Community of Believers

So last weekend, we (SFC) got to enjoy our first annual Winter retreat!!! Woohoo!!

It was definitely an adventure! =]

Truth be told, there was little that seemed to quite go the way that we had expected or anticipated. BUT, the goal of the retreat was to bond and build relationships with each other, to learn more about spiritual growth and get away and worship through life together for a few days. And THAT goal was accomplished.

Game time after the first session

We arrived at the house to find no gas for the heaters, less than clean rooms and most of the beds had been written on in ways that only teenagers away from home can leave memories behind for others to be embarrassed by. And I arrived with an upset stomach that had me in bed most of the first evening.
But God in His goodness restored and calmed the storms in my stomach and allowed me to enjoy and really glean from the rest of the weekend while getting good quality time in with others there. We were able to have someone come and fix the heaters and we got a fire going and had a great time huddling in the warm community room while we learned together, shared together, ate together, prayed together, and laughed together. Outside, it was too warm for snow but there was still enough snow on the ground from the previous week's cold days that those who wanted to were still able to enjoy the snow without freezing to death (a very important grace for the Floridians present).

Learning about the different spiritual disciplines

One thing that I loved the most about this retreat was the concept of coming together with the intention of learning and growing together. Something that we've really been focusing a lot on with SFC this semester is the concept of discipleship and how thats done in community. This weekend, I felt like we had the opportunity to come together as a community, as the first disciples did when they gathered around Jesus, and hear the Word of God being taught.
I had the privilege of sharing about what it means to worship in community this weekend and the conclusion of that came in recognizing that worship is an attitude of reverence and awe towards God. And when we come together with that same heart attitude, our actions and reactions towards each other become acts of worship to Him, regardless of what we're doing. We can be celebrating or mourning, praying and singing or playing games, sharing testimony or sitting together in silence, no matter what it is that we do, when our hearts are set on Christ (which is what the process of discipleship does to our hearts), we can worship Him in doing life together. A.W. Tozer says that one hundred pianos tuned to each other will lead to disharmony, whereas one hundred pianos all tuned to the same master piano will all be in tune with each other. We are the pianos. Jesus is the master that we need to be in tune to. This weekend was a great time to practice that. Such a blessing.

In other news, as a group, we also had a chance to go and enjoy the Freiburg Christmas market together and had a great time eating great food and looking through all the stalls. THIS was just too much fun!!

Thank you to all of you who have been faithfully praying for the work that is being done here in SFC, Freiburg, and in Germany. God has been amazingly faithful. And for the students as well as the leaders, we have had the beautiful blessing of witnessing the working and orchestrating of God throughout this semester. And there's more to come!!