We are looking forward to our next retreat, August 13-15 on The Art and Practice of Spiritual Discernment. An increasing capacity to discern and do the will of God is one of the tangible outcomes of our spiritual transformation as Paul notes in Romans 12:2. It is exciting to have arrived at the point in our Transforming Community experience where we are ready to explore this together.
Since the theme for this retreat is The Art and Practice of Spiritual Discernment, I encourage you to come with a real decision or question for discernment—large or small—that you're willing to work with while on retreat. This will ensure you actually begin practicing the principles of discernment rather than merely engaging the material in a theoretical fashion. Some of you are facing significant issues that require more than human wisdom; they require the wisdom of God that is given as pure
gift. It takes courage to bring a significant question or decision into a discernment process, but I pray you will consider doing so.
You will find some additional guidance and information below. I hope it allows you to come to retreat ready and attentive to all that God has for us.
Grace and peace,
REFLECTING ON THE LAST RETREAT
As this quarter draws to a close, please remember to carve out time to prepare for our time together. You are invited to reflect on the questions found below or in your During the Quarter document and prepare your 2–3-page paper related to the themes from the last retreat. This written reflection will form the basis of your sharing with community members over dinner on Sunday night.
Even if you are not handing in a paper for the certificate program, we would encourage you to write down a few of your reflections as a way of pulling your thoughts together in preparation for sharing with community members over dinner.
How have you incorporated a greater emphasis on self-examination and self-knowledge into your spiritual rhythms over the last quarter? What has your experience been? What aspects have been most challenging and most beneficial?
What self-knowledge has God been revealing to you in your practice of self-examination as we explored this practice from Psalm 139
What has
been the fruit of your continued reflections on the Enneagram teaching and the Myers Briggs? What are you noticing about the compulsions of the false self and how these patterns play themselves out in your life? Where have you gotten a clearer glimpse of your true self and perhaps even made choices that are more congruent with your true self in God?
Spend time reflecting on the power of confession as you experienced it on retreat and also at other times in your life when you might have practiced? How do you experience all three expressions—personal (with God), interpersonal (with a trusted friend or confessor AND with persons you have offended), and corporate?
What is the role and significance of confession in you personally and as a leader relative to your process of spiritual transformation?
Please email your paper to TC18papers@transformingcenter.orgby the Friday before the retreat. If you missed the last retreat, please check the requirements for making up a retreat on theTC18 webpage.
PREPARING FOR THE UPCOMING RETREAT
Your conversations with your small group on Sunday night at dinner will be significant before we head into the content of the discernment retreat. It will be very helpful to process the past retreat so everyone in your group has some idea of what you have identified as your Enneagram number or at least the darker patterns God has been revealing to you. As I shared in our last retreat, the transformational journey is different for each Enneagram number and having this information about each other will help us be more effective spiritual companions. I will say more about this when
we come together on the first night.
