“I have been searching for something like this my whole life.”
This remark by a man new to Regional Disciples Men gatherings was shared at one of the nightly council circles that enabled men to reflect on what was experienced during their day while on retreat. All that was asked is: “Speak from the heart and listen from the heart.” The safe space opened vulnerable conversations on how God was speaking to each of us in the open desert wilderness.
The nearby Christ in the Desert Monastery deep in the Santa Fe National Forest.
Ten men found their way together to first explore southern Colorado and then arrive at Ghost Ranch Retreat & Educational Center near Abiquiu, New Mexico for a week of hiking, deep personal inner work, support, and sharing in late October. Ghost Ranch has a colorful history beginning with sea-level pre-Jurassic dinosaurs discovered there, to nomadic tribes passing through, to Spanish settlers (who were scared off by the dino-monster legends), to horse thief and cattle rustler compounds, to legends of a buried treasure, to a benefactor who won the deed in a poker game, to becoming a dude ranch for the eastern city slickers, to Georgia O’Keeffe arriving to paint the landscape and calling it home, to the Presbyterian Church USA acquiring Ghost Ranch and doing a remarkable job honoring all the legacies still today.
People will recognize the landscape of Ghost Ranch immediately as the landmark movie, City Slickers was filmed there 30 years ago, as well as the recent The Legend of Buster Scruggs and dozens of other Westerns. A new film crew was present when Disciples Men were there too. To be fully present, one nightly council circle revolved around pertinent lessons from City Slickers such as the Hero’s Journey lived out in the characters, as well as each man being asked the classic, “What was the worst day in your life and what was the best day in your life?”
A medicine water wheel; untamed desert garden; a stone labyrinth; and a day set aside for fasting, silence and prayer proved to be invaluable entrees akin to what Jesus may have experienced in his 40 days in the wilderness, as well as the 2nd-4th century Desert Fathers and Mothers. A local spiritual director, who took the men on hidden and remarkable trails, shared how retreating to the desert, or any natural space in your environment, is invaluable for spiritual awakening. God’s creation will speak in metaphoric ways and provide solutions for long-nagging concerns. One will emerge, as Jesus did, remarkably changed – and ready to minister.
The day of silence, fasting, and retreat was very intentional and pivotal as shared by all in attendance. Each was asked to spend several hours reflecting on Five Hard Truths of life juxtaposed with five wonderful corollaries from the New Testament: Matt 11:28, Rom. 8:38-39, Luke 10:20, Luke 12:16, and Col. 3:4.
The vistas, mesas, landscapes, and canyons of Ghost Ranch are breathtaking. Days were sunny, dry, and warm until a desert storm ushered in a pitch-black delight. It is no wonder why the legendary artist, Georgia O’Keefe would spend the second half of her century-old life trying to paint all that she could see. Naturally, one council circle was dedicated to her for personal inspiration. Her biographer, Benita Eisler describes O’Keeffe’s first gaze into the colors of New Mexico.
“The astonishment produced by the landscape around Ghost Ranch is the shock of extreme contrasts. After the flatness of the Rio Chama valley, with long, low mesas rising in the far distance, arriving at the bottomland of the ranch site is like being dropped into a crater of the moon. Invisible from the road, towering cliffs thrust up as through out of nowhere. Formed by wind and the water of a vast prehistoric lake, the immensity of sheer exposed surface would be fearful enough. Striated in wild clashes of color, the cliffs rise like a hallucination, a garish spectrum of the earth’s history: narrow top layers of sandstone, gray shale and coal, and white gypsum descend into purple and viridian green mudstone; runoffs from the pink sandstone cliffs look like the webbed feet of an enormous prehistoric creature; elsewhere towering mounds of siltstone have been dyed violet-red, cobalt, and sulfurous yellow by the dense iron oxide. After the pale sandy colors of Alcalde and the Rio Chama basin – silvery cottonwood, olive piñon, brown-gray juniper – and the misty blue of the Taos valley floor, the brilliant lunar outcroppings around Ghost Ranch spoke to Georgia as no other place had ever done. The landscape of Ghost Ranch gave her the “wonderful emptiness” of Texas along with a new vocabulary of form and color. “This is my world.”
Naturally, the men were asked to consider: “In what ways have the emptiness with a new vocabulary of form and color painted your life?”
Mid-America Disciples Men partners with Illuman of the Ozarks to provide a breadth of spiritual resources for individuals, groups, and congregations leading to spiritual transforming. As our spiritual director, Jim Baker lamented in his lifetime of ministry, “People have great difficulty admitting that they DO NOT KNOW how to spend even a few moments with God. They would much rather work, serve on committees, do anything except being silent and alone in prayer. Uncharted openness and vulnerability is frightening.” The Mid-America Region is working hard to create sacred space and any number of ways for spiritual transforming to occur.
Regional Minister Paul Koch, who dedicated the first half of his sabbatical to experience the Sacred Desert and invite men to join him has returned and is most willing to speak, teach, preach and be a resource to help you church and Disciples grow in spiritual direction. Please reach out to him for conversation.
The first major product resulting from this inspiration will be retreats for newly baptized Pastors’ Class youth and their same-gender parent or elder in early June. (Non-binary individuals are welcomed.) “First Rites of Passage: Forty Hours in the Wilderness” will include bonfires, biblical storytelling, Native American legends and lore, rituals, and time apart in rugged Missouri wilderness at Shannondale deep in the Ozarks and other locations. Pastors are encouraged to please include this bonus in their curriculum. It is hoped a transforming “staying-power” will keep the youth involved in their faith community after baptism.
Mid-America Men will gather next on Saturday, Dec. 11 from 10:00-3:00 at Bethany Hall in Columbia. Bethany Hall is the separate annex building to First Christian Church in Columbia. It is next to their north parking lot at 101 N. 10th Street, Columbia, MO 65201. Men from all Columbia area congregations are especially invited to give us a try. Please email Regional Minister Paul Koch at paul.ccma@sbcglobal.net to RSVP (for lunch count) and more information.