For the last six months I have been attending a cohort concerning ministerial and church health. About thirty ministers gathered monthly to speak to issues affecting the health of the church and its ministers. More importantly we began to address what Scripture says we should do about it.

The six months ended with most of us breaking away for a day to the Berkshires for a retreat at Timothy Hill on Lake Norwich in Huntington MA.

Here are some views from that retreat along with some thoughts I took away from the last six months. Some of the thoughts are realizations. Some of them are questions I am still pondering

What does endurance look like on your Holy Saturday, the day between the death of a dream and its resurrection? What part doesn’t endurance play when we don’t have all the answers? How does endurance arrive when we are living between the space of God’s promise and the space of our current reality?

In the life led by the Spirit, there are no shortcuts. The Valley of the Shadow of Death must be walked through.

In this life you will only find true quietness and peace in God.

Our shadow self is not always a weakness. Sometimes it is an unregulated strength, a gift or ability not submitted to Christ.