The Pastors' Retreat

Seriously, pastors have such a difficult and stressful job that they need to have a retreat.

So, as the intern pastor, I tagged along with other pastors from the Northwestern Minnesota Synod to head out to a resort along a lake. In order to get an idea of what this place was like, think "Dirty Dancing" and the ritzy camp. Looked pretty but I was hoping for more of the rustic camp settings, since I am a big fan of escaping locations with perfect cell phone reception.

Some of the highlights/low points:
- Shopping. Two of the women pastors in Bemidji took me along with them on our way with a long stayover in Park Rapids in order to shop. I got a new skirt (yay!) as well as some new sweaters (yay!). Cause my goal is to be as stylish as possible.
- Good food. I like fresh fruit, desserts, salads, and tasty meat like chicken and turkey and roast beef. I will have to subtract points for the not-so-tastalicous brown bread.
- Decent view. Lake. Trees. Only thing missing was sunshine. And enough of a breeze so that I could have gone sailing. Which I have never done and had been looking forward to going on a sailboat.
- Good conversations. Always nice to get to know other pastors who have advice to share. And to reconnect with acquaintances from seminary who are either interns like me or are brand-new pastors.
- Not feeling well and needing to take a long nap after falling asleep during a presentation. I did not realize just how tired I was getting after my long trip to Europe and three weeks in a new setting that is extremely stressful. I am at the point where I am not quite sure that I completely ready to deal with the new policies made by the ELCA.
- Rejoicing. Following the decision made by the ELCA last month to find a way for homosexuals in committed relationships to serve as rostered or ordained leaders, it was nice to hear from other people who were also happy about what will be happening. I am proud to be part of a church that has enough courage to stand up and expand our ideas of how the gospel will be preached and experienced. At the same time, I was reminded that nothing will change right away. Such a major change takes time and careful consideration to all the various consequences and possible reactions from opposing parties.
- Being told I seem to be very comfortable with myself. Nothing like a little bit of reassurance for the nervous intern. Well, I have decided that if I can make it through this year while working for a church, I can handle anything. Cause the thing that I fear most about churches is church politics, and what could be better than dealing with the explosive reactions to the homosexuality issue? Which brings up concerns about our culture at large, the sanctity of marriage, the status of families, the ability to dialogue with people you don't agree with...

Then, of course, the retreat ended at noon on Wednesday so that all those present could race back to their respective congregations in order to be present at confirmation classes or youth groups. I was no exception as I arrived back so that I could teach the 3rd grade Bible class (and the kids I had tonight were really good) and then lead a Bible study for the high schoolers. I kept the 8 sophomores and juniors on track for approximately 1 hr and 15 min. Which I think was pretty darn good. Of course, after that, we still had about 30 more min to go...But that is a really long time for anyone to study the Bible.