I stayed with a coworker one night to save myself three hours of commuting between Day 1 and Day 2 of a workshop at another office. The coworker and her wife live out in the country, and as I listened to the crickets chirping through the open window as I drifted off to sleep, my soul relaxed a piece of me I didn't realize had been tense.
The ranch is far from being in the wilderness. It's adjacent to a Clover Dairy farm--our noses were well aware of that at times--and the nearby hills are covered in vineyards. But there is no city noise, growing things outweigh buildings whichever direction you look, and the light pollution was mild enough that we could watch Mars approach the Pleiades.
The second-floor room that Youngest Kid and I shared faced east, and sleeping with the curtains open allowed me to watch the sunrise in the morning simply by opening my eyes. No need to even get out of bed.
Second, I enjoyed leisurely chats with my fellow congregants. Given we rode with another family both directions, this started the moment we pulled away from the house and lasted until we arrived back at home. At meals, at the pool, in front of the fire at night, on chairs in the sun enjoying the vista, we talked and listened, and got to know our new church family in a much deeper way than we had at coffee hour or even the monthly game night.
Third, I was thrilled that Youngest Kid was having as much fun as I was. The tweens and teens quickly staked out the small library in the ranch house as their space, but they also spent a lot of time on the tire swing, at the pool, at meals, and in the ga ga pit with the younger kids. I was pretty sure Youngest Kid would like the property itself, but given the lack of connection I'd seen between him and other kids around his age at church, I half-expected him to spend most of his time exploring the trails and the animals on his own. His level of engagement with the other kids was a delight for me to watch.
Fourth, it was enjoyable to do church in different ways. Friday evening, our impromptu game of "sing that hymn" morphed naturally into a casual Compline service in the living room. Saturday morning, a few of us met in the chapel for the retreat center's Morning Prayer service, which coincidentally uses the same Celtic prayer book I have used for morning and evening prayer off and on for years.
And this morning, we gathered in a circle in the tree-shaded courtyard for the Eucharist. After all the time we spent together over the weekend, the passing of the peace during the service was especially heartfelt.
I returned home today feeling more connected to my fellow congregants, God, and nature. And I can't wait until next year's retreat.
First, it was nice just to get out of the city. We chose city life very deliberately, and I love living in San Francisco, but I am discovering that getting out into nature every month or two is a key part of happy, healthy city living. This really hit home for me in October, when I stayed with a coworker one night to save myself three hours of commuting between Day 1 and Day 2 of a workshop at another office. The coworker and her wife live out in the country, and as I listened to the crickets chirping through the open window as I drifted off to sleep, my soul relaxed a piece of me I didn't realize had been tense.
The ranch is far from being in the wilderness. It's adjacent to a Clover Dairy farm--our noses were well aware of that at times--and the nearby hills are covered in vineyards. But there is no city noise, growing things outweigh buildings whichever direction you look, and the light pollution was mild enough that we could watch Mars approach the Pleiades.
Second, I enjoyed leisurely chats with my fellow congregants. Given we rode with another family both directions, this started the moment we pulled away from the house and lasted until we arrived back at home. At meals, at the pool, in front of the fire at night, on chairs in the sun enjoying the vista, we talked and listened, and got to know our new church family in a much deeper way than we had at coffee hour or even the monthly game night.
Third, I was thrilled that Youngest Kid was having as much fun as I was. The tweens and teens quickly staked out the small library in the ranch house as their space, but they also spent a lot of time on the tire swing, at the pool, at meals, and in the ga ga pit with the younger kids. I was pretty sure Youngest Kid would like the property itself, but given the lack of connection I'd seen between him and other kids around his age at church, I half-expected him to spend most of his time exploring the trails and the animals on his own. His level of engagement with the other kids was a delight for me to watch.
Fourth, it was enjoyable to do church in different ways. Friday evening, our impromptu game of "sing that hymn" morphed naturally into a casual Compline service in the living room. Saturday morning, a few of us met in the chapel for the retreat center's Morning Prayer service, which coincidentally uses the same Celtic prayer book I have used for morning and evening prayer off and on for years.
And this morning, we gathered in a circle in the tree-shaded courtyard for the Eucharist. After all the time we spent together over the weekend, the passing of the peace during the service was especially heartfelt.
I returned home today feeling more connected to my fellow congregants, God, and nature. And I can't wait until next year's retreat.
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