Our Fall Retreat theme this year was "Connected" and centered on relationships. And our relationships as a group received some extra confined time in the car. Icy road conditions forced an hour and a half ride to Emmitsburg, MD into a 3 1/2 hour ride for some, and for yours truly, a 7 hour ride (Which included an hour long stay on an icy hill while waiting for an accident to be cleared, and dinner at Frank's Pizza)
Meeting at Summit Lake Campground with three other local youth groups (Millersville Bible, Lampeter UMC and Lampeter Church of the Brethern), 150 teens and adults got together for the weekend.Unlike most other retreats or conferences that have someone up front teaching 4 or 5 main points, the retreat was centered around the concept of relationships, and was explored through experience and conversation. Friday night, teens created a relational grid that included specific names of people within the spheres of School, Work, Home, Community, Family and Church.
Saturday morning, each youth group split off for a time of serving the needs of the community around. Our group faced the cold weather and stood outside a mall, helping the Salvation Army greet mall-goers with the all-too-famous red smocks and bells.Saturday afternoon held lots of possibilities for free time including naps, showers, card games, and an awesome game of football. After dinner, all the groups were mixed up into teams for a game of Mission Improbable: a tweaked game of Capture the Flag in which every team member had a physical limitation such as being blind, mute, or unable to walk. It was hilarious to watch these groups try to be stealthy while they're carrying someone on their back, but the purpose was to create a team-oriented
activity in which it was more important to cooperate and support one another's needs, rather than simply trying to win the game.Saturday night was probably my favorite session time. The building we had been having our large group gatherings (the Tabernacle) was turned into a deeply reflective environment. Stations were set up based on 7 topics of relationships: love, care, forgiveness, peace, compassion, truth and grace. Teens were asked to use the relational maps they had created and explore which relationships they needed to apply those characteristics to. Each word had music, Scripture, prayer focus and a letter writing component. Teens were challenged not to think about WHAT they were getting out of the weekend, but rather, WHO they were there for this weekend. Who did God want them to add love, or care, or truth to the relationship.
Sunday morning concluded with a time where small groups looked at passages in Ephesians, Colossians, and Romans to determine how we as a community of Christ-followers should act towards one another. Each group developed a code or creed of conduct based on the truth of Scripture. We talked as a group whether the components of these Scriptures would describe our group, and if not, how can we move towards these goals so that we can put the relationship with Christ as the staple of our youth group.To finish our time, all 150 of us gathered together for communion, taking it in our small groups. We were reminded that we take communion not only to remember Jesus and His saving sacrifice, but that we also commit to the Way He lived, not only as individuals, but as a community of followers.
The weekend was filled with fun: card games, football games, mission improbable (at least it was fun to watch!) The weekend was filled with worship: Signs of Scarlet rocked out and led some amazing times of praise. The weekend was filled with relationships: small groups, cabin mates, other teens from other groups...And most importantly, how our relationship with Christ is the center of it all. For the 18 teens and 5 adults from Grace, it was certainly a weekend to remember how we're all connected to Christ, His Body (that's us!), and everyone else in our relational map.