Note: my first version of this post got nuked for whatever reason (WordPress didn’t save, I suspect because my host went down between when I loaded the editor and when I published the post. Anyway, hopefully this is an accurate recap of what I said.
5 things that I left retreat with:
- the realization that I need to pray more sincerely, frequently, and purposefully (I’ve been trying to pray whenever I am walking around, between classes or errands)
- the greater realization that I need a more systematic approach to reading the Word (I’ve started an ESV one-year schedule to ensure I cover the whole Bible within a year, on top of other side-readings)
- the unshakeable conviction that extra-Biblical exercises (such as lectio divina) really should not be practiced, however deceptively “Christian” they may seem
- the makings of a coffee binge that left me with a killer headache this Monday
- the start of something interesting, engaging, and mutually beneficial between myself and some co-labourers in Christ
I thought the retreat as a whole was a mixed bag of goods. While the speaker as a person was friendly and likeable, I wish the messages had more (Biblical) substance, and less anecdotes and pop culture references. The people of God should seek to hear from Him through the Creator of the Universe, not through the Creatures of the Universe.
The free time was ample and I got to play some games of Colander, proving that Moyee + Herman + myself make an excellent Dynamic Duo + 1 for this kind of game.
I found the devotional time to be excellent, but only after I completely ditched the prescribed devotional materials, and just cozying myself to a book of the Bible. Here’s a quote of a quote from the first day’s materials:
A Christian is one who points at Christ and says, ‘I can’t prove a thing, but there’s something about his eyes and his voice. There’s something about the way he carries his head, his hands, the way he carries his cross—the way he carries me.‘
- Frederick Buechner
To put it plainly, I think the above is wrong. It’s a false portrait of what a Christian is, what his witnessing responsibilities are, and what the nature of his relationship with Christ ought to be. I don’t know Jesus vaguely by a string of “something”s about Him, I know Him through God’s revelation found in His concrete, tangible, and specific Word.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [...] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- John 1:1 [...] 14 ESV
So basically, Jesus = the Word of God are one and the same, as far as John’s concerned. Thus, knowing Jesus would be the same as knowing the Word. The Word, in contrast with Buechner’s out-of-his-context quote, is solid, concrete, and certain. That’s why I have a problem with quotes like these. Taken at surface value, they maybe sound convincing. With further consideration, it turns out they implicitly undermine things you should actually be clinging to as foundational to your faith. And then you have to give concession to the fact that maybe the original author didn’t even mean what you got out of the quote, since it was presented out of its context. At the end of this whole exercise, I simply question why we’re even bothering with quotes like these if they only waste our time at best, and distract us from the Word in all other cases.
Anyway, so I just curled up in the corner somewhere and walked my way through my favourite book of Romans, after which I found the fruitfulness of the devotional time with God increase exponentially. I never even bothered with the second day’s devotional materials so that I could spend more time going through Romans. How I ever forgot about the joy and excitement found in reading the (translated) Words of God I will never know, but I hope it never leaves me again.
Basically, the lesson to be learned is that anything that draws you away from the Word cannot be Good News, by definition, so cling to the Word.