8:00 PM Retreat Closure

Last year our retreat was about choices. This year has been about what it takes to live up to the choices we make. But the irony of faith is that our choices are not the most important part of the equation, they are only responses to God's love.

Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, love one another."

I'd like to give all of you the opportunity to reply to God's calling you. At the beginning of this retreat we packed a suitcase with many things. Much of them will influence our choice to respond to God with faith, for faith or against it. I'm going to open up the suitcase now. I invite you to come and take your piece of the baggage.

We have discussed either directly or indirectly a lot of the baggage we bring to our faith. Tonight, and every day and night for the rest of your life, you will be faced with choosing what baggage you want to hold on to and what you are willing to leave behind. Open up your sheet, and look again at what you wrote. If you were honest, these are the precious memories of the life you have lived.

• Are you willing to give these to God, and entrust to Him your cares, your pains, your questions?
• Are you willing to let God fill the empty places the past has left you with His love for you?
• Are you willing to seek first the Kingdom of God, and leave it behind, believing that he is faithful and will give you all you need?

If you are willing, bend your knees and say this prayer with me:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.
Grant me forgiveness of my sins, and all my failures to do Your will,
We offer our selves, our whole life and one another to you O Lord.
For You are a good God who loves us, and we give glory to you,
to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

If you are not ready to say this prayer and mean it, be patient, and just work on the first part: Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me. In time the rest will come if you are willing.

Keep your notes, keep your baggage, keep your journal. Check it occasionally. Add to it. Use it as a guide to making confession and remembering what to pray about and whom to pray for. Keep praying. God will answer you when you call to Him!

Closing Song: We have time for one last song: Walk ON, but a special version performed for the Sept. 11 telethon and recorded for the America: tribute to Heroes CD.

Team Leader Guide: Walk On Talk 1

Before retiring for the evening, take another 10-20 minutes to discuss in small groups the following questions.

In the song, Walk On, we hear the lyrics:

Walk on, walk on
What you got they can't steal it
No they can't even feel it…
Walk on, walk on
What you've got they can't deny it
Can't sell it, can't buy it
Walk on, walk on
Stay safe tonight

What is this that they are talking about, that "they" can't steal, feel, deny or buy it?

· Who are "they"?

· Where do we "walk on" to?

· What do we need to stay safe from?

Record your answers to these riddles and select one person to present the group's findings when we come together.

Small Group Discussion 2: Questions for Higher

Good Morning! Consider the following lyrics and discuss them:

'Cause there's a hunger, a longing to escape
From the life I live when I'm awake
· Why would someone want to escape the life they live? When have you?

So let's go there
Let's make our escape
· Where do you escape to? What do you escape from?

Up high I'm strong enough to take these dreams
And make them mine
· What dreams would you like to make your own? What does that mean?

Can you take me higher?
To the place where blind men see
Can you take me higher?
To the place with golden streets
· Where is the higher place with golden streets, where blind men see?

Small Group Discussion 3: Long Road

(Long Road is a song that was written for the Dead Man Walking Soundtrack by Eddie Veder and a Pakistani Musician. Eddie played it live on the tribute to Heroes after Sept. 11 with Neil Young. It is a soulful song that speaks to the heart more easily than the intellect, so it may be hard to unravel. Keep it simple. Possible answers are given here for the team leaders)

· How does this song connect or relate to the others we've heard? What is it about? (longing, being separated, having to move on)

· Who in your life do you feel this song could be written to? Is there someone in your life that you have wished to be with and couldn't? (Write the name(s) in your journal)

· What is the Long Road? (Life, The Walk with God)

· What if Jesus Christ was singing this song to us? How can this song be understood as Christ's song? (He wishes for us to be with Him, that is why He came to earth to save us)

Come back to the group and report on findings, especially the last two questions.

Small Group Discussion 4: Temptation

No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to Man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

· What temptations stand out to you as the most difficult?

· What ways do you think God has given us an escape from them?

· If God has given us an escape, why do we still fall for the temptations and sin?

· What does temptation affect us on the long road that we must walk on?

· How should we respond to its effect?

Come back and report.

Group discussion 5: Kite

Who's to say where the wind will take you
Who's to know what it is will break you
I don't know which way the wind will blow
Who's to know when the time has come around
Don't wanna see you cry
I know that this is not goodbye

· What is this song about? What are the main ideas you get from it? (Note: This song was written by a father to his children, even as his own father was dying of cancer. For him it was about letting go of somebody, and letting himself and others be set loose on the winds of life to fly like a kite)

· Do the lyrics suggest the singer has all the answers to life's questions? If not, how does the singer resolve the problem?

· Is it okay not to know all the answers? Why? Why not?

· We were asked earlier what the greatest challenges to our belief are. Do you feel that these obstacles are too great to overcome or would you be willing to commit to faith in Jesus Christ knowing that not all of your questions are resolved?

· Would you like to be able to make that commitment?

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