This fall, I went on a three-day retreat at a southwest Michigan center called The Hermitage. It offers space for up to twelve in an atmosphere of silence that invites prayer and contemplation: “Creating an environment of attentiveness to God.”
Most of the sleeping space is in the main residence but there are three cabins available without electricity or running water. It is thoroughly off the grid: no cell service, no wifi (although there is an office with a landline and computer for emergencies).
Spiritual direction is offered as are daily worship services that include hymns. The meals are vegetarian with a focus on locally sourced food. The Hermitage is run by four staff who are all-hands-on-deck for everything provided, from baking bread and cooking meals, to leading worship, to working with contractors on the new roof for the sanctuary. All have traditional religious credentials and the center is affiliated with the Mennonites.
While I’m feeling pretty churchy now, I’ll try not to go overboard and slip into Old Testament vernacular when speaking about the bird feeder, covered in snow, in the shape of a barn, that hung outside the picture window beside where we took our meals. It has become one of the defining spaces of the Hermitage for me. I’ll refrain, as always, from telling anyone else what I think they should think or do because none of my core beliefs about religion have changed: our relationship with God and choice of religion (or lack thereof) is a completely individual choice, there can be no compulsion in religion, and all religions are essentially equal. And I’m not planning to unveil any miracles or conversions.
But nearly everything about The Hermitage was so positively awesomesauce that I wouldn’t do it justice if I didn’t break up the experience into pieces and explore them.
I’ll be talking in coming weeks about what the retreat meant to me, some of the decisions I made there, what it was like to practice silence, what I learned about myself, my rekindled passion for King David, how I’m feeling now about God, just where the heck I’ve been since early August and what happened to derail me then, and my plans for the future.
And let me leave you in the meantime with a quote by Thomas Merton:
To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence: for God is love. Love is my true character. Love is my name. If, therefore, I do anything, or think anything, or say anything, or know anything, or desire anything that is not purely for the love of God, it cannot give me peace, or rest, or fulfillment, or joy.
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