Taking A Day Away (with God)
The backdrop:
One of God’s greatest gifts to us is the gift of time. The book of Genesis opens with this gift, a series of days (the Hebrew could mean “era” or “epoch,” but time is the basic idea.) It’s an important understanding: for humans at least, God shows up in, with and through time. Time is from the beginning, blessed.
It stands to reason then, that one of the greatest gifts we can give to God, is the setting aside of some time to be attentive to him—or at least as attentive as our human and spiritual limitations allow. Of course there are lots of ways to give God this gift: the momentary turning of our conscious attention to him through the day, the setting aside of time for worship and prayer, the observance of celebration days like Christmas and Easter. And in taking a day away with God.
A Format for Taking a Day Away (with God)
The preliminaries:
Carving out the time—plan for a day when other activities can be deferred. For starters, anywhere from four to eight hours is manageable for most people. The time should definitely not be so long that you might tend to dread it (what am I going to do with all that time?) So start modest.
Finding a place—throughout Southeastern Michigan there are wonderful parks as well as retreat centers, designed for taking a day away with God. For a day away, away is good. Away from your ordinary routine, away from telephones, noise, etc. The best place combines a comfortable indoor option and some grounds for taking a walk, sitting outside, etc.
Nearby options:
The Frances de Sales Center. A retreat center hosted by a Catholic community of lay people, nuns and priests. They have a lovely chapel that is open anytime, with comfortable rocking chairs up in a loft—almost always quiet. And grounds for taking a walk—even a nearby lake called Vineyard lake. The center also has small private living spaces called “hermitages” that can be reserved ahead of time at a cost.
The IHM Center (stands for Immaculate Heart of Mary, did you guess Catholic?) outside of Monroe Michigan. Same features as at the de Sales center: grounds for walking, nice chapel with places to hang out and small cabins for renting.
Hudson Mills Metro Park. Great nature trails for sitting and walking outdoors plus an indoor area, that’s often fairly quiet. Not quite as “away” as a chapel, but pretty close. And fifteen minutes north and west of Ann Arbor.
Bring some stuff—Bible, book to read, prayer-book; walking shoes, etc., and food and drink. I do best with coffee or tea for staying alert, and food that doesn’t make me lethargic: modest portions, stay away from candy, sugar, etc. But that’s just me. I sometimes bring my IPOD and headphones too.
The actuals:
These are all the kinds of things that I do during the day. Not all of them each time, perhaps. Some may work for you, some not, but at least these suggestions can prime the pump for your day away.
Structure the day around the use of The Divine Hours. This is a manual for prayer based on an ancient and biblical practice called “fixed hour prayer”—praying a fixed intervals through the day: morning prayers, midday prayers, evening prayers, prayers before bed. Based mostly on the psalms, including also the Lord’s Prayer, brief Bible readings, and a few other prayers. Depending on how long you linger, takes 5-10 minutes per session.
Using the Divine Hours provides a natural structure for the day—beginning with the morning prayers, midday prayers at, you guessed it, midday. And ending with evening prayers (called “vespers” in the book—Latin for something.) That would provide a loose structure for an eight hour day away with God.
In between the Divine Hours, choose from among the following kinds of activities (mix and max at your discretion.)
Bible reading. At a pace and duration that works with you and your appetites and needs. I like to mix up reading through a particular book of the Bible and choosing some psalms to use as prayers.
Spiritual reading. Again depending on your appetites and needs. I like to have one or two books along that I’m interested in. Anything by C.S. Lewis, Henri Nouwen (try The Return of the Prodigal.) Email me in advance and I’ll recommend something for you, if you like.
Tapes or CD’s. If you’re not into reading, there are spiritual books, including of course, the Bible on tape and CD. And worshipful or relaxing or enhancing music. (Lucky you if you can play guitar and sing.)
Walks. A leisurely stroll through a nice setting does wonders for the soul. Take your time, smell the roses, listen to the birds, and all that good stuff. Sometimes I like to just walk and look and listen; sometimes I like to walk and pray for people, or walk and talk over things with God.
Times of focused stillness, quiet, and/or silence. This is one of the big pay off things to do with your day away with God. In a sense the whole day is a kind of stillness and/or silence or at least quiet. A dialing down time. But you can also take a special time for quiet—again depending on appetite and need. See Silence, Solitutude & Fixed Hour Prayer for more background. Forms of stillness and/or silence include:
1) Sit still (more or less) outside: the kind of stillness that a bird watcher might practice—alert but physically still so as not to frighten away any birds. Eyes and ears open—taking in God’s creation, like it’s a work of art. Fine not to pray consciously, just be quiet, attentive to what’s around you. Also gives God a chance to sneak up on you.
2) Contemplative prayer, sometimes called “wordless prayer” or “centering prayer.” A lot more challenging, but big pay-offs if you’re adventuresome.
3) A time of quiet meditation on scripture.
4) A quiet time to whittle or knit, enjoy some art, study a flower; video games probably not such a good idea.
Journaling. Through the day as thoughts, impressions, etc. strike you, writing them down in a journal can be quite helpful. I like to bring a diary type thing along and at the end of the day, make an entry—where I was, what I did, anything to note or significance. Prayers to God can be written down as well as an aid to moving past the distracted mind.
As you can see, with a number of options like this, plus stretch breaks, and getting a cup of coffee or eating some lunch—the time can just fly.
What about other people? It is also great to take such a day alone with God along with others. Just have a mutually agreed on plan for spending time by yourself and connecting with others. For example, I often take a day a month during the week, and go up with other staff members, or people I know—visiting in the car on the way up and back and maybe sharing lunch together in the middle of the day. But the rest of the time spent alone.
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