On Going to the Mountains ...

 As I looked at my calendar for February, I must confess that I couldn’t work up very much enthusiasm for any of the tasks that lay before me. I’m feeling overwhelmed and empty, as I often do at this time of the year. Therefore, I am on my way to Philadelphia this week to attend the annual meeting of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators. They gather at the end of January every year to talk about how we are teaching the faith in our church. I know that they have chosen this week intentionally; there is just something about this time of the year when all of us begin to feel a bit weary of all the things that fill up our days. I’m looking forward to a workshop on preaching the texts for Lent with a professor from Louisville Seminary, and to a tour of the Presbyterian Historical Society. The theme for the week is “Flying Forward While Looking Back,” which seems appropriate for a Presbyterian gathering in the city where Presbyterians in the country first organized themselves in 1789.

I wish I could share with each of you the excitement and enthusiasm I feel after spending a few days nourishing my faith in a new and different place. I know that this kind of renewal is possible for you, too, but I can’t really share mine. I’ll share some of the ideas, and bring back some new books, but it’s not really the same. You just have to go to the mountains yourself! Most adults tell us their most intense spiritual experience was in a camp setting, but few of them ever consider going to a church camp as an adult or as a family vacation. My mailbox has at least one new brochure for a camp or conference every day—I want to go to all of them.

One year I actually took my family to our Conference Center at Ghost Ranch in the glorious red rock country of New Mexico. I took a sulky teenager and two younger children and a reluctant husband to a place with bathrooms down the path and no golf course, and they liked it. We had a grand week together that the children still talk about. Or, how about Montreat in the glorious green mountains of North Carolina? It is not just for youth conferences. They have a wonderful array of possibilities for adults or whole families all summer long. If you choose an adult conference—music, mission, peacemaking, women, Christian Life, health and wholeness, retirement planning, or whatever—there is a “Clubs” program for children of all ages—and dancing in the Barn for everyone on Saturday night. I was there for July 4 one year and it was a truly Norman Rockwell experience. Or, closer to home is the Massanetta Springs Bible Conference, July 29-Aug 3, with some of the best preachers in the country. They have wonderful modern facilities, or a charming old historic hotel, or assorted camping potential. Or, there’s a prayer retreat with the GA moderator, Joan Gray? Or, the Women of the Synod, June 14-17?

If we truly want our children to confront their faith, we need to be intentional about sending them (or better yet, taking them) to a place where this is likely to happen. If we don’t go to the mountains, how can we expect to have a Mountain Top Experience??