‘Drawn to the cross’ the focus of Lutheran Women retreat
On the weekend of 23 to 25 February 2024, the annual Lutheran Women Upper North Zone Retreat was held at the beautiful Camp Willochra near Melrose, with lovely, comfortable weather as a bonus.
Approximately 30 women from across the zone and several from further afield thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, with the theme of ‘Drawn to the cross’. Being in the church season of Lent, our chaplain, Pastor Lee van Rossen, helped us focus on the nature of being drawn to the cross of Christ. He explained that, as humans, we are not naturally drawn towards the cross (as we should be). Instead, Father God calls us to Jesus’ cross for hope, comfort, forgiveness, and to ‘take up our own cross’.
The weekend began and ended with a service, including Holy Communion. Each year, too, we have a Rite of Memorial, where we can remember and thank God for the people in our lives who have gone before us. Offerings were donated to the Lutheran Archives.
The songs/hymns chosen reflected the somewhat subdued nature of the theme and the focus on Christ and his sacrifice.
On Saturday afternoon, we had personal quiet, reflective time as part of three Bible studies on the Passion of Christ and a short business session. Later, we took part in giving and receiving hand massages, making crosses out of palm fronds, completing a jigsaw, and catching up with long-time friends.
We were blessed to have Rachel Kuchel from Lutheran Archives as our guest speaker on Sunday. As well as learning all about the care taken to store our documents and the effort that goes into everything Lutheran Archives involves, we had a quick history lesson on the route our current Lutheran Church of Australia has taken over the last 140 years or so to what it is today.
Many thanks go to Elaine and Brian Keller, who provided simple, healthy, but filling meals.
The retreat committee, ably led by Sandra Wittwer, did an excellent job organising and running the weekend.
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