New Camadoli Hermitage & Big Sur

 There is nothing quite like the California coast about 150 miles south of San Francisco called Big Sur. Rough rocky coastline with amazing vistas and views.  It is called one of the most beautiful drives in the US.

 This is where the New Camadoli Hermitage is located 1300 ft overlooking the ocean.  A Hermitage is a Monastery where the Monks and guests stay or live alone in greater silence & solitude. They still  work together and worship together but there is more time in contemplation alone with the Lord. They and the guests also take all meals alone in their room or hermitage. A hermitage is just a separate little house, cabin, hut that you live in like a hermit.  This was a term first used for monks who lived in this kind of solitude.

 This was my little hermitage while I was there. "Doxa" in Greek means "Glory" so I got to stay in "Glory" and experience God's glory. The schedule of prayers here began with "Vigils" at 5:30 am, "Lauds" at 7:00 am, "Eucharist" at 11:30 am and "Vespers" at 6:00 pm. This schedule of prayer becomes the schedule for the day and so I followed it. In between I had time for personal prayer. On Sunday I prayed for your entire congregation by name from the top of this prayer mountain. I also continue my Bible reading completing the book of Exodus and Luke & John. I also completed reading G K Berhouwer's General Revelation & Belden Lane's Ravished by 
Beauty.  Lane makes a great case that especially "Reformed Theology" recognizes the transcendence of God in the beauty of creation and a theology of "desire" to experience God's Glory that is daily revealed to us. I also read Water, Wind, Earth & Fire - The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements by Christine Valters Paintner. There is ancient Christian precedent in joining with the Lord as many Psalms & Scriptures do in praising the Lord with all of God's creation. Check out Psalm 104. In addition as part of preparation for the trip to Israel I have been reading James Mitchiner's The Source, which is a historical novel about he history of Israel and Bruce Feiler's book called Abraham.

View from near my Hermitage.

 Every morning I got to welcome the dawning of a new day watching the sun come over the mountain and concluded every day watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. But then around 8:00 pm every night the moon would come over the mountain where the sun had appeared in the morning and shine right into the window of my room and on the bed where I was sleeping. It was wonderful.  For exercise I would take a walk every day 2 miles down the mountain, sit by the ocean for awhile, and then climb back up.

 

What is God saying to me and showing me in all this. To learn anew the lesson of Jeremiah that the Lord's faithfulness is great and His mercies are new every morning. To learn the lesson of Psalm 90 for the Lord to "teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom". Not to number our years as most of us do but our days....appreciating each day of life and every gift the Lord gives us anew.

Here is a glimpse inside my little "hermitage" that had all I needed. Meals were provided in the kitchen by the other guest house rooms but here I had my own little "Mr Coffee" and the bag of Starbucks that I brought so I was good.

Here I am in my favorite spot where I spent most of my time during the day. Although it got down to 35 degrees some nights most days warmed up to 65 or so. In 4 days during which I spoke to hardly anyone else (I did make one call to Debra) I had time to settle in and listen better to what Jesus has to say to me. As the sabbatical continues I'll keep listening. I flew home Tuesday night on the red-eye landing at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. 

 This Friday Debra and I will be driving out to Holland MI. for our grandson Joshua's baptism. I will have the privilege to baptism him and preach at Graffscapp CRC this Sunday on Joshua: Pointing to Jesus.

Incarnation Monastery

On Monday, Dr. Martin Luther King's Birthday and the day of President Obam's inauguration I flew to California for the beginning of my annual "week of prayer". Since my sabbatical in 2005 I have been taking the first week of January as a week of prayer. This year it was a few weeks later because of the sabbatical. Incarnation Monastery is a small Camaldolese Monastery of 4 monks in the Berkley hills outside of San Franscisco. The Camaldolese monks are part of the Benedictine families and grew out of the reforming efforts of Saint Romulad, and 11th century Italian monk. Hs reforms brought out the best of the communal, solitary and evangelizing aspects of monastic life.  As you can see this does not look 

 like your normal monastery but is rather a house hanging on the the Berkley Hills. And I mean hills. Everywhere you walk or drive around here is up or down and very few streets go straight. I had a wonderful room with a view of the SanFransisco Bay and Golden Gate Bridge. It was to cloudy/foggy/smoggy to get a good picture but I enjoyed this place of prayer and silence. The monks here just gather together for prayer at 7 am for "lauds" and 5 pm for Vespers. They are located just a 10 minute walk from the University of California Berkley Campus. My reading for this week from Scripture was the books of Genesis, Job, Matthew & Mark.

University of California: Berkley Campus

Part of my coming here was to experience  Muir Woods which is the last stand of Giant Redwoods in the US. These used to cover the CA coast and were mostly all cut down for lumber to build San Fransisco. John  Muir is the grandfather of the conservation movement and founder of the 1st National Park in the US. This grove is named after him. This quote of his is at the foot of one of the redwoods". God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches and a thousand straining, leveling tempests and floods, but he cannot save them from fooIs- only Uncle Same can do that."  I took a 10 mile hike here through the redwoods up and over the mountain and down to the pacific ocean.  It was a foggy and rainy day but it this very moisture that enables these trees to thrive,

 Some of the redwoods in this forest are 1000 years old. This giant Sequoia was planted by Muir by his home 100 years ago. It is still very young. Muir grew up in a strong and strict Christian home and was taught about God as creator. He had memorized the entire NT by the time he was 12 under his fathers switch.  However it was the disregard of many who called themselves Christians for God's creation that eventually drove him away from the Christian faith, although he continue to confess a God of all creation. This should remind us that one of the first jobs that God gave Adam & Eve, before sin entered the world was to care for the creation God had made. How quickly we forget this. We can thank the Lord for people like John Muir who helped people be aware and recover an appreciation for God's creation. We should also go back to the Scriptures which continually speak of all creation giving praise to our God. Let us join this great chorus of praise with our own voices and experience the goodness of God in the world God has made. Ps. 8, 19, 104. My reading for this week has include a book from my seminary days entitled General Revelation by GC Berkouwer and Ravished by Beauty ((The surprising Legacy of Reformed Spirituality) by Belden Lane. In addition in preparation for our trip to Egypt-Jordon-Israel I have been reading James Mitchner's novel: The Source, which is a history of Israel from prehistoric times to the present.  Below is a picture last night after the sun had set off my balcony. Blogging this in a local Starbucks (no wi-fi at monasteries) I'm now off to the New Camadolie Hermitage at Big Sur.

Winding Down

Here I am in my "corner chair" in my office at home. This is my place where I meet God in prayer and Scripture. There is something about a place to go to regularly to meet God. This is my place. You can see the fish tank of African Cichlids on my right and the window on my left letting in the morning sun. When its earlier you can actually watch the sunrise over my neighbors house. I hope each of you have a place where you can go regularly to meet with God. A place of prayer.
So...heres a riddle. What do all of the following things have in common.
Padding 9 miles on the Passaic River, reading the last books of the Bible from Daniel - Malachi, afternoon naps, reading Waldron Scott's The Renewal of All Things,  daily 2-3 miles walks on the streets-Eastside Park- Garrett Mt, extended times of prayer,  figuring out how to use my new Macbook, reading the NT books Acts- II Corinthians, hanging out with Debra, snowshoeing in Harriman State Park, cooling out on the backyard grill,  daily workouts, going to church at New Song Community Church in Harlem.
What all these things have in common is the first week of my sabbatical. It has been a wonderful time of winding down, slowing down and finding a new rhythm. For these weeks at home I have found it helpful to create somewhat of a daily schedule that includes 1 hour of prayer, 2 hours of Scripture reading/meditation, 1 1/2 hours of physical exercise (workouts/walking/paddling), 3 hours of reading other books and then a few hours building something in the basement.  It has been a good week to quite myself, prepare for the rest of the sabbatical and begin to listen better to God.
Tomorrow morning I fly to San Francisco CA where I will spend 4 days at Incarnation Monastery in Berkley and then another 4 days at New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur.

Sabbatical Farewells

Although I can't seem to get this picture rightside up you get the idea. This is a picture of the cake that the congregation had for me yesterday as well as an entire dinner after church. During the service the elders and deacons also prayed over me. I felt very loved. Debra was so sorry she was home sick and missed it all but the congregation had flowers for her as well that cheered her up. 

I preached yesterday from Paul's final words to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:32 “ Now, I commit/commend/entrust  you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified..”
Although our context is different I felt that it was God's word to the congregation at this time. I feel that we have prepared will and greatly appreciate the congregation releasing me for this sabbatical for the next 4 months. So, after a final elders meeting tonight I'm officially "on sabbatical". We will all continue to pray for each other. Here's a picture of our deacon chairperson Vikki and Rick who we met paddling on the Passaic River and now a friend a part of our fellowship.

Experiencing God in the Wilderness

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

Psalm 19:1

"the [natural] world...is a cathedral erected for displaying the glory of God."

John Calvin

"In God's wildness lies the hope of the world."
John Muir

Two weeks from today I will begin a 4 month Sabbatical.  Here is some of the background to it and what I will be doing on it and why.

Throughout Scripture, elements of the “wilderness” (God’s creation, natural world, desert, mountains, water, space) are mentioned as places of encountering God. The Bible begins with God’s creation of the world. God is seen and experienced in creation. We get to know God not only through the Scriptures but according to Romans 1:20 “Since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”  The Belgic Confession states that the first way we know God is “by the creation, preservation and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God: his eternal power and his divinity as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20 (Art.2.)  Throughout the Bible, we see God meeting His people in various wilderness elements of his creation.  Moses and Israel encountering Jehovah on Mt. Sinai; Israel wandering 40 years in the wilderness; Jonah facing God in the depths of the sea; Elijah experiencing the Lord in a “still small voice” on Mt. Sinai; many of the Psalms of David celebrating creation (8, 19, 23); Jesus spending 40 days in the wilderness at the beginning of his ministry; Jesus frequently going to “a quiet place” on a mountain and using the Mount of Olives and Garden of Gethsemane as places of prayer; and envisioning the new heavens and new earth of Revelation’s Holy City with the River of Life flowing through it.  Personally, I love the city and the wilderness and I find great personal renewal in the wilderness. I would like to use the time of sabbatical to experience new places of wilderness and more deeply explore how the wilderness helps us encounter God. This includes exploring how personal “times of wilderness” can lead to spiritual growth. It also includes exploring how the development and use of the spiritual disciplines coming out of the early monastic experience are connected with experiencing God in the wilderness.  As I use this time for personal renewal, I also want to explore how to help those living in the city to meet God in the wilderness and find the wilderness in the city.

My plan is to go to places of beauty and “wilderness” from the Atlantic to the Pacific, North to South and even from Egypt to the Promised Land. It will also enable me to further explore the Spirit’s prompting for greater ministry convergence between the city and “wilderness.” I have always loved and functioned in both. However, my “wilderness” experience has been more personal and separate from my ministry here in Paterson. Recently I have felt a calling to integrate more “wilderness” into my urban ministry. My motivation comes from meeting men, no longer involved in our church, but for whom camping 30 years ago remains an important life memory. The Lord then led me to restarting our Cadet Club and beginning boys’ camping once again. This calling contributed to the development the River of God School of Paddling, helping kids experience God’s creation right here on the Passaic River of Paterson in kayaks. I believe God wants me to explore using wilderness and outdoors as a means of discipleship for adults also. I want to exploring how people miss experiencing God if they never stop to experience God’s presence in creation (Rom. 1:20) and how to bring that experience in to people in the city. In addition I want to explore the relationship of wilderness and spiritual disciplines, most of which were developed by the Desert Fathers in the wilderness.

I will spend the first week of the sabbatical at home finding a new rhythm as I rest, play, pray, read the Bible and begin to read some of the books I have been collecting for the last year on the theme of experiencing God in the wilderness. I would also begin meeting with a spiritual director on a monthly basis. During the second week, I will go on retreat at two Camaldolese monasteries on the west coast. For the last 7 years, I have spent the first week of the year in a prayer retreat at a monastery. This has become a significant way to begin the year that I will continue in the sabbatical. I will spend my first few days of this retreat at Incarnation Monastery, in Berkeley, CA. This provides an “urban” monastery experience, as I not only retreat, but also reflect on bringing the wilderness to the city. While here, I will spend a day at Muir Woods National Monument and in Muir Woods. John Muir was one of the earliest advocates of preserving the wilderness in America, founder of the Sierra Club and known as the “Father of the National Park Service.” The second half of this retreat will be at the New Camaldoli Hermitage in one of the most beautiful places in the world, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. This will provide an introduction for me to a retreat of total “silence & solitude” while still attending communal prayer. The third week I will spend in a “home routine” of prayer, scripture, reading, rest and play. I will also begin to visit local urban areas that bring the wilderness to the city and continue to do this one day each week that I’m home throughout the sabbatical. These visits will include places such as NY Botanical gardens, NJ Aquarium, Bronx Zoo, Museum of Natural History and Planetarium and other local parks. Such outings could become a great testimony to our creator in new ways with teaching and interpretation. In addition on the Sundays I am home, I will worship at churches that are in some way helping people in the city to meet God in the wilderness or bringing the practices of wilderness to the city. The fourth & part of the fifth week I will go on a personal retreat of complete silence and solitude. I will snowshoe to a cabin at the top of East Haven Mountain in Vermont and spend this week in prayer, to read Scripture and the Desert Fathers in the midst of a winter wilderness wonderland. The rest of the fifth and sixth week I will spend in my “home routine” and begin work on the adult class I am writing. Weeks seven through nine of the sabbatical, I expect to drive to Florida for participation in the Watertribe Everglades Challenge with my son Ben. We both love the outdoors and have a common interest in building, paddling and sailing small boats. The Challenge will give us an opportunity to be together in a unique father-son expedition while we experience the beauty of God’s creation in the ocean and bay from Tampa to Key Largo. We will paddle/sail our kayaks for 300 miles in the Gulf of Mexico, Intercostal Waterway, Everglades Wilderness Waterway and Florida Bay. In addition to the challenge of physical endurance, which will force me to get in shape before we go, there is also an inner challenge in an expedition like this that leads to deep reflection. At the conclusion of the challenge we will celebrate with our wives (Debra & Emily) and our new grandson who will meet us in Key Largo for four days of rest and renewal. Debra and I will spend an extra day to visit her father who lives in Boynton Beach. She will fly home and I will take a few days to drive back. Week ten I will be back home in my usual “home routine” and continue work on the adult class and experiences for the church. Then I will set out on the next big trip of my sabbatical with my longtime friend, colleague in ministry, accountability and prayer partner, Rev. Stafford Miller. The Biblical Study Tour led by Rev. George DeJong is called “Out of Egypt -into a Good Land.” This “study tour” involves 6-10 miles of hiking each day and will take us from Egypt, to the top of Sinai, through the wilderness to Jordon and into Israel. After another week home I will go to the northern Georgia mountians with a former church member and fly fishing partner Dick Luscher who taught me how to fly fish. Standing in a stream or river fly fishing is an experience of worship and renewal for me and certainly makes my heart sing. After another week home Debra and I will experience the wilderness of the desert and mountains in New Mexico Colorado & Arizona during week 13. We will begin at Christ in the Desert, a Benedictine monastery situated in a beautiful canyon. This will enable Debra to experience the life at a monastery and share some of my wilderness experience. We will then hen drive from the New Mexico through the San Juan Range of the Rockies in Colorado and then to the Grand Canyon. The last week of the sabbatical I will wind down at home, finish work on the class, experiences, and create a report to the leaders and congregation.

One post-sabbatical experience will be with a ministry called “Renewal in the Wilderness.” They are doing what I hope to be able to do in a more urban context. I have much to learn from their founder Rev. John Lionberger whose goal is to help people from all faiths to meet God in the wilderness in ways that civilization usually doesn’t allow. Since their schedule does not permit me to join them during the sabbatical time I will join them for a sea kayaking expedition in Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska as a post-sabbatical experience.