An Encore of Praise
Theresa F. Latini Last weekend I traveled with my daughter, Eleanor, to Cathedral of the Pines in Lutsen, MN. For those of you who haven’t been there, COP (for short) is adjacent to Lake Caribou. Surrounded by Superior National Forest, COP is approximately four miles inland from the north shore of Lake Superior and two…
Slow to Anger
Theresa F. Latini A few months into the pandemic, I received a lovely postcard in the mail. It read, “This is only part of the story. This is not the whole story. This is God’s world.” It is good to be reminded that this is God’s world. Because over the past two weeks, the news…
Wise Speech for a Foolish Age
Theresa F. Latini Approximately twenty years ago, I was introduced to a practice called Nonviolent Communication when, unbeknownst to me, I desperately needed it. I was a full-time Ph.D. student and a part-time associate pastor. Not only was I stretched thin, but also I repeatedly encountered disheartening conflicts. Tension simmered under the surface of my…
Our Strong Refuge
Theresa F. Latini In last week’s blog, Pastor Bill MacLean reflected on the wisdom, poetry, and prayer of Psalm 90, focusing on this central petition: “Teach us to number our days so that we may live wisely.” In other words, as he put it, “Teach us to be aware of how short life is, to…
Teach Us to Number Our Days
Rev. William B. MacLean Writer Alice Walker of The Color Purple once wrote an essay called “Longing to Die of Old Age.” She speaks of going with her mother a few doors down the street to visit a dying, elderly neighbor woman. “People like my mother were visiting her constantly, bringing food, picking up laundry,…
Artful Language
Rev. William B. MacLean I ran across an article in the Atlantic Monthly that said the average working vocabulary of a 14-year-old child sixty years ago was 25,000 words and that today it’s 10,000 words. Think of that – that’s less than half. Analysts of the situation say that our technological society no longer values…
What Do You Fear?
Psalm 27 Rev. William B. MacLean My grandparents lived in a house on Lake Calhoun (now Bde Maka Ska) that had a dark, damp, musty, creepy basement. So when I was a boy spending the night with them, there was a sentence I dreaded hearing them say: “Billy, would you please go down to the…
Nature’s Wisdom
Theresa F. Latini Recently I visited my hometown of Port Jervis, NY which is near the Catskill Mountains. After almost two years of being away from family, I felt refreshed and renewed by their presence. While there, I’ve visited some of my favorite places: the cemetery where generations of family members rest in peace; the…
Echoing Wisdom’s Cheer
Theresa F. Latini Warm summer evenings have arrived here in Minneapolis, and I’ve been enjoying outdoor meals on my deck. One recent evening an array of birds serenaded my daughter, niece, and me as we enjoyed our food. The caw of crows, tweets of cardinals, trill of red winged blackbirds, and the pattering of woodpeckers…
Desiring and Learning Wisdom
Theresa F. Latini The school-year has ended in Minneapolis, and I’ve been reflecting on some of the highs and lows of journeying with my daughter through online first-grade. Thankfully, there’s been an overall trajectory of learning and growth, many moments of joy, and impressively creative projects about “giant pandas” and “how the stars and sun…
Poems and Prayers of the Bible
Theresa F. Latini This summer our blog focuses on “Poems and Prayers of the Bible:” inspiring insights, honest struggles, soaring praise, and earthy wisdom of some of the most beautiful and masterful pieces of ancient literature. These passages help us to retreat where we are, that is, to rest, to listen to God, others, and…
Lifelines for Healing Collective Trauma
Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger Last week’s post focused on an understanding of two types of trauma: personal trauma and secondary trauma. Given our experience over the past fourteen months—and much longer—we turn our attention today to healing from intergenerational trauma and collective trauma. Intergenerational trauma occurs when your parents or grandparents (or even your more…
Lifelines for Healing Personal Trauma
Deborah van Deusen Hunsinger Many of us all over the world are coping with traumatic stress at this point in our collective life history—either through recent overwhelming losses, or through past trauma that threatens to be reactivated, through vicarious trauma as we witness the suffering of others, or perhaps through the sheer magnitude of the…
An Extra (Ordinary) Love: Reflections for Mother’s Day
Theresa F. Latini One of my seminary professors frequently asked this question: “What is a lifetime and why do I live it?” The Presbyterian church where I most recently served on staff reframed his question this way: “Who is God and what is God up to? What is a good life and how do we…
It’s Time
Lisa Larges (with Kara K. Root) Time is making a comeback. Thirteen months ago, time loosened its grip on us. Appointments fell off our calendars. Everyone went home. Before the pandemic, my mornings, like so many others, were ruled by the clock. Things were timed to the minute. I got up at 4:44. I don’t…
Coming Home: An Invitation from the Pandemic
Kara K. Root and Lisa Larges Thirteen months ago our non-stop world came to a screeching halt. Instead of hurrying about our normal lives we were suddenly hunting for toilet paper and hand sanitizer and stockpiling dried beans. The goals, activities and realities of life were just…canceled. Time changed. The kids didn’t need to be up…
Signs of New Life
Theresa F. Latini Signs of new life abound at the retreat center these days: birds chirping, perennials bursting forth from the ground, geese flying over the marsh, and guests slowly returning for overnight retreats. Last weekend, after a long hiatus, my daughter and her cousin romped through the fields once again. Watching them run while…
Pursuing Justice: Togetherness, Solidarity, and Vicarious Action
Chris Dorsey Retreat Centers contribute to the work of peace, justice, and healing in the world in a variety of ways. Throughout its history, Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center has sought to offer rest and renewal for persons and groups actively engaged in this work. Central to our mission, as an affiliate organization of…
Pursuing Justice: Christian Community and the Dignity of the Oppressed
Chris Dorsey Retreat Centers contribute to the work of peace, justice, and healing in the world in a variety of ways. Throughout its history, Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center has sought to offer rest and renewal for persons and groups actively engaged in this work. Central to our mission, as an affiliate organization, of…
The Gifts of Ashes and Dust, and a Life Well-Lived
Theresa F. Latini This past Tuesday at Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center we embarked on our annual Day Lenten Journey—a mini-retreat launching us into a season of reflection, humility, and generosity. It was a gorgeous and grievous day. I greeted participants gathered on Zoom from the front of our chapel with expansive views of…
Lip Service
Carol M. Bechtel This week’s blog continues the retreat center’s focus on “cultivating wisdom.” As Carol Bechtel described in her recent workshop, wisdom asks the questions, “What kind of person do I want to be in this situation? How do I live faithfully and well?” Wisdom asks those questions in light of the most pressing…
Tell it Slant: The Good Republican/Democrat
Carol M. Bechtel Jesus is described as the “wisdom of God” in 1 Corinthians 1:24. What most people don’t realize, however, is that Jesus’ teaching had strong links with the Old Testament’s wisdom tradition. This post highlights his use of the parable—in this instance, the Parable of the Good Samaritan—as a teaching tool. It’s a method…
Choosing Joy
Theresa F. Latini Thirteen years ago, I left my first teaching position at one seminary in order to start teaching at another. A short time after my move, the academic dean at the first school called to tell me, “I so miss hearing your laughter in the building!” Recently, I started to miss my own…
Remembering as Resistance and Restoration: In Honor of Dr. King
Theresa F. Latini Today is MLK Day, a national holiday set aside for collectively remembering, honoring, and recommitting ourselves to the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. This year I’ve been reflecting on the fullness and gravitas of remembering as an act of resistance and restoration. Remembering is at the heart of divine life. God…
When Words Fail
Theresa F. Latini I imagined writing a “Happy New Year” post for this week, highlighting upcoming events at the retreat center such as our workshop on choosing joy. Instead I sat at my computer searching for words adequate to capture this moment in our collective history. A pastor friend texted me a political cartoon: a…
A Christmas Poem and a Prayer for All
Merry Christmas from Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center! We wish you days filled with unexpected glimpses of hope, peace, joy, and love. We wish the same for those who have celebrated Hanukkah and those for whom Kwanzaa is starting. We all belong to God and therefore to each other. We share with you today…
Preparing our Hearts and Homes
Theresa F. Latini In recent posts, we’ve been reflecting on the qualities or dispositions of Advent living, wondering what it means to “anticipate the good” and “wait in the midst of fear.” This season invites us to slow down, to practice stillness (even if only in snippets each day), to listen to our personal and…
Waiting Even When We are Afraid
Theresa F. Latini No small amount of life is waiting. We wait in lines—longer than usual when spaced six feet apart. We wait to hear diagnoses, both good and bad, from doctors. We keep vigil at birth and death—waiting for one beloved life to arrive and another to depart. We wait to receive final grades,…
Anticipating Light when All Seems Dark
Theresa F. Latini For those of us who follow the church calendar, we have entered the season of Advent, four weeks of preparing our hearts and homes to welcome God anew in our midst. Anticipating, waiting, preparing, and wondering: these are the marks of Advent living and the dispositions that Advent rituals (candles, wreaths, calendars,…
Mindful Eating for the Holidays
Theresa F. Latini When I was a teenager, my family frequently celebrated Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle’s house. Dick and Fran served a five-course, Italian style, unforgettable meal. Nearly thirty of us feasted slowly, over the course of an entire day, on antipasto, fish, homemade ravioli, a traditional turkey meal, and too many pies…
Solidarity in Thanks and Care
Theresa F. Latini For the past few months, my daughter, niece, and I have sat down to dinner and asked each other, “What one thing are you grateful for today?” This simple practice has attuned us to the ordinary gifts of daily life. It has buoyed our spirits and connected us to each other and…
When the Needs of All Matter to All
Theresa F. Latini 2020 just delivered another record-breaking week. The United States endured 181,000 cases of COVID-19 in one day. Minnesota’s numbers keep climbing, over 8,700 yesterday. We are witnessing more deaths, fewer ICU beds, and health care workers stretched thin. The same is true for our neighboring states. North Dakota’s health care system is…
Blessing for the Waiting Time
Theresa F. Latini Shalom, EleanorShalom, ZakariaShalom, LenaShalom, Oliver . . . That’s how my daughter’s first-grade teacher began class on Wednesday morning this past week. She went through all twenty-fix students, each one reciprocating, “Shalom.” They had been greeting one another in different languages for weeks. This personal address, however, stopped me in my tracks.…
Sabbath Rest, Freedom, and Joy
Theresa F. Latini When I was called to serve as Executive Director at Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center, I thought a lot about the connection of “retreat” to “rest” and “rest” to “Sabbath.” Over my years of teaching pastoral care, I had become increasingly aware of the necessity of Sabbath rest and the propensity…
The (Dis)Quiet of Mid-October Snow
Theresa F. Latini I woke up early Tuesday morning to rake as many fallen leaves as possible. My race to beat the snow was motivated by a strong distaste of both shoveling leafy-snowy mixtures now and raking wet, rotting leaves later. I hauled my sixth bag into the garage twenty minutes after the snow began…
Sabbath: It’s About Time
Travis West In last week’s Retreat Where You Are reflection, “A Sabbath (Re)Orientation,” I suggested that the Sabbath is more of a value system or a way of living than merely a day of prohibitions. The Sabbath is the “master builder” and we are its “apprentices” in the lifelong pursuit of wholeheartedness, presence, gratitude, and…
A Sabbath (Re)Orientation
Travis West The Sabbath is a cosmic gift woven into the fabric of creation from the very beginning of time—a gift that we desperately need today. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel revitalized Sabbath practice in American Jewish communities in the twentieth century with the publication of his magisterial little book The Sabbath. Heschel brings unique passion,…
An Astronomy of Grace
Theresa F. Latini Woven throughout a number of resources and posts here at Retreat Where You Are is this phrase: geography of grace. I first encountered this generative notion in “Placing Formation,” a lecture delivered at Austin Seminary by practical theologian Dorothy Bass. She defined geographies of grace as “place[s] infused with the grace of…
Self-Empathy as Self-Care
Theresa F. Latini Like so many families, we just finished week three of online school. I say “we” because completing five hours of online assignments and video calls daily is not something that first graders manage on their own. Overall, it’s going well. My daughter has established a solid connection with her empathetic teacher, and…
The Meaningfulness of Coming Home
Theresa F. Latini Last night at Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center, Katie Dahl played an outdoor evening concert for sixty of us. Dahl is a Door County folk musician (a singer songwriter to be more precise) who inspires, comforts, amuses, and challenges her audiences to live and love with humility and gratitude. Her lyrics,…
When the Earth’s Abundance and Ruin Converge
Theresa F. Latini Two sets of images of the earth converged in my mind this week: one of delightful abundance, another of apocalyptic ruin. At the retreat center, our peach tree grows on an old tennis court transformed into a garden and mini-orchard. It is not a big tree. Yet it yielded over 1100 peaches…
Labor Day and Sabbath Day
Theresa F. Latini A long-weekend of play before the start of school, one last trip to the Minnesota State Fair, bargain shopping at our favorite retail stores, end-of-summer picnics with friends and family, and watching parades with marching bands blaring and kids freely running and shouting: these are but a few of the ways that…
Accepting the Uncertainty of Now
Theresa F. Latini Four months ago, as we began developing this initiative, Retreat Where You Are, we acknowledged this reality: “Life looks and feels different right now. You may be anxious about your new daily routine and the uncertainty of the future.” Here, in the United States, we had been living with the pandemic for…
How’s Your Surge Capacity?
Theresa F. Latini Earlier this week, someone was telling me how unmotivated he feels about his job, a dimension of life previously filled with purpose and marked by meaningful structure. Work once ordered his days. Now his job has changed dramatically due to the pandemic. It is disorienting to create new routines. It is tiring…
The Paradoxes and Promises of Simplicity
Theresa F. Latini This past week Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center hosted an online workshop, “Simplifying Our Lives and Living Spaces,” led by Pastor Becca Ehrlich. Besides writing and teaching about Christian minimalism, Becca genuinely lives it. Her story of choosing simplicity through a variety of practices—e.g., a one-year fast from shopping, reducing her…
On This Train Together
Kara K. Root My kids’ head of school, said the other night, at an online parent meeting: “If you could join me, adults, . . . in a small ‘pinky pact’ . . . when we read articles about students, ‘losing ground’ or ‘falling behind’, that we might take those metaphors and set them aside and…
The Gift and Necessity of Silence
Theresa F. Latini One of the most significant, enduring practices of retreats across different religious traditions is silence. I remember my first retreat at a monastery—I think it was Benedictine—many years ago. Silence was expected for all guests at all meal times and in certain buildings at particular times of the day. I found it…
A Chorister’s Lament
Don C. RichterIntroduction by Theresa F. Latini, Executive Director of Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center Yesterday I read an article titled, “Sing into the Funnel Please,” with a picture of a research physician doing just that. The article laments the loss of choral singing in Britain, citing instances in which the coronavirus spread widely…
Blessing Masks and Those Who Wear Them
Theresa F. Latini Masks. I read about them a lot these days. Which means I think about masks a lot. I remind people to wear their masks at our retreat center. I make jokes – admittedly not very funny ones – about wearing my mask. I have two hooks by my front door for masks.…
Taking out the Trash
Becca Ehrlich “The Human Starter Kit” In an episode of the TV show The Good Place titled “Best Self” (Season Two, Episode 9), the immortal being Michael is named an “honorary human” by his human friends and given a “Human Starter Kit” as a gift. He is thrilled. “Car keys! So I can lose them and…
Defining “Success”
Becca Ehrlich A few years ago, a pastor colleague of mine mentioned to me an interesting conversation he had with a church member. This church member asked him if he had any siblings. He responded, briefly describing the birth order of each of his multiple siblings. The church member then asked him: “Which of you…
Preachers of Justice
Theresa F. Latini I was eleven-years-old when I came home from school and declared to my mother, “I am going to be a preacher someday.” I don’t remember the details, but I do remember the visceral sense of a “calling” that I carried with me from that young age. I credit my belief in that…
Values to Live By: Lessons Learned in L’Arche
Pastor Rebecca C. Freeman Twenty-two years ago, I packed up a couple of bags, boarded the train to Seattle, and began an adventure that forever changed my life. I entered the Lutheran Volunteer Corps and was placed as an assistant in the L’Arche Noah Sealth community. I didn’t know anything about L’Arche and was somewhat…
Rest: What’s Good for God is Good for You
Pastor Charlie Ruud A few years back while serving at Normandale Lutheran Church in Edina, I together with the ministry staff became increasingly aware of the vast pressures placed upon our youth to “succeed” or “achieve,” especially within the particular context and culture of our community. Thus, we made the conscious decision to make the…
Finding our Place in an Ecosystem of Social Change
Theresa F. Latini Nearly two weeks ago, George Floyd died as a Minneapolis city police officer knelt on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Many of us living in the Twin Cities and all around the world have watched the video of his murder. We have heard his desperate final cries, “Please I…
Go-tos for Traumatic Times
Pastor Rebecca C. Freeman Editorial note: Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center regularly welcomes groups who care for those who are most vulnerable and advocate for justice in our communities. We are grateful for the presence of these groups that are renewed and restored so that they can continue working for justice, peace, and reconciliation.…
Surrounded by Love in Death
Carol Throntveit It does hit the heart, doesn’t it? The thought that we or a loved one might die alone, a victim of the coronavirus, quarantined, and unable to have loved ones sharing words of support and love. This feels devastating. When these thoughts strike me, I am moved to tears. And yet, I find…
A Strong Bridge for Scary Divides
Theresa F. Latini Earlier this week Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center hosted an online mini-retreat, Daring to Pray in the Time of COVID. Fourteen of us gathered together through Zoom to remember that God listens to us, that God is moved by compassion to act on our behalf, that we are invited to pray…
Mother’s Day Mourning (and, Celebrating)
Theresa F. Latini Today I’m remembering my first day on the job as executive director of Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center. It was Mother’s Day 2019. Three hundred people streamed through our doors, enjoyed a veritable feast while laughing and reminiscing, and relaxed outside amidst beautiful flowers, soaking up the warm sunshine. Over twenty…
A Guide to Retreat Where You Are
People go on retreats for many reasons—to rest, to heal, to learn, to grow—individually and communally. We all need the kinds of spiritual renewal, emotional regulation, and quiet intellectual stimulation cultivated by gifted retreat leaders. In the midst of our current pandemic, it is difficult (if not impossible) to participate in facilitated or guided retreats…
Chemical Dependence in the Age of Coronavirus
Thomas Mullens Note: Recovery groups regularly attend Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center. Group members find serenity in this place of natural beauty and special support in taking time away to continue their journey of wholeness and wellbeing. We recognize that this pandemic has created special challenges for persons with addiction and offer this reflection…
Waiting for Easter
Kara K. Root I was “off” from work the last couple of days, which is a strange thing in these times, when we are all at home every second, and all the work, play, sleep, meals, fights, entertainment and rest happens right here, in the same space, with the same people. Every. Single. Day. I joked beforehand…
Glimmers of Hope on a Long Bleak Saturday
Theresa F. Latini When I was a pastor, my favorite worship service of the year was Maundy Thursday: a remembrance of Jesus’ lonely persistence in prayer, his betrayal by a friend, and then his subsequent arrest. It was refreshing to name the depth of human suffering endured by God and the ways in which that…
The Gift of Mindfulness
Theresa F. Latini Three weeks ago, I felt my first spike of anxiety about the coronavirus. The retreat center was taking inquiries about cancellations. Pastor friends were deciding whether or not to close their churches. Family members, a number of whom fall into that high-risk category, were postponing previously scheduled, non-essential medical care. And then…
Daring to Pray
Theresa F. Latini “Prayer is a very precious medicine, one that helps and never fails.” Martin Luther penned those words approximately 500 years ago, and they are as true today as they were then. Life has changed drastically for all of us in a very short period of time. Words like disaster and catastrophe and…
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