in an attempt to provide students with "mini" opportunities to engage new ideas and missional practices in a way that is compelling and that sparks deeper thought and imagination for what is possible on campus, we created a one-day learning experience dubbed read.retreat.serve. we would love to do a couple of these each semester, so this was kind of our trial run, and i'd say that it was a huge success.
we spent the morning at the bethany house of prayer in arlington, ma. what a beautiful oasis in the middle of boston. we engaged in some directed reading and then we came together at the end of our time for a great reflective discussion.
then we headed up to salem, ma, to help out a church there that is doing some exciting "out-of-the-box" ministry in a pretty weird town (salem, for those history buffs, was at the heart of the "witch trials" and is still a big hotbed of witch activity). the gathering, as this church is called, does some pretty creative stuff to reach out to people during this time of the year, which, as we near halloween, is a big moment of spiritual seeking in the community. i've lived in or near some weird, funky towns with strange spirituality's and faith expressions but i think salem at halloween might take the cake for me. i had a chance to go to "witch school" and basically ask this master witch any questions. what an amazing conversation we had! some in our crew were able to offer people blessings, while others passed out free hot chocolate and raise awareness about fair trade. all in all it was a very cool experience and i think students left challenged to think about creative ways to communicate the gospel in their own contexts on their campuses.
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