In early February, about 35 artists of Christ Church gathered at Cedarbrake Retreat Center for a weekend together. You may remember – it was that dreary, stormy weekend we had a few weeks back. Normally I might be dismayed about that kind of weather at a retreat, especially on grounds as beautiful as Cedarbrake’s.
But somehow nobody seemed to mind; it felt cozy and comfortable as we gathered in the Lodge, with plenty of hot tea, coffee, and treats. We made art of all kinds, and we laughed and cried, and we had time to simply sit and listen to each other – face to face and heart to heart. We lingered over meals, and watched the rain from the covered back porch.
There were formal times of teaching, prayer, and workshops, as well as informal times of fellowship, naps, walks, and art sharing. Most importantly, the Lord met us there, in all his goodness and beauty. It was a rich weekend full of encouragement and blessing.
If you’re an artist at Christ Church and you weren’t able to join us, I really hope you can make it next time. If you’re not an artist at Christ Church, I would also say to you: I hope you, too, can join us next time! The retreat – and most of the activities we have going on in Faith+Arts – are always open to anyone and everyone, and we would love to welcome you in.
Now, I can already hear some of you thinking: But I’m not an artist…I’ll leave that to the creative people. But the truth is we are all creative, because we’re all made in the image of a creative God. You might not exercise your creativity by making art, but it takes enormous amounts of creativity to be a teacher, to serve in public office, to problem-solve in software, to be a parent, and so on.
It’s all too easy for us to be swept up in our busy lives, and forget to stop and take a deep breath and recharge our souls. But our creativity needs to be watered regularly, so it can continue to grow and flourish and be a blessing to others. To that end, I invite you to consider getting involved with Faith+Arts. It’s not only for those who consider themselves “artists,” though we hope all the artists at CC will find a place there. But we have something to offer each of you: writing group, songwriting group, Maker Mondays, monthly fellowship breakfasts, formational programs, events in the city, and more. You can always find out what’s going on by visiting christchurcharts.org, and if you scroll all the way down, you can sign up for our e-newsletter.
In closing, I leave you with a verse of poetry by Mary Oliver, which served as the theme for our retreat:
Instructions for living a life:
Pay attention.
Be astonished.
Tell about it.
