Sabbatical Grand Finale Trip to the Southwest

Last night Debra and I arrived home from our 8 day trip to the Southwest. This was my last trip of the sabbatical and It worked out so well that we could go together. We began at Christ in the Desert Monastery which is at the end of a 13 mile gravel road about 125 miles north of Albuquerque, NM.  This remote Benedictine community is in the Chama canyon and reminds me of the early desert fathers who retreated to the desert to draw nearer to God. Its  amazing that then and now people traveled for miles to spend time with them in prayer and worship.

 This community has prayers 7 times a day in accord with Psalm 119 where David writes "Seven times a day will I praise you O Lord". Their day begins at 4 am with Vigils and ends at 7:30 p.m. with Compline. In between are times of prayer that are long and short. Every week they pray/chant all 150 Psalms. Its very moving but also very tiring. But in the ordinary and routine they experience God's presence.

 We enjoyed a special suite that was quite and upgrade from some other monastery places I have stayed. The beauty of the canyon was right out our door and you could hear the quite. Going to 4 am vigils (yes I did it once) was most profound in seeing the beauty of the skies overhead fulled with stars and galaxies that we never see. I recited Psalm 8 and Psalm 19 as I walked. We delighted in the goodness of Gods creation, presence and the company of each other.

Guesthouse garden

 After leaving the monastery we traveled north toward Colorado to a B&B just west of Durango.
The rockies are still topped with snow as you can see from the LaPlata range here.

 We spent a day exploring Mesa Verde National Park which is where Native American's of the Pueblo tribe lived from 600 - 1200 BC. Originally living on top of the Mesa in 1100 BC they began building housed under the overhanging cliffs. These cliff dwellings have been preserved in the dry climate and tell the story of their lives. After having been at Petra in Jordan and seen how the Nabateans caved their homes into the sandstone it was interesting seeing the difference in the Pueblo's

 This is a closeup of one of the ceremonial lodges which would have been roofed with branches and dirt. The firepit in the center receives air from the hole behind it.  In 1200 the dwellings were abandoned and the tribe moved to NM.

Debra and I at Blue Lake Ranch B&B

 From Colorado we traveled south west through NM and into Arizona. The landscape of the desert is profound and diverse going from flat and empty sand to amazing colors of rock from black to brown to red to yellow to white. It is wonderful seeing the creativity of our God, the first and greatest artist.

Shiprock NM

Arriving at the Grand Canyon actually takes your breath away. It is an awe inspiring experience. Thats why people come there from all over the world to see it. It has more visitors than any other National Park in our Country. Standing on the rim one can only give praise to our God of all creation.

 I really wanted to "experience" the canyon first hand by hiking into it this trip. Since my knee was doing pretty well I headed out 5 am and hiked 6 miles down to "Plateau Point" which overlooks the Colorado River. It was a sacred experience with hardly noone else up at that time to have the first few hours alone in the canyon with God as I watch the sun rise and begin to light up its walls.

 On the way back up I met a few mule trains of those going to "Ghost Ranch". This is a brief glimpse of the "Bright Angel" trail that has endless switchbacks. The canyon is a mile deep. I traveled down only 3000 feet.

 From the picture below you can see the green down the middle which is "Indian Gardens", an oasis halfway down the canyon.
From there you can see the point to the left which is "Plateau Point." It took me 2 1/2 hours to hike the 6 miles down and 3 1/2 to hike up. Not bad since I'm having knee surgery next Monday. :). But it was a special joy to be able to experience God's presence in the creative beauty of this place.

 Debra and I enjoyed staying right on the rim in one of the historic Bright Angel Cabins. We trav

traveled from here back to Albuquerque enjoying the beauty of the mountains and then desert on the way. They reminded us of the lessons from Belden Lane's Solace of Fierce Landscapes. ATTENTIVENESS & INDIFFERENCE  . To survive in the desert & mountains you must be attentive to what is important and indifferent to what dosen't matter.  This is a profound lesson for our lives as learned from these places.

Emotionally Healthy Leadership

 Yesterday and today I attended the Emotionally Healthy Leadership Conference at New Life Church in Queens NY. Pastor Pete and Geri Scazzero have been developing and applying this in a a very multi-racial context in Queens NY (Their zip code has 120 nations represented). In short they have recognized that much discipleship - growing in prayer and in the Word - does not help people grow in their own emotional health. This is the reason 50 year old Christians can often act like 15 year old teenagers and why we often do not see the true "transformation" we pray for. It really has to do with our inner life, character and identity in Christ.  In short the characteristics of a church transformed in this way will demonstrate 1. Contemplative Spirituality 2. Congruent Leadership 3. "Beneath the Surface" Discipleship 4. Skillful Community 5. Sacred Marriages and Singleness 6. Transformed Workers.  Theres lots that goes into defining each one of these and I'll be happy to share it when back.  We taught the Emotionally Healthy Spiritually as part of a small group last year along with a retreat. I hope we can do it again sometime.

New Life Church, Queens NY

The church has a place where you can "go to the desert" like the desert Fathers to be alone with God. It also has an amazing "Contemplative Prayer Center" with stations set up to focus on  "Abba's Child" ; the Cross - which is a huge cross on the floor in the middle of the room; Christ the Light of the World; the prodigal's dressing room, the stones cry out,  an apt word and "come and have breakfast".  Each station has brief reflective instructions, scriptures, things to touch (stones, candles, cross, apple, mirror, etc.)   It was a blessing to spend some time there

"Come and have breakfast: John 21: 1-14" contemplation station

I was impressed how real and raw everyone was at New Life. They are leading out of their own brokenness. We did a gene-o-gram of our own family life looking at generational patterns. One quote I liked was "Jesus might live in your heart but grandpa lives in your bones." We often don't realize how much our family background effects who we are and how we act. Another quote I liked is "If you want to go forward you need to go back". Pastor Pete & Pastor Linda led a workshop on Multi-racial congregations that I attended. We had good reflection and discussion. I invite you to check out their website for more details. There is great stuff on it. The link is HERE.

Pastor Pete & Pastor Linda Johnson

Debra and I are off early tomorrow morning flying into Albuquerque NM for 4 days at Christ in the Desert Monastery, then to the San Juan Mountains of Colorado and then to the Grand Canyon.