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Into The Wild

The Rite to Follow—Without A Leash

Table of Contents 1

Rites of Passage—Need and Vacuum 2

Rites of Passage—Form and Content 6

• Group Flags

• Dog Tags / Wild Names

Intro The Wild: The Rite to Follow—Without A Leash 12

• Theme and Theology

• Let Go. Let God.

• Train Info from A Falcon’s Guide

Appendix 23

• The Code of Community

Leader Contact Information

• Jeremy Spainhour: 336.689.9635

• Varee Vetters: 317.502.6980

• Josh Johnson: 606.273.1658

• Jordan Johnson: 706.839.8523

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Dear Parents,

As you know, you son or daughter has been invited to join me, along with three other leaders, for a week long journey in Colorado’s Weminuche Wilderness. This letter is being written to give you a detailed overview of the concept of the trip as well as our itinerary.

I am calling this trip Into The Wild: The Rite to Follow—Without a Leash. The trip has been designed to be a rite of passage with a view to following Jesus. Before getting into the particulars of the trip, I want to explain what a rite of passage is and why I think it is important. If you are not particularly interested in the meaning behind the trip, just jump ahead to the trip overview section. What follows involves much of my research that went into the particular way I have designed the trip and its intended outcomes.

Rites of Passage—Need and Vacuum

Broadly speaking, a rite of passage is an initiation process that functions to help an individual gain a social vision by means of a particular experience that reflects the corporate identity and values of his or her community. As children grow and develop, from total dependance toward relative independence, there are various stages of life in which it is particularly important to increase their social vision. The so-called adolescent stage of life is undoubtedly the most important time for this development. Neuroscientist Joseph Pearce suggests that there are five brain surges throughout life, each of which unite one “brain” with another (e.g., abstract brain, logical brain, heart brain, etc.): years 1, 4, 7, 11, and 14-17. 1This last brain surge is, according to Pearce, when the heart brain (the emotions) are united with the rest. It is therefore particularly important for the shaping of a person’s character and personality, which makes the occasion for a rite of passage all the more appropriate. Indeed, Richard Rohr suggests that “every missed rite of passage leads to a new rigidification of the personality, a lessening ability to see, to adjust, to understand, to let go, to be human.”2

Emerging from such an initiation, a person is received into his or her community with a new role, new expectations, and in some cases even a new name, that is, a new identity. The interior transformation should complement the exterior changes in roles and responsibilities. Perhaps the most poignant biblical example of this is when Jacob wrestles through the night with God and is incapacitated by having his hip put out of socket. He nevertheless holds on until daybreak and is not only awarded with the blessing he has sought his whole life, but he is also given a new name: Israel. He will forever now bear the identity of God’s social vision for an entire nation, but he will also now forever walk with a limp

Pearce, Biology of Transcendence. 1

Rohr, Adam’s Return, The Five Promises of Male Initiation. 2

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(Gen. 32:22-32). A man given a promotion is given with it a new nametag, more authority, more money, and more of a sense of entitlement. He now has power over more people, but if he has no social vision the people under him will suffer all the more as a result of his promotion. Jacob walks away from his promotion with his new nametag and goes to be reconciled to his brother Esau, whose blessing and birthright he stole. The chosen one of God bows to his pagan brother seven times, blesses him, and gives him half of his possessions (Gen. 33). Before his promotion, he stole from him; after, he bows. God’s initiation rite for Jacob aligned him with God’s global mission announced to Abraham. And it is the very same mission the Church has inherited: to be blessed in order to be a blessing (Gen. 12:1-3).

In our culture, rites of passage have become quite hollow. I say hollow because they are attend only to the exterior life of a person, not the interior. They are about caps and gowns, not challenges and journeys—ceremonial, not transformational.

There is a big difference, for example, between a Sweet 16 birthday party and a four-day Navajo Foot Race to initiate a female into womanhood. There is also a big difference 3

between an 18 year-old American adolescent male going through a high school graduation ceremony and an 18 year-old Kenyan male going through a Maasai Lion Hunt. In both cases, apart from the obvious differences in these comparisons, of particular import are the outcomes they have on the initiates.

Consider the Maasai Lion Hunt. It is a rite of passage that serves as the transition for males to become warriors. This is not merely a transition from boyhood to manhood—although it is that. The reason it is important for every male in the Maasai tribe to eventually become a warrior (to personally and publicly be recognized as such) through a life-threatening rite is because historically the Maasai’s survival has depended upon their men both hunting and fighting—risking their lives—for the sake of the tribe. The rite is thus aptly fitted to the Maasai’s social vision that helped to ensure the survival of a particular people and a particular culture.

Every member of a Maasai community can distinguish between a boy and a warrior, because standing in between the two is the clearly defined rite—the lion hunt. A male has either been through the rite or not; he is either boy or warrior. In our culture, it is no embellishment to say that we can no longer distinguish between male and female, much less between a boy and a man. This is not the failure of individuals internally struggling with gender identity. It is a cultural failure.

Historically there have been far fewer examples of female rites of passage than there are male. The supposed reason 3

for this is that generally speaking females will experience all the characteristics of a transformative coming of age rites of passage in childbirth. See below on “liminal experiences.”

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Apart from the broader problem of hyper-indvidualism, as well as epidemic of fatherlessness (which includes fathers who are emotionally and spiritually absent, not just physically absent), our politically admirable philosophy of pluralism has led to a culturally destructive doctrine of pluralism. That is, it has become morally reprehensible to belong to any group that can delimit who’s “in” and who’s “out.” The result is that rather than promoting genuine pluralism, the peaceful coexistence of distinct peoples and their respective cultures, social boundary lines have been broken down and blended so as to produce a cultural casserole of celebrated diversity, which can no longer distinguish its diversity nor find anything agreeable to celebrate (enter: the triumph of the entertainment industry—I’ll spare you my thoughts on that). This is in part a description of postmodernity. Whatever else postmodernity is, it is impossible to pin down as some singularly defined cultural context. It is by definition amorphous and fragmented, defined only by what it is not (hence “post-…”), agreeing only to never agree only anything, since agreement with one is disagreement with another—and that would be exclusive, which is the unpardonable sin of pluralism (re: amalgamationism). This is the world in which our children are being nurtured outside the home. It is thus important for us to considering how we might be intention inside the home to offer an alternative space to the void outside.

This is especially pertinent when we consider that socially enigmatic extended stage-of-life category between boys/girls and men/women called adolescence. Psychologist John Santrock describes adolescence as “the period of life between childhood and adulthood…[The process] lasts from roughly 10-13 years of age and ends at 18-22 years of age. [However,] defining when adolescence ends is not an easy task. It has been said that adolescence begins in biology and ends in culture.” In other words, adolescence is hardly more than a cultural 4

shrug of the shoulders. Of course defining the end of adolescence is not an easy task. Such an end requires a communally recognized process, and hence the natural emergence throughout world history of coming of age rites of passage. But in our country, adolescent development is envisaged as parents, who have no definite social vision of their own apart from some scaled but otherwise generic version of the American Dream, nurturing the education of their children by sending them off to get educated. And forget Deuteronomy 6—religious eduction happens on Sundays and possibly Wednesdays (so long as its not baseball-, basketball-, chess team-, track-, color guard-, thespian-, etc.-season), when parents go to a worship service and their kids go to play games and eat junk food in a so-called youth group, since the living God is not relevant until one’s adult life (pardon the sarcasm).

There is an apparent uncritical assumption that education, defined basically as the acquisition of information, is an adequate preparation for adulthood. Thus is neglected attending to the inner changes that are biologically taking place for which teens have no external points of reference to help them navigate their experience. As Frederick Beuchner

Santrock, Adolescence, 28-29. 4

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writes regarding the adolescent experience, “The opaque glance and the pimples. The fancy new nakedness. They’re all dressed up in with no place to go. The eyes full of secrets they have a strong hunch everybody is on to. The shadowed brow. Being not quite a child and not quite a grown-up either is hard work, and they look it. Living in two worlds at once is no picnic.”5

Thus, while I have not designed this rite of passage to be a coming of age initiation, I do hope that it may serve a more basic purpose that in principle will help each student navigate their present world and eventually into the world of adulthood. Rather than leading them into manhood or womanhood, which I do not think can or should be done without the parents’/guardians’ immediate involvement, this rite is an initiation into discipleship. While it is true each student can and should already be considered a disciple of Jesus, the purpose of this trip is to become a reference point for their lives, that is, to become an foundational building block in their memory on which their understanding of what it means to be a disciple, and thus too their self-understanding, can continue to be built.

That said, I am pulling from resources that inform the qualities of rites of passage in general but also those which will help to give it its particularly Christian shape (continued below).

Buechner, Whistling in the Dark, 2. 5

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Rites of Passage—Form and Content

Dr. Jay Moon, professor at Asbury Theological Seminary and father of one of the students going on this trip, has written an article in the Orality Journal called, “Using Rituals to Disciple Oral Learners.” The initial idea for this trip is the result of taking an independent 6

study with him and in particular from the content of this article. While I change some of the terms he uses in the article, I am almost entirely indebted to him for what follows.

In the article, Moon develops Arnold Van Gennep’s basic three-stage structure of ritual performances with a view to discipleship. The three basic stages are (1) separation, (2) transition, (3) reincorporation (see Figure 1).

Van Gennep’s stages describe the movement of a rite of passage which function to bring a person from an “old state” to a “new state.” This begins with a separation from their ordinary world, enabling the students to separate themselves from their reputation, roles, and to a degree from the self-identity they have constructed up to this point in life—their “old orientation.” The idea is not to strip them of their identity so as to destroy it, but to strip them of it in order to restore it. By this time in their lives, they will no doubt have had words spoken over them, impressions they have internalized about themselves, ideas about who they are and who they aren’t that play like tracks on repeat in their mind. This of course is true of all of us, but it is particularly potent at a time when such a deliberate attempt is being made to construct a self-identity. My hope is that by separating from the voices and ideas and impressions of recent years will enable them to hear the Voice who

Orality Journal, Vol 2. Num. 1, 2013. 6

3.  Reincorpora-on

New  Orienta+on1.  Separa-on  

Old  Orienta+on

2.  Transi-on

Disorienta+on

Figure 1. Three-stage ritual structure

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spoke their being into existence again speak the most basic words of identity over their lives—as children of God.

To that end, the second stage, transition, is the real substance of the trip. Moon describes the transition in this way: “This important stage is marked by uncertainty, confusion, and chaos. Turner describes this period as ‘anti-structure’ since it is markedly different than normal routines of life. Participants do not know what is about to occur. As a result, they are always ‘off balance’ and unsure what is waiting just around the bend.” Certain qualities are 7

important within this time of ‘anti-structure’, or disorientation, all of which are intended to strip the individual of his or her unique identity and replace it with a communal identity. 8

This functions to help them gain a social vision, which is consistent with God’s vision for the individual, who created the first community, only as a community, in his image (“in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them” Gen. 1:26-28). Moon describes the characteristics between structure and anti-structure with the following table (see figure 2, adapted). 9

Anti-structure Structure

Equality Inequality

No possessions Possessions

Humility Pride of place

Transition Stability

No status, rank Social status/popularity

Foolishness Seriousness

Simplicity Complexity

Accept pain/suffering Avoid pain/suffering

Communal identity Individual identity

Look the same Individuation

Moon, 46-47.7

Ibid, 47. 8

Ibid.9

Figure 2. Characteristics of anti-structure vs. structure

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These qualities went into why and how I created our “Code of Community” which are detailed in the invitation I sent to the students (included in Appendix). In short, they center on the following concepts: Hopefulness, Honesty, Honor, Listening, Looking, and engaging with others Locally. I won’t bother explaining the logic behind each given rule since it should be evident with the given descriptions of each. But apart from the “Code” I also hope to provide an anti-structural context in the following ways.

The basic context of this time of transition or disorientation will be spent on a 5-day hike in the Weminuche Wilderness from Elk Park to the Chicago Basin (just google it if you are curious and you will find all kinds of details on this particular loop). This will be physically demanding for all of us, but not impossible for any of us. On the last day of the hike we will ascend Sunlight Peak, one of Colorado’s 14ers (14,000’+ mountains), which is relatively safe and easy compared to other 14ers in Colorado. There we will have our Great Commission Ceremony, which will serve as the consummation of the entire trip.

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Group Flags

Below is the image I had printed on 8”x12” for each of us. The flags will attached to each student’s backpack. They will serve as a community boundary marker. We go nowhere unless everyone has their flags.

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Dog Tags / Wild Names

Toward the end of each the students being stripped of their old identity temporarily, so clouded as it is with self-deception and false perceptions and associations, I have come up with “Wild Names” that we will each go by during our time in the Wilderness—until the Great Commission ceremony at the summit of Sunshine Peak (second to last day). I've attempted to identify qualities in each person and find names whose meanings reflect those qualities.

Upon reaching Sunshine Peak, and just before hearing the Great Commission read, the students will have earned their names back by taming their wild names. This is not the same as domesticating their wild names. The difference between taming and domesticating is the difference between control and cooperation. There is a difference, for example, between a poodle that rides in a purse and a horse that is ridden by a knight. These names thus symbolize an inherent primal quality of which our technological society demands 10

domestication. The goal is that they understand their most basic impulses and instincts as God designed them and thereby how sin distorts them. Rather than suppressing their driving impulses for life, I want them to have disciplined access to them. I want them to feel fully alive in their relationship with God above all other relationships, such that following Jesus is neither perceived as having to suppress a part of themselves that is so obviously alive and full of energy nor simply ignored in preference to following the impulses that, left to their wild devices, will no doubt become self-destructive: not suppression (dog in a cage), not submission (sheep among wolves), but cooperation (knight on a horse). Hence the name of this trip: “Into The Wild: The Rite to Follow—Without a Leash.”

All of the wild names are printed on dog tags. Each student will be given a dog tag to wear that has their wild name on it along with "Weminuche Wilderness" printed below—that’s it. Leaders will have the same, except we will also have complementary tags that have our real names and the meaning of our wild names. When we do the Great Commission ceremony, we will give the students their complementary tags and the corresponding meanings of their wild names. I will also tell each of them why I chose the names that I did and use it as a time to bestow a blessing on them specifically (the Aaronic Blessing from Numbers 6:24-26). From that point on they will go by their real names.

Below are the names for each student and leader.

• Jeremy Spainhour

• Askuwheteau: he keeps watch

• Varee Vetters

See Jaques Ellul, The The Technological Society. 10

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• Kiwidinok: woman of the wind

• Jordan Johnson

• Hehewuti: warrior mother spirit

• Josh Johnson

• Cha'Tima: the caller

• Anna Vetters

• Anaba: she returns from war

• Katie Mitchell

• Yanaba: she meets the enemy

• Joanna Cumbie

• Onawa: wide awake

• Meredith Crockett

• Ayita: first to dance

• Bethany Moon

• Kuwanlelenta: makes beautiful surroundings

• Ben Henry

• Samoset: he walks over much

• Ian Kratzer

• Howahkan: of the sacred voice

• Caleb Long

• Chochokpi: throne for the clouds

• Jesse Seales

• Hawiovi: going down the ladder

• Joseph Brock

• Degotogo: standing together

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“The Rite to Follow—Without a Leash”

Theme and Theology

“But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.’ So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me’” (Mt. 28:5-10).

“Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Mt. 28:16-20).

The death and resurrection of Jesus, the culmination of his ministry, was in, or just outside of, Jerusalem. Galilee was approximately 65 miles away. After the resurrection was announced, the disciples had to walk 65 miles to be commissioned, after which they would have to walk 65 miles back to Jerusalem commence the mission (Acts 1-2). That’s 130 miles of walking to hear five verses of Scripture. I think there were two reasons for this incredibly inconvenient detour. First, the mountain in Galilee was where it all began, when he called his disciples apart from the crowd and gave them the so-called Sermon on the Mount. If the Great Commission includes “teaching them to obey all [Jesus] commanded,” then the Sermon on the Mount is essentially the content of Great Commission teaching. Jesus brought them to the place where they learned what was the quality of a disciple before he sent them out to concern themselves with the quantity of disciples. I’m concerned that Protestants have focused far too much on the latter to the neglect of the former.

I believe as much as any Christian in the free gift of God’s grace. However, I think that we have often confused free grace with cheap grace (Bonhoeffer). Since grace is free, it is assumed, we mustn’t associate our faith with any costs, any discipline, any effort. But the fact is: grace is free only because we cannot afford it. Its value is infinite because it is based on the infinite worth of Jesus Christ. Grace is spilt blood, not melted ice cream. We should indeed acknowledge, therefore, that there is nothing of worth we can offer in exchange for the grace of God. But that is why we offer our only “reasonable service.” In Paul’s words, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1). My

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concern is that, in an effort to get them in the door, teenagers have been served up the melted ice cream Gospel of youth programs throughout churches in our country, but to our dismay they have valued the Gospel accordingly. It is no surprise, then, that there is a mass exodus out of the church of young people transitioning from high school to college. They will still passionately pursue education. They will engage in athletics. They will educate themselves on politics and the economy and social issues. That is, they will continue seeking to grow in the areas of life that have demanded effort, as though something were actually at stake. But as for the Church of Jesus Christ? Melted ice cream…

That said, I want this journey to feel costly. It needs to require effort. It needs to require some pain. They need to have blisters on their feet, if their feet are going to be beautiful: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings good news of happiness, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns” (Isa. 52:7).

Thus, the broad structure of our trip will be a 40 mile hike that will culminate on Sunlight Peak, one of Colorado’s “14ers” (14,000+’ mountain). There, we will worship the One who meets us on the mountaintop and have our Great Commission ceremony, which will not only include the commission at the end of the Gospel, but prior to that the declaration at the beginning, which they first heard on the mountaintop when it all began: “You are the light of the world, a city on a mountain cannot be hid. Nor do people light a lamp and put 11

it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 5:14-16). This is where they will also receive their priestly blessing (Num. 6:24-26), affirming their place and part in the New Covenant declaration of the priesthood of all believers:

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.

“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

The Greek word for hill and mountain is the same: horos. 11

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My prayer is that through this trip they will understand what it means to be a disciple—from their to their heart right down to the souls of their feet—and will thereby understand what it takes to make disciples. They will thus be ready, after their journey back to the mountain in Galilee, as it were, to hear, indeed to listen, again the Great Commission—for the first time.

Daily Structure

• Each morning we will wake up with the sun (appx. 5:30 am). Everyone will hear a shofar (ram’s horn) as their alarm clock, at which point they will emerge from their tents and find a place to be still. There will be no talking until they hear the guitar (appx. 5:45 am), at which point we will come together and sing one worship song to commence the day. We will then make breakfast together.

• The idea is to prevent the kind of mindless chatter that people tend to default to out of the discomfort of silence. For the record, I don’t think there is anything inherently wrong with small talk, but for this trip my goal is to be intentional in creating a reflective environment in which we are confronted with the presence of the present—that place where God abides. Silence, I believe, is our greatest instrument for discovering that place. I have purchased rosary beads for all the students. I am not trying to convert them to Catholicism :) but to give them a physical focus point, not only mental/spiritual, which I have found to be helpful in engaging my whole self in the discipline of prayer.

• After breakfast, there will be a lesson that will function to orient the day’s reflection and conversations. Each day there will be one concept from Scripture that we will use to examine our lives. Proverbs says, “The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, searching all his innermost parts” (Prov. 20:27). We will be asking the Holy Spirit to help us see ourselves in the light of his Word any hidden lies we have believed about ourselves and God. So each morning the lesson will end with a prayer of Letting Go and Letting God. We will let go of any false notions we have come to believe about ourselves and about God and let God begin showing us through the day the Truth we need to replace the lies. At the end of each day there will be a time of confession (guys and gals will split up during this time) based on what they have had to let go during the day, after which there will be a short lesson on the basic corresponding Truth that we need to embrace—all of which will be some aspect of the Gospel. We will then end each day with a time of worship and sharing.

• Below is an outline of each day on the trail. I am including it for you (parents) so you will know each day how to pray in accord with the Word of God and, Lord willing, the work of the Spirit.

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Integrated into the follow will be reflections on and practices of: Silence, Simplicity, Solitude and Surrender.

June 28: The Journey Begins—The Preliminary Commission • “Go back to the mountain before you go into all the world.”

• Before and during the ride to Colorado:• Explain the overarching concept of the trip.• Assign primal names and hand out dog tags (see below).• Hand out community flags (see below).• Read the Sermon on the Mount en route.

June 29: Day 1 Blessed Are the Poor in Spirit • Let go of your religion. Let God be God.

• Morning Lesson—Matthew 5:1-3 • Lie: The kingdom of heaven is something we can earn—we are spiritual laborers. • Truth: The kingdom of heaven is something we receive—we are spiritual beggars.

June 30: Day 2 The Creation of Sabbath—God’s Eternal Day • Let go of your future. Let God create your world.

• Morning Lesson—Genesis 1-2:3 • Lie: You were created to work—to work for others and for God.• Truth: You were created to rest—to rest in God with others.

July 1 Day 3: The Creation of Community—The Glory of the Moon: Imago Dei • Let go of your self. Let God make you one.

• Morning Lesson—Genesis 1:26-2 • Lie: Every man is an island.• Truth: It is not good for man to be alone.

July 2 Day 4: The Dark Side of the Moon—The Shadow that Divides • Let go of your shadow. Let there be Light.

• Morning Lesson—Genesis 3:3-13; Ecc. 3:11 • Lie: Your appetites can be trusted.• Truth: Your longing infinite and requires the only Infinite supply.

July 3 Day 5: Face the Light—Your Problem is God • Let go of your enemies. Let God be your Enemy.

• Morning Lesson—Genesis 3:13ff, 11; Romans 5:6-11 • Lie: Other people are the problem—they need to repent.• Truth: Sin is the problem—I need to repent.

July 4 Day 6: Face the Dark—Your Victory is the Cross • Let go of your defense. Let Christ be your death.

• Morning Lesson—Galatians 2:20-22 • Lie: I need to defend myself against accusations. • Truth: I am guilty—I need Christ to be my defense.

• Sunlight Peak: Great Commission Ceremony • Matthew 5:14-16 • Called by Name: Dog tags given, meanings explained. • Priesthood Blessing

• Evening Feast: Eucharist—The Sacrament Called “Thank You”July 5 Day 7: The Return Home—Removing the Veil: The Face of Jesus Christ

• Take hold of your God. Let Christ be your vision for life. • Morning Lesson—2 Corinthians 3; Hebrews 12:1-2

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Trail Info from A Falcon’s Guide

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Appendix

The Code of Community

HOPE: We will hope in God: “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my Savior and my God” (Ps. 42:11)—we will not speak words of cynicism (whether overt cynicism or the kind hidden in sarcasm). We are by nature cynical about this world, because the world has so often disappointed our expectations of it. In the Wilderness, we will lay down our expectations as well as our disappointments and ask God to form new expectations in us to be aligned to the world as he created it to be.

HONESTY: We will be honest about ourselves: “Speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19)—we will practice truthful confession. Each evening we will have a time to open up to one another in light of the Truth from God’s Word from that day’s reflection. We will begin each evening by confessing in faith—even if we do not feel like—that God is truer and realer than me. We will then open up a space for confession (gals with gals, guys with guys, and then coming back together for worship). This is the shape of the Psalms. The Psalms speak truthfully about the human experience in light of God. That is why the Psalms are confessions of faith, not complaints of cynicism. The Psalms confess the truth about human loneliness and brokenness and sinfulness—that inner world that de-forms and makes us cynical—by faith into a world where God has proven himself to be faithful to save and gracious to forgive. Aligning ourselves to this world—the real world—begins with confession.

HONOR: We will honor others not present and honor the presence of others: “A dishonest person spreads strife, and a gossiper separates close friends” (Prov. 16:28)—no gossip. Period. We will refrain from speaking about those who are not present or speaking sarcastically to those who are present. The goal is not to be militant about the prohibition but to be intentional about not allowing judgment and self-preserving pride to take root in our heart. We will seek to align ourselves with a Christ-centered attitude and hope-centered mood as a group. There may be the occasion to speak of a person if we are sharing a story or memory, but we will reserve such speech for meaningful conversation, not idle-chatter. The goal is not simply not to gossip about those who are not present; it is to learn how to speak meaningfully with those who are.

LISTEN: We will be still and listen to God: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). We will have morning lessons of listening to God in the silence. Each morning we will spend time reading together from God’s Word (using a method called Lectio Divina—google it, if you are curious). We will then separate and have times of solitude to listen for God’s voice in the silence—which is the most appropriate context for hearing the voice that sounds like no other, a voice only our heart can hear as a whisper. And we will confirm each morning with an Amen to God in the name of Jesus Christ: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him we utter our “Amen” to the glory of God” (2 Cor. 1:20). [There will be specific instructions given each morning for this.]

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LOOK: We will look with human eyes: “I thank you that you have answered me and become my salvation…This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous to our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Ps. 118:21-24)—no cameras. God lives in the present; people live in the present. Reality is always the presence of the present. Virtual reality, whether on a screen or a polaroid, is not real. The God of creation’s past and heaven’s future is, for us, as he was then and will be forever, the God of the here and now: “Alpha and Omega, who was and is and is to come” (Rev. 1:18). Pictures are not evil, but they get us thinking about “then and there” that is not here and now, turning the place and the people who are present into a memory before they are gone, and usually to impress people they are not. Pictures never exist in the present; life—our experience of it with those experiencing it with us—always does. We will therefore use the most important camera that we possess, which captures not a mere façade of the moment, but the moment in all its grandeur: our memory. Indeed, no one has ever taken a picture of God, but the world is filled with his memory.

LOCAL: We will speak to human ears and listen to present voices: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2)—no phones. This week is a week that will be experienced as a community, and only with this community. Our goal is not simply to have a unique experience that belongs only to a special group. It is to have an experience that we can cultivate in every group we are a part of. But that begins by being present to one another. Leaders will have phones in case of emergency, but we too will refrain from ordinary use. This also means we will bear one another’s burdens literally. If a person is weak, we take something from their pack. We are all weak in our own way, at some times weaker than other times, in some ways weaker than in others. We all need others to carry our loads with us, which means we all need to carry the loads of others. A community of individuals committed to the others in this way is a community that feels like it has been formed by Christ, who says to us, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Mt. 11:29-30).