Finding Solitude in Community

Greetings from Nashville, TN! I am spending my week at a clergy spiritual formation retreat through the Upper Room Ministries of the United Methodist Church. Clergy of many denominations, from all across the country, have gathered here to participate in Companions in Ministry 2 (CiM2). The purpose is to be nurtured in spiritual formation through clergy covenant groups, then leave here with the assignment of beginning our own clergy covenant groups when we return home.

So far, this week has been a welcome relief from my usual weekly rhythm. Instead of preparing and preaching sermons, I have been enriched by the sermons of others. While praying for others, I have been prayed for by my colleagues. I have sat in the back pew of a worship service, shared laughter as well as silence with my peers, and re-discovered my deep love and yearning for table fellowship. I have reconnected with old friends and made many new ones. I have even watched the World Series with a room full of baseball-loving pastors. It has been a productive week indeed.

One of the most enriching experiences I have had this week is the chance to listen to sermons and lectures by Trevor Hudson, a United Methodist pastor from South Africa. He has challenged us to being rather than doing, to living a cycle of grace rather than a cycle of works, and to following God out of loving, creative initiative rather than duty and obligation. Through his words, God has called me out for my incessant desire to always be accomplishing tasks like a dutiful servant. Through forced hours of silence, I have discovered that being left alone with my own thoughts is not as scary as I thought it would be. And I have re-ignited my love for journaling, a spiritual practice I have abandoned for the sake of being more efficient with my use of time, whatever that means.

My prayer this morning is that you find ways to retreat and re-connect with God as I have this week. Take a “spiritual health day” off work. Take a walk alone, letting your mind wander. Tap the stagnant energy out of your armpits, as we did during a morning meditation session. Rediscover the spiritual practices that call you into being God’s beloved. And find friends that can join you in a community of solitude. Find soul friends that will pray with you. Find soul friends that will keep you accountable. Find soul friends that create safe spaces for you to live and work and play and be as God has created you to be. I invite you, as Paul invites Timothy, to “join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace.” May the peace of Christ be with you today and always. Amen.