Hey everybody, our amazing WORSHIPCULTIVATOR, Karen Vincent sent in her thoughts on this weekend's KALEIDE event, check them out:
"I had a great experience going through the time of spiritual exploration at the Kaleide event. Some of the exercises I had done before, and some were new to me. The most significant moment was during my time of communion. I’ve probably taken communion over a thousand times during my life, but this time it felt more personal. I could hear Jesus urging me, “Karen, take the cup! It’s for you. Everything I sacrificed for and everything I have to offer is for you, today, at this moment.”
After completing the journey, I walked past the place where I had my time of centering prayer. I was reminded of the one word that came to me earlier - empty. I had felt empty and dry, in need of something - anything from God. Again I felt like God spoke to me and told me that I no longer needed to feel empty. He had now filled me with His mercy, grace, and presence. I had just drank from His cup and was now filled.
Overall this whole experience reminded me that when I choose to set aside time for God, He is there, waiting for me. He actually desires to communicate with me. I just need to make room in my life so that He has the opportunity.
I’d love to hear from others of you about your experience at Kaleide and how it impacted you."
4 comments:
I won't be there Sunday to talk back, so I wanted to leave my comments about Kaleide. WOW! It was very meaningful to me. I struggle with being quiet and listening, or being quiet and praying, or being quiet and meditating. Hmmm, could it be I mostly struggle with being quiet? The guide gave me something to focus on while I was being quiet and opening my self up to hear God's spirit speaking to me. I loved walking up the hill, trying to experience what Jesus must have felt as he dragged the cross, and then thanking him for doing so as I took communion later.
I am SO excited that my nephew came and loved the experience. He has been striving to experience God in contemplative ways that focus on eastern religions and see Jesus as a great prophet. But they neglect to see him as a savior who suffered and died for our sins, and then was resurected and offers us new life. I continue to pray for God to reveal to him the person and divine nature of Jesus. I'm so excited that this experience gives us a springboard to talk to each other about how we experience God and who God is. I'll be spending Easter weekend with him and the rest of my family in the Hill Country, at my parents' house, so there should be plenty of time for talks and walks in the woods. Perhaps we'll have another Kaleide experience.
This may have been the BEST "different" experience that I have had with CrossPointe. At times, all of the extra media stuff and different formats we use can be a distraction for me...so going out into the basics of nature was PERFECT for me. Which is pretty funny, considering camping would be like hell on earth for me!!! I don't do bugs, sticks or snakes!
But here's the thing, God says he speaks in a still, small voice. So, when we take away everything else in our crazy lives - traffic, buildings, internet and blackberries, work, stress, people (even the ones we love) and are forced to meet him back at the beginning, so to speak, that small voice doesn't seem so tiny and mixed in with everything else. It can become bold and sonorous and WAY easier to focus on.
When I did the Walking with Jesus exercise, at first I thought "There's no way I'm going to 'feel' this, let's just get through it." Then, something stopped those thoughts (gee, I wonder what that was), and I concentrated on putting myself in Jesus' place. I found a dirt trail with a bunch of big rocks at the end. As I walked the trail, I keep my eyes trained on the rocks, visualizing them as being Calvary.
I tried to imagine what Jesus thought as he got closer and closer to Calvary. Did he wonder what in the world makes Christi so special that I will DIE for her? Will it make a difference to her? Will she recognize the sacrifice it takes to be separated from my Father?
So many questions rolled through my head as I slowed my pace and centered my focus. I'm getting teary-eyed now just trying to describe it. I bawled on the trail!
I was renewed by the reassurance that my God accepts me unconditionally, loves me beyond measure, and desires to fill me with that same love for others.
Karen, I'm with you, it DEFINITELY made that millionth time of taking communion SO much more real and impacting. I too felt full and content.
After the egg hunt, our kiddos wanted their turn to take a nature walk, so Allen and I took them. What a blessing it was to go back through some of the places where I had experienced some spiritual enlightenment earlier in the day. We even found out that he and I had chosen the same trail to be the Via Dolorosa. I've determined that I don't get away from "civilization" often enough, and Al and I decided that we should bring the kids out there more often, and start to share more about God with them while we are there.
Which will be perfect, because just last night, Lainie asked me SEVERAL questions about God and then told me she wants to learn more about Him, and that she wishes we had church a lot more during the week! So, she and I have committed to reading her new Bible - designed for girls ages 6-8,she reminds me constantly! - together every night, and doing some of the fun exercises in it. She's so excited about it that she wants to take it as she goes to spend the night with friends tonight! WOW! Isn't God AMAZING?!?!
I'm in awe as I read Karen, Christi, and Holly's experiences! Wow! Well said and super cool! Can we have "outside church" all the time?? (OK...except when it's 101 degrees...or 23 degrees...OK, we can go back to inside church...)
The bottome line of my experience was 2 words from the scripture..."grapevine" and "gardner." God brought to my mind to think about the grapevine's responsibilities vs. the gardner's responsibilities. One provides fertilizer, makes sure the other nutrients are available-water, sunshine, etc, prunes, weeds, ties up the vines, harvests the grapes and takes them to market when it's time. The other uses the gardner-provided resources and care to grow grapes...period. In God's analogy, I'm to be the grapes and he's to be the gardner. The ramifications continue to unfold.
After reading others' stories, I can't wait to hear from others!!
Nancy and I compared notes about our experiences this morning. Specifically about the words we zoomed in on for Lecto Divina. For me, the concept of pruning struck significant. God cuts away good stuff sometimes so that it will produce more.
That absolutely blew me away.
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