instead of re-creating the wheel, i thought i’d just pass on a few other posts from the refuge and the collage workshop i went to this past weekend.
the refuge post is about some of the marks of authentic community & some of the things we are passionate about. you can check it out here.
jenny wrote about the collage workshop that the refuge hosted on saturday. she has some good pictures you can check out here. it was 3 hours of therapy for $5!! so good. great company & worth the energy to get there. my collage is in the picture above but her site you can see it so much better. it is always fun for make space for creative things like this. it’s on my kitchen windowsill so i will see it each day. i really do want to “enjoy the ride” this year instead of clenching my fists all the time, squeezing my eyes shut and hoping the ride gets over quick, missing all the beauty of the moment.
and lastly, i will say i was so proud of the refuge tonight–we did the spiritual discipline of silence & solitude as a community, watched the rob bell nooma noise dvd & created 5 different stations for people to go to in complete silence: fire, prayer, communion, darkness (we had ties for people to blindfold themselves), and praise. we had a few guided questions at each place. we were making apologies to people for pushing them to try something so awkward together and the push back to us was “cut it out, we can hack it”. it was lovely. i come from that darn attractional mindset sometimes and forget that at this point no one is at the refuge because of the feel-good show because there most certainly isn’t one. they are here to dig in, give new things a try, and be part of the conversation instead of sitting passively. i looked up during my time at the prayer station & i got a little teary realizing “damn, we’re really doing this!” i always have this little noogling fear we’re going to systematically drive people away with these crazy experiments but i have to say i think it’s glorious to at least be trying. everyone’s experiences were all over the place.
i did kind of hear from God during my silence. in general, when i am anxious, my foot & leg start shaking, sometimes just subtly, sometimes a little less covert, but it is always just my anxiety popping out and is a way i know i’m stressed and anxious. i’ve been noticing a bit more lately. during the quiet God gave me this repeated image of his strong gentle hand on my leg. “honey, settle down.” the verse that popped into my head was one of my favs. psalm 46:10–be still and know that i am God. i kept writing down: i am God. kathy, you are not. i am God. you are not. be still. i am God. you are not. settle down. be still. i did feel a little less anxious & am always reminded when i make a little intentional space God seems to seep in something i need to hear.
well, it was a good wacky refuge eve and a great example that worship doesn’t have to mean music & church doesn’t have to mean a sermon.
and to top it off afterward we hung out with an old friend who was visiting from arkansas & watched the grammy’s (all the kids were rooting for kanye). it was a little anti-climactical with herbie hancock winning album of the year (????) but always a great show and one of the escobar fam traditions!