Next retreat invites spiritual leaders to ‘Wait Upon the Lord’
by Paul Seebeck | Presbyterian News Service
Photo by KaLisa Veer via Unsplash
LOUISVILLE — The Rev. Libby Tedder Hugus and resident Jessika Waldron of The Table in Casper, Wyoming, have come to rely on retreats being offered by 1001 New Worshiping Communities.
Both plan to participate in the online “Wait Upon the Lord” Advent Retreat set for November 15-16.
Describing participating in 1001 retreats as a “life-saving endeavor” Tedder Hugus said the Ignatian Spirituality retreat in August was like “plugging in a battery pack when we needed it.”
“Without it we would have been in an unhealthy place mentally, spiritually and emotionally,” she said.
Tedder Hugus and Waldron are trying to make sabbath and retreats, which they say are necessary for their health and sustainability as leaders, part of their practice. They’ve now participated in three of the retreats made available to worshiping community leaders.
Jessika Waldron
Because Waldron had been drawn toward St. Ignatius of Loyola’s “Spiritual Exercises,” she kept pressing Tedder Hugus to sign up for the retreat. Even though the exercises had always seemed mysterious and elusive to her — even kind of secretive — she loved the idea of having spiritual support.
“I didn’t know there were practical ways [in the exercises] to deepen my own spirituality,” she said. “I needed help.”
According to Tedder Hugus, the significance of the Ignatian retreat was having extended space to experience God’s Spirit enlightening their own imagination. During an Ignatian prayer exercise by Sean M. Powers, S.J, retreat participants were encouraged to imagine the risen Christ meeting his mother — and to ask for the grace to know the joy of the resurrection as Mary knew it.
In response to the exercise, Tedder Hugus, who is mother of two children, said the poem “Cherish,” reproduced below with the permission of Tedder Hugus, began to pour out of her, helping the resurrection become embodied and profound.
Cherish
like a grief-relieved Mama
cherishes the sight
of her once-dead
son —
and knows the truth
that the horrific hour of death
is as real as the
utter joy of
the infinite moment of birth —
resurrection
aliveness
hope
rebirth
light / un-leashed
death / un-chained
so I too,
as a scared, alone, weak, grief-stricken
Mama
will cherish the sight of
my risen Jesus — my life-force —
once blind, now seeing
once lost, now found
once buried in grave clothes
now
bathed in light
life
vernix
joy
newness
forever.
From dark, warm, nourishing
womb
to first-breath, first gulp,
first-in-love-look
From musty, dank, dark
tomb
to oak-moss-fresh, sun-beamed
day light
From womb to tomb to Resurrection.
That day, that Mama.
This day, this Mama.
Together, she and I, the Mother Mary
we are raised
resurrected
with Jesus
I see. We see.
Jesus restores our sight.
That God, that Jesus, that Spirit energy,
works miracles here
in my human body
in my beating heart
in my want-to-believe eyes
in my blessed womb
The energy of our Mothering God
who birthed a precious son
and watched his death-by-silenced-love
broke the curse of death and decay and disgust.
She invites me, a once-dead-to-love
once-scared, alone, weak, grief-stricken
Mama
home, to myself
home, to herself
home, to limitless love
She energizes me to dwell in the divine becoming
divine unfolding
divine dance
divine breath
divine heartbeat
divine death-defying resurrection
and empowers me in co-creation by making all things, all beings, all creation
vernix-new.
Cherish the womb
Cherish the {empty} tomb.
Cherish the sight.
— The Rev. Libby Tedder Hugus, penned on 24 August 2021
The Rev. Libby Tedder Hugus
“These retreats are life-saving, life necessary, life affirming, and massive,” Tedder Hugus said. “It’s a blessing for leaders of new worshiping communities to set aside time and space to know and hear from God that are out of our normal rhythms.”
“I think it’s the 1001 spirit,” added Waldron. “I’ve been researching Ignatian Spirituality for so long. For me the prayer exercise that had been so elusive became an experienced thing.”
Register for the “Wait Upon the Lord” Advent Retreat here.
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