Nestled in the beautiful hills of Warren County, New Jersey, Centenary University provided the perfect setting for attendees of GNJ’s Mission u spiritual retreat to step away from the pressures of daily life for a weekend of study, connection, and worship.
This year’s event took place from July 18th-20th and drew about seventy participants, ranging from children to adults, to practice hope together – the theme of this year’s study from United Women in Faith.
Early in the program, participants were introduced to the term “refugia” – a biological concept referring to places where organisms retreat to survive and sometimes even expand when their living environments have been disturbed. Together, participants pondered where they see “refugia” – pockets of persistence and hope – amidst upheavals in their own lives and communities.
They named how, after the recent devastating floods in Texas, hope showed up in the form of neighbors and strangers rallying around the affected communities. In less catastrophic but still painful times of personal grief, participants said they find hope in sharing memories of loved ones who have passed or in playing with their grandchildren.
For many, the Mission u retreat was itself a “refugium.” Amy Charleston, a newly licensed Certified Lay Servant from Trinity UMC of Marmora and first-time retreat attendee shared, “It’s good to have time set apart to think about [hope] and to think about what you need, without worrying about kids, pets, what’s happening on your phone, what’s going on in the world.” Likewise, Vicki Lynch, a Mission u veteran who hosted this year’s craft table said, “We are pulled in so many directions. This is how I recharge my spiritual batteries.”
Indeed, the retreat’s space and schedule created many opportunities for renewal. The “Black Box” – a small theater off the facility’s main hallway – provided room for plenary sessions, worship, and personal meditation. Its back corner was lined with tables draped in colorful tablecloths and topped with symbols of hope – vibrant plants and handmade fabric butterflies.
These symbols popped up in other places too. At the craft table, participants of all ages could make their own butterfly suncatchers. During one of the plenary sessions, the youth gave a presentation on the “Jericho rose” – a plant that curls up into a dry, brown ball when it goes without water but can amazingly survive for years that way, blooming back to life when its thirst is quenched. In another, participants created “trees of hope” – visual representations of what keeps them rooted and how it bears fruit in the world. Nature – butterflies, flowers, trees – reminds us that God is always active, quietly creating and sustaining life even when the world is noisy.
Yet hope is not just found, it is practiced. It is embodied by people, and it comes alive in relationships. In one session, study leader Rev. Kay Dubuisson made this tangible by having her class trace outlines of their hands on a piece of paper. One participant joked, “Are we going to make turkeys?” But that was not the assignment. Instead, Dubuisson instructed her class to jot down all the things they do with their hands that bring people hope. Their answers were numerous – cooking, sending texts, gardening, serving Communion, putting Band-Aids on boo-boos, to name a few.
These acts may seem ordinary. But just as in Luke 24:30-43 the risen Jesus meets his grieving disciples with hope in the familiar acts of breaking bread and sharing fish, it is often by being present with others and showing them simple kindnesses that we can bear hope to them too.
Again, the retreat’s attendees not only learned this lesson at Mission u, they lived it. Viola Grant and her adult daughters Bobby and Rebecca, all members of Saint Paul UMC Willingboro, came to the event together and shared how much they appreciated the community there. “You get a lot of different views. Meet different people,” Viola said. Bobby added, “I loved it last year, so I came back and I’m loving it again this year… the friendships you make and the way everyone comes together to sit and discuss everything. Some may agree or disagree but it’s all to help you learn.”
Elizabeth Vaneekhoven, the Dean of Mission u, hopes that retreat participants will take what they have learned back to their local churches and communities. The Practicing Hope Together study is broken down into eight sessions that can be completed over the course of a weekend, like at the retreat, or can be spread out over several weeks in small groups. While some participants may go on to lead others through the curriculum, others will return home energized to be practitioners of hope in their daily lives.
Rev. Dubuisson reminded them that God has given them just what they need to put hope into practice by asking them to hold out their hands in front of them.
“They are not just tools,” she said. “They are holy instruments of hope. Through these hands, God’s love is made visible in the world. Just remember that.”