Irrigating Deserts – what Soulation Gatherings look like

The task of education is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.”

– C.S. Lewis, quoted by Beth

The week is months in the making. Dale and I read through each application and consider who will share for 20 minutes. We contact the presenters and give feedback. We create our own presentations. We plan the schedule and dream up new ideas. We make sure a babysitter can care for our son for the intensive five days.

We coordinate the caterer and find the house that will comfortably sleep eleven. We pray and wait.

The Wednesday afternoon when they arrive, my stomach is a knot. Even though the food will be amazing this week I won’t be able to eat much.

On our first hike we will watch each other maneuver the hills and rocks, thrown together with these eleven strangers we will wonder if this Gathering idea was sort of crazy.

WHITE Gathering Snowshoe, March 27, 2013

We introduce ourselves over dinner and begin to unsheath the layers of protection we brought with us. We start revealing who we are, not who we want to be.

We listen as Dale talks about this Gathering’s theme, “Love’s Many Faces.” Jonalyn lights candles, one for each of the loves and we sit and savor a cheese plate with names we’ve never imagined.

As the white stilton with mango and ginger melts on our tongues we melt a bit ourselves. We toast this beginning.

Wednesday eve, WHITE Gathering, 2013

We lay on our pillows in a house we’ve not known, with people we’re just learning to know and we awake with wonder and curiosity.

The days begin to slip, like sugar through our fingers.  Beth presents on the longing of unmet desires and we all find we’re living with hungers we don’t realize.  We watch a movie together and cry about the longing for a community we have not found, a love we haven’t tasted. We snowshoe the White Woods and glissade down hills giggling when we fall.

We listen to a single mother present the beauty and brokenness in owning a female body.  We allow her to unhinge our sexual shame and follow her lead in bringing our secrets to the light.

WHITE Gathering in White Woods, Thursday eve

We step into the darkness and cold to watch Orion shoot his bow into the heavens and let the wonder of Pleiades’ sapphires pierce our souls.  We watch Saturn move outside the telescope view and walk back briskly for hot chocolate.

We listen to music and dance, we wonder over the talent among us, the poets and songwriters, the preachers and priests, the storytellers and essayists, the hidden depths in our own souls, the beauties in our own bodies.

Drama, Open Mic, Saturday night, WHITE Gathering 2013

Slam Poetry, Open Mic, Saturday night, WHITE Gathering 2013

“On My Own”, Open Mic, Saturday night, WHITE Gathering 2013

 

Poetry, Open Mic, Saturday night, WHITE Gathering 2013

 

Victoria Secret poem, Open Mic, Saturday night, WHITE Gathering 2013

Blessings, Open Mic, Saturday night, WHITE Gathering 2013

More blessings, Open Mic, Saturday night, WHITE Gathering 2013

 

Poetry, Open Mic, Saturday night, WHITE Gathering 2013

Storytime, Open Mic, Saturday night, WHITE Gathering 2013

We sign each other’s journals like yearbooks, we explain how each face this week has shown us Love’s many faces. We cannot believe it is Sunday and our planes and cars await us. We leave knowing something new has been forged.

Easter morning, WHITE Gathering, 2013.

In their words . . .

“This is the community I longed for, you have shown me it is real.”

– Atticus

“We are like a nebula, all of our dust compressing, being ignited, heated and compressing our souls. I’m not sure when each of us will reach fusion but the universe is about to welcome eleven more starts.  You make us brighter.”

– Stephanie

“You have created the space for glorious things.”

– Katelyn

“You have let me accept love and I don’t do that easily.”

– Esther Joy

“Each of your lives is a part of my life.”

– Shannon

“Every person has accepted every person.”

– Grace

“This is God’s kingdom coming.”

– Amy

This summer, GREEN (which still has a few open spots) will bring ten new souls to Steamboat. This Fall, GOLD will bring more strangers to become friends (theme: “What is the Church?”). I invite you to come.