Well, last month we started a new segment in the church gathering, called "5 Minutes of 'Why?'" With the addition of these to some of our orders of service, we're recognizing that we've done a lot of things as a church family for a long time now without a refresher explanation; we also recognize we have quite a few new families and individuals visiting and joining this local church as members, and we'd really like to re-explore together the reasons why we do the things we do. Some of these "5 Min" segments will deal with ordinances we practice that are commanded by Scripture, and others will deal with the ways we've decided to obey what Scripture teaches in a specific area, but that may not be exactly the right way for every church to obey a specific command.
This past Sunday's "5 Min" segment is like that. I explained a few reasons why we have retreats, and why a philosophy of fellowship and rest have led us to plan men's and women's retreats for our church family. Again, some of these explanations may be obvious to some, but definitely won't be for others, and it's always good for all of us, in all we do especially in the church, to refreshingly ask "Why?"
If you missed Sunday, here's the main part of how we answered the question, "Why retreats?"
A few times a year, we spend specific time with each other to go away from our normal routines for a few days. This happens at several levels: youth, college, men, women, and married couples. Why do we believe this is so valuable?
We Value Relationships:
- Jesus incarnated Himself to enter into humanity (Phil. 2:9-11) so that we could not only have a relationship with Him, but with the Father (John 10:25-30). In that He used language of relationship: sons of God, marriage supper of the Lamb, we are the Bride of Christ, we are brothers and sisters.
- Jesus demonstrated the need to have times alone with His disciples to pray (Luke 9:18, 22:39-40), and to get away from the crowds (Mark 3:7).
- We value specific relationships – Men with men, women with women, older with younger (1 Timothy 5:1-2) because each have a specific roll in each other's life.
- We recognize building friendship is hard, so time is important – we want people to be fully known and fully loved, and that does not happen right away. WE want to play out the “one another’s “ of scripture (like Hebrews 3:12-13 and 1 Thess. 5:14), but that can only happen when there are ongoing relationships
We Value Rest:
- God built into the structure and system of humanity that we’d work for 6 days and rest for 1 (Genesis 2:1-3, Exodus 20:8-11; Deut. 5:13-15; Mark 2:27-28). This included physical AND spiritual rest, a day set aside to focus, or better yet, RE-focus on who God is. Retreats allow us to do this for a few days, to get out of the busyness and have focused time.
- Retreats help us rest with concentrated worship
- We get to pause for perspective
- We get to examine our priorities, minds, and hearts
All that to say, we'd absolutely love to see you at Men's Retreat coming up next week, February 24-26. Head here to sign up if you haven't yet!
Have a great week!
