{"id":429,"date":"2013-05-27T16:12:05","date_gmt":"2013-05-27T22:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/?p=429"},"modified":"2013-05-28T10:57:00","modified_gmt":"2013-05-28T16:57:00","slug":"429","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/archives\/429","title":{"rendered":"RETREAT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Country<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 RETREAT<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>There is nothing about the word “retreat” matching what I did this past weekend!<\/p>\n

I mean, sure, I joined the ladies from Temple Baptist Church out in the wilderness (so to speak) of southern Alberta: fifteen of us (and four nursing infants) settled into a great lodge<\/a> built in the western tradition of sturdy peeled-log posts and beams, with giant stone fireplaces and comfy leather furniture; we ate hearty oatmeal and succulent chicken and homemade cinnamon buns that we didn’t prepare ourselves; we walked around a small lake and gloried in the sunny skies and didn’t hear any traffic; we napped in the afternoon and stayed up till 3:00 AM (well, some of us); we played games that had us all howling with laughter. So I suppose there was a sense of “retreating” involved in all that, but I would call it more of an “advance.” I sure advanced in my friendships this weekend.<\/p>\n

I was so honoured to be the speaker at this event–only the second time I’ve presented a series of talks at a multi-day function (although, of course, I’ve been speaking with Stonecroft Ministries<\/a> for about a decade). The organizers asked me to prepare a four-part series on the theme of friendship (the bones of which you can read here<\/a>) that I titled “A Cord of Three Strands: The Bond of Friendship.” The biblical research it necessitated was very enriching for me, and I came up with the following chiastic outline:<\/p>\n

1a. Friendship in Eternity Past<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1b. Friendship in the Garden<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1c. Alienation from God and Others<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 X. God\u2019s Overtures and the Cross<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2c. Reconciliation with God and Others<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2b. Friendship in Church and World: Message and Ministry<\/b><\/p>\n

2a. Friendship in Eternity Future<\/b><\/p>\n

I talked those women’s ears right off–and my throat feels it today! What a delightful time and opportunity for me to share what I studied–which is always a sure-fire way for me to learn it better myself.<\/p>\n

In the fall, I will again speak at a women’s retreat, this time in Saskatchewan. I think I’m getting the hang of this.<\/p>\n

(Photos by Jasmine Stoesz)<\/p>\n

\"Snack<\/a>\"Between\"Group<\/a>\"Young<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 RETREAT There is nothing about the word “retreat” matching what I did this past weekend! I mean, sure, I joined the ladies from Temple Baptist Church out in the wilderness (so to speak) of southern Alberta: fifteen of us (and four nursing infants) settled into a great lodge built […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":439,"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions\/439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rolledscroll.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}