Usa Voyage Of A Lifetime Retreat And Life Vows
Cary and Gannon Sims, of Fresh Expressions USA, drive UK Guardian Simon Reed and myself to the Christ in the Desert Monastery, Chama. We share Midday Pray with the monks.
We drive to the Javez Indian Pueblo. Sal and Flo (elders) graciously receive us, and their family members feed us around a table that seats twenty people. They sing chants, and explain what the Creator means to them. They accept an invitation to join us at Madonna House for a meal and we exchange gifts. Will and Millie Toms, of YWAM, who sustain a fruitful relationship with Hopi and other Indian peoples speak to us. They believe that if the American Indian people follow Jesus in the creation they could speak to the whole post-Christendom world. In the morning we walk to the Rio Grande and say Forest Church type prayers.
The Hispanic staff make our meals. Then they sing to us. Following the talks and workshops there are times for silence and discussion. Simon talks through issues that call for cohesion between the Community in USA and elsewhere and attends the Caim Council. Following this Paul Martin likens the international community to a tree and the US community to a branch of that one tree. The retreatants leave gifts to help defray my travel costs.
The talks focus on the demise of Christendom, the rise of new monasticism, and the key role our Community could play in the Great Emergence that is beginning. You can download my last talk from this site now /USA 2014 Retreat.
Following the retreat we ascend the lift to the mountain top. Simon envisions that an international Caim Council and an international retreat might be a next step. After a Mexican meal in Little Anita's café we give money to a homeless mother and child, return to Madonna House, there to sleep before onward travel to our varied destinations.
