wonder, peace, a brief sanctuary- you are right - this is needed. I sometimes find that in your writing - if not - I find something that makes me think.

Thank you for writing openly and honestly. I can only imagine a spiritual retreat that is open and honest and what that can bring about in lives of those involved and from there the lives of people they touch. You are touching more than 13 lives, that is for certain.

Thank you for the work and the writing you do.

Peace be on you and may peace be in you.

Summer

It was sacred time, Gordon. Thanks. I agree about the difficulty of trying to sum things up in a few hundred words. I'll do my best later this week.

Gordon: I posted a few words about my experience on my blog. I just want to say thank you. I needed to be there, and I truly felt loved. Your faith community at Covenant is remarkable. Can't wait to see everyone again.

"I think our world needs a place where you can go to find peace and friendship and love, a place where you can ask questions and talk about the meaning of life without feeling pressured or threatened by religious people with a conversion agenda."

Let me hear an amen.

You may notice a small path of twigs arcing tangentially to the labyrinth stones.

Thanks so much for sharing--wish I could've made it down there this summer--will do it someday!

Did y'all have therapeutic art sessions or what? Is this something people did in their spare time? Fun stuff! I agree, conversion and agenda should never be used in the same sentence. I mean, do we believe in a sovereign God or not?

Gordon,

I wanted to ask you to think about a suggestion related to your important observation:

"Our small and powerless faith community seems to have stumbled gracefully into a need in our world. I think our world needs a place where you can go to find peace and friendship and love, a place where you can ask questions and talk about the meaning of life without feeling pressured or threatened by religious people with a conversion agenda."

I've been reading your blog for years and often long to find such a place where I live. I am a former evangelical Christian, with an MDIV and assistant pastor experience, who no longer accepts church doctrine but still relates to Christian values and ponders deeply and often all manner of "spiritual things."

Would you consider creating some sort of sidebar where readers can list links (or phone numbers) to communities similar to yours across the country/world? It might really help many of us find just the kind of place and people that you and Covenant have created in Austin.

Thanks for considering ... and writing and sharing as you do.

Well I wish we could have been there. It seems to me that this is a lot closer to what "church" is supposed to be than what we generally get here in America in this day and age.

Do you think that this will be something that you still offer in, say, two years? That's sort of a weird question, but I'll be eligible for a sabbatical by then and it may be my first opportunity to attend one of these.