Some pictures--a trial run!

This is the apartment where Loretta and Roy are staying while at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary in Elkhart, Indiana. It is a complex of apartments that used to be the headquarters for African Inter Mennonite Mission, so our guess is the Dr. Dennis and Shirley Ries spent time at or in these buildings when they served with AIMM in Congo. The apartment we are in is little used and very simple and plain, but after all, we are only here for a couple of weeks!

This is a picture of "The Hermitage", a retreat center owned by the Indiana Michigan Mennonite Conference near Three Rivers, Michigan, about 45 miles northeast of Elkhart. This is the old barn converted into guest rooms and retreat facilities, where Loretta and I stayed on Thursday night.
This is a picture of the new library building at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminar in Elkhart. It was just opened within the last year. The main books stacks are in the wing to the left, and the main entrance is under the tower in the foreground.

This on the right is the study carrel assigned to Roy where he can work. It of course has computer hook up right there, and the library books are just behind the camera.

Sorry for the poor layout and design for this blog. We are experimenting with how to put pictures on our blog, so as we learn, things may improve. Or at least so you can hope!

Spiritual Retreat & Prayer

My discipline, such as it is, is to spend an uninterrupted day from dawn to dusk in God's creation, to be, in that way and for that time, just one of God's creatures. The aim is to find a rough outdoor shelter (The Hermitage has several such shelters on its grounds) with access to trails for walking. The shelter is my base for reading and journaling, but much of the day is spent "on the trail." We arrive the night before (Thursday), take stock of the setting, get a good night's rest, and then I intend to be at my "base" before sunrise and remain there or on the trails without interruption until after sunset. (Loretta does her own thing during this time.) Of course, I'm "cheating" since these first retreats take place during the shortest days of the year, but my retreats will get longer as we move toward and into Spring. I'm not sure about doing this retreat in full summer with 15 plus hours of daylight to fill!
This was a marvelous "first day" retreat, cloudy and cool, with occasional drizzle or light sleet, temps in the 30's. I could even spurn the heater in my base shelter here at the Hermitage! A wonderful day for walking in the woods and hearing what the silence and solitude might have to say to me.
The structure of the day is a time of quiet listening, a reading of several suggested Scriptures, a reading of several printed reflections on the theme, and then a time of personal reflection, prayer, and journaling. This pattern is repeated twice in the day, morning and afternoon, using the same resources. The theme for this day's reflections was an Advent/Christmas theme--God's greatest gift.
I've known, and it was confirmed for me again last evening in talking with David Wenger, the spiritual director here at The Hermitage, and in my experience today, that my best praying is done by the movement of my body. When I sit down to pray verbally alone, I struggle to concentrate and it feels very contrived and artificial. (Not that I don't do some praying like this, or shouldn't.) But it is when I am walking that I hear God speaking to me in the things I see and hear and observe. Perhaps another time I can share some thing's I've hear God "say" to me, but I'm not prepared to do that now.
A part of my walking took me also through a prayer labyrinth laid out in a grassy valley here at The Hermitage. It struck me again how moving it is to enter the labyrinth and to follow its circular paths to the center. At the center, one can pray to each of the four cardinal directions--East, the direction of morning and spring; South, the direction of noon and summer; West, the direction of evening and autumn; and North, the direction of night and winter.
Today I resolved to mark out a prayer labyrinth in the church yard lawn this summer before our centennial. While it may not be significant or meaningful for everyone, there are surely some others like myself at church who pray best "on our feet, on the way!!"
--Written at The Hermitage "Lean to", overlooking a pond, 3:30 PM, 01-11-08.
--PS: Please add any reflections on what you have learned about prayer and spiritual disciplines!

AMBS Library

Wednesday, January 9, Loretta and I were given an orientation to the new AMBS library. A recently completed "green" building, it is an extraordinary addition to the seminary campus where I studied 40 years ago. Most of the seminary building lie low to the ground, except for the unique Chapel of the Sermon on the Mount. But the new library overshadows the other campus buildings. Eileen Saner, the libararian showed me my personal study carrell where I can work on my computer. And I was introduced to dealing with finding resources in the library electronically on the computer. Rather daunting, but I was able to find and locate a number of books very interesting to me. Particularly interesting is a book titled Crossing Galilee, which describes life in First Century Galilee when Jesus lived. It is a particularly helpful book in view of our plans to visit Galilee in a few weeks!
Today (Thursday), we are off to The Hermitage for the first of my 12 days of spiritual retreat tomorrow.
Roy

I'm on Sabbatical!!

Here we are in Elkhart! And my long-awaited Sabbatical has begun! We left home about 3:00 AM Monday morning and had a good drive to Elkhart, with some rain in Iowa, arriving here abou 4:30 PM. Our apartment here at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary is right off Benham Avenue, across the street from Dr. Erland & Winifred Waltner, and Leroy and Winifred Saner. Winifred (my cousin) had supper for us last night, so we felt like we were at home.
The last weeks seem a bit like a blur to us, with Christmas and family activities, church activities, and preparations for the Sabbatical. It seemed like we would never get ready, and yet surprisingly, we seem to have gotten everything at the house ready to leave in good time, and all our packing done as well, so the last weekend wasn't too bad.
Of course, Sunday was a very full day, with the communion service in the morning, the dinner and sharing time at noon, and Mary Waltner's CPT Colombia program in the evening. It was very touching for us to receive all the hugs and farewells wishing us a good time away, and to feel that we were leaving with the church's blessing. We thank the church people for their support and prayers for us in this time. It was also exciting to begin sharing about our congregation's centennial year on Sunday noon! Thinking about our centennial celebration in July gives us something special to look forward to come home to!
I continue to struggle emotionally with leaving all the folks at church for whom I was providing pastoral care. It's not that I think people won't get good care in my absence, but its hard to leave the close emotional connections that are formed in relating with people going through such struggles.
Today (Tuesday), Loretta and I are resting up and getting settled in our apartment. We did go to the Tuesday chapel at AMBS, a Taize service with an Epiphany theme, and talked to a number of people at that time. It is good for me to do that as my inclination is to hide away, and I often find myself reluctant to "show up." Loretta is a good help for me in that way.
So much for today! I'll probably check in a little later again this week!
Roy