ARC Retreats…                                                     ARC Newsletter

time apart,                                                          Volume 28, Number 3

rest,                                                                     September 2007

and spiritual
renewal

Reflection: Art Exhibition by Celeste Nelms

Photographer Celeste Nelms, ARC artist in residence, will offer Reflection, a one-day outdoor multimedia exhibition of her work Saturday, September 22, from 12-6 pm, whichl will be held under the majestic white pines on the front lawn. Refreshments will be served.

The photographs incorporate images of Isanti County’s waters and wetlands, reflecting the ARC’s 30^th anniversary Water Year celebration.

Celeste Nelms’s art makes use of manmade objects placed in an organic environment to create rich and startling visual effects. The use of her own figure in these settings provides a human element and evokes an emotional response. The open air display will include photographs, mobiles, miniature pieces on tree trunks, and an art piece submerged in water.

Nelms has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally. Her career accomplishments include awards from the Jerome Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board, and a McKnight Foundation Photography Fellowship in 2003. Her work can be viewed online at www.mnartists.org.

The indoor “Water Works” art exhibit, featuring water-themed works by many Minnesota arsists,  may also be viewed through December of this year. ARC is currently accepting applications for the Artist in Residence program for next year. Contact us at arcretreat@hotmail.com for information.

Body of Water

by Doug Federhart; written for the ARC Water Retreat, May 2007

Some part of us must never have wanted
to come ashore—must never have dreamed
of lungs and legs; but the part that did
won out, and now, here we dwell, land-
locked and air-addicted, as hooked as any
junkie on his fix, and terrified of drowning.

Perhaps this is why, when I stand sand-
footed at the wet lip of the Atlantic
and pause long enough to let the seductive
song of the Siren set up in the depths
of me a sympathetic surge, my own
body of water longs to flow towards reunion.
If it weren’t for legs, and lungs, and
a world anchored by obligations, would I
follow what swells within me and ride
the waves of my beginnings back out, and into
the Mother from whom I came?

ARC Retreats and Events

Advent Retreat: In the waters of rebirth

Friday evening, December 7—Sunday afternoon, December 9

Enter into the mystery of darkness, in preparation for new birth to come. Use poetry, scripture, visual arts, silence, and Taize chant to search your soul at the still turning of the year. Cost: $175.

Facilitated by the ARC Community

New Year’s Eve Retreat: Embracing silence

Monday, December 31, 5 pm—Tuesday, January 1

See the New Year in prayerfully, with meditative worship and spiritually minded others.

Cost: $85, includes dinner, late night hors d’oeuvres buffet, and New Year’s brunch.

Facilitated by the ARC Community

Sacred Voice Benefit Concert, First Lutheran Church, New Brighton

Friday, May 2, 7:30—This concert will be the third offered on ARC’s behalf by this gifted a cappella ensemble. Each year, the Sacred Voice prepares a program to benefit various non-profit organizations in the Twin Cities area. For excellence in performance and purity of purpose, this group is unsurpassed.

2008 Retreats now in the planning stages

Friday, June 13—Sunday, June 15 (dates tentative)—Life Transitions

Monday, August 18—Wednesday, August 20 —Educators’ Retreat

Retreats the ARC Community would like to offer—please let us know if you are interested:

        Community: What is it? Where do we find it? How can we live it?

    Quakerism 101: How the passion and purpose of a small spiritual movement can change the world.

Individual retreats: Check our website, www.arcretreat.org, for seasonal or weekday specials.
Gift Certificates fmay be purchased via email, or phone 763-689-3540.

Earth and heaven—water flows in both directions

Jan Wiersma, ARC Director

In  my younger days when I returned from nine years of living abroad, I found the opulence of the American lifestyle overpowering. Homes were so vast, so warm in winter, so strangely cool in summer; supermarkets so bountifully, if monotonously, stocked; roads so full of cars, public transportation so difficult of access. And fresh, clean, hot and cold water gushed on demand, right out of the wall.

When I lived in a tiny mountain village in Greece, I was accustomed to showering outdoors under a flowing hose whose far end was precariously wired into the nearest stream. In a London bed/sitting room, I fed coins into a machine to produce a tepid trickle in an immense and frigid bathtub. Immersion in the steaming waters of the famous Japanese baths was a rich communal experience. Only in the United States do I stand, ecstatically, morning after morning, in the privacy of my own home, and let the warm, never-ending rain soothe me into the day—may I never stop giving thanks for this luxury!

This amazing gift of water can be, if we choose to see it that way, a metaphor for baptism and the spiritual life—this daily cleansing, this fresh start freely given. Forgiveness is like the warm shower, washing away the daily blemishes that mar our consciences. The Spirit works on us as a sauna does, drawing out the deep stains of grief and old wounds. Plunging into cool lake water re-creates and renews us, but water out of control brings death, as we know to our sorrow. But life springs from death, as well; disturbing truths are laid bare, and if we open ourselves to them, those parts of ourselves that are harmful or hurtful can be washed away, opening the door to fuller life. And we can saturate ourselves in the holy as in a hot bath, letting the peace that passes understanding soak into us.

Chances are Jesus never experienced a good long soak in a hot bath, or even a nice warm shower. Because of its scarcity, water may have been for him even more a vehicle for divine love than it is for us. Do we, who have water at our fingertips daily, really recognize it as means of grace? To be pressed under the waters of the Jordan by the desert-toughened hands of John the Baptist, or have one’s road-weary feet soothed in cool water by the Teacher himself; to beg a stranger for a drink from a public well of questionable purity—how would these feel to us, who take our right to constant private access to clean water for granted? Would we feel an extra measure of God’s love? Or would we politely decline, for reasons of modesty, safety, or personal hygiene?

What does water mean when we have so much of it? This year at ARC we have pondered the crisis of water common to a good share of the world, and, therefore, justly ours as well. It seems to me the spiritual potency of water only increases the more it is threatened physically. Our aim at ARC is to provide a safe container where soul work can be done: spirit-searching, letting go of old guilts and griefs, recreating ourselves on healthier, holier lines. I hope that the subtle reminders of water that abound here will assist in this process. I hope that guests will learn to see water again, and remember not to take it for granted.

For if we take water for granted, chances are we take grace for granted too; so I also hope that the experience of retreat will do more than soothe the soul. I hope that it will provoke the spirit to action. Water flows in both directions. Praise God for water!   

For thoughtful reading on water, earth, soul

How is it that in this, ARC’s Water Year, Minnesotans have witnessed, in a few weeks’ time, devastating drought, the tragedy of a traffic-laden bridge collapsing into one of the world’s mightiest rivers, and some of the worst floods in our state’s history? Sad coincidence? Or is it  simply time to change our expectations of life with nature?

ARC’s is one tiny voice in a chorus of voices lifting up the call to listen to the waters, to attend to the immense changes breaking upon the world as we know it. Some resources that have come to our attention may be useful for congregations, community groups, and individuals who agree that justice and spirituality go hand in hand.

The Church World Service (www.churchworldservice.org) offers a series of beautifully produced, informative brochures, available free in limited quantities, on world-wide water issues. Especially noteworthy for congregations are the “Build a Better World” children’s activity resources and scripture-based worship suggestions lifting up global water justice.

Seattle-based Earth Ministry promotes “Christian environmental spirituality.” The summer issue of their quarterly journal Earth Letter announces publication of By the Waters, a resource engaging congregations in protecting and restoring God’s gift of water through education, music, prayers, liturgy and sermons. Visit www.earthministry.org.

The gift to ARC of a subscription to Yes! magazine brings with it a “vision of positive futures.” Committed to “building a just and sustainable world,” the editors not only clarify issues but offer helpful examples of ordinary people taking action. The Fall 2007 issue, “Stand Up to Corporate Power,” includes the story of how a small New Hampshire community kept corporate giants out of their water. Also check out the Winter 2004 issue, “Whose Water?”, still available through their website, www.yesmagazine.org.

The American Friends Service Committee (www.afsc.org) and the UN Water for Life Decade (www.un.org/waterforlife decade) also offer information and free or priced resources. Or peruse these resources during your next retreat at ARC.

Child of the Moon—ARC Bestseller in 2007              

Jeanne Cotter; illustrated by Chrysa Otto; includes CD.  

Here is a children’s book that captures the world’s fragile beauty and the tender unfolding of a child’s soul in image and song. Child of the Moon charms as it teaches about the natural world, and opens the door to mystery and dreams while enfolding the reader/listener in a comforting circle of love. A special illustrated glossary and notes help adult interpreters introduce the world of symbols and the unconscious or shadow side of life to young friends. Lyrics, music, and vocal performance are all by ARC friend Jeanne Cotter, whose musical and spiritual “Coming Home” retreats have been a summer highlight for several years. This gem of a book would make a wonderful birthday or Christmas gift for a favorite child in your life. Available at ARC or through Jeanne’s website, www.MythyicRain.com.

The evolving paths of peace and passage

Our labyrinth is unfolding in a beautiful way. It all began last summer with a community day at Lisa Moriarty’s home in Stillwater, where she opens many labyrinths of her own design open to the public (www.pathsofpeace.com). Bob Hoxie was especially inspired by her seven circuit Peace labyrinth, which he mowed into the grass in our front yard last year. We kept walking it through the winter months, so the path remained.

This summer, we received a wonderful gift: the stones from a labyrinth at the former home of Carol Kindschi and Larry Greenberg of Saint Paul. They wanted the stones to continue to serve a similar spiritual purpose; serendipitously, ARC was both a good fit and a place they knew. Thanks to volunteers George Lindberg, Mike Tessneer, Bob Victorin-Vangerud, Debra Ricci, and Dwight Haberman, and a monetary donation for heavy duty truck transport, we were able to move the 20 tons of stone to its new home.

Our new community member, Stuart Mays (see next page), has been laying the stones in the original seven circuit Peace design. Thanks to his gifted labor, the beautiful stonework should kbe ready to walk again by the time you read this. Next year Bob hopes to plant creeping thyme and other perennials, as the ARC labyrinth continues to evolve.

The bridge across Little Stanchfield Creek is also (d)evolving, along with our ideas about it! While a favorite haunt of artists at ARC, it has become increasingly dangerous to walk, and we are planning to dismantle it.

Loren Halvorson, original designer and builder of the bridge (“not to say annual restorer”) gave his blessing to the passing of the bridge in a theological essay, available on request: “As Meister Eckhardt said, ‘Spirituality is not a matter of addition but of subtraction.’ So let us hear what nature is telling us and take the bridge away.”

We hope to salvage the treated lumber to build something new (a green house? a gazebo?). The scheduled day for this project is Saturday, October 6. As always, we run on volunteer power here, so please let us know if you’d be interested in coming to help take it apart. We also hope to do some buckthorn eradication that day, so please join us if you’d like a morning in the woods.            

Sharing Action, Reflection, and Celebration

Meet some of the people who help make ARC your home away from home. Thanks to them, reservations register, special requests are noted, and the facility remains warm and welcoming. Though they live off-site, they are vital members of the community, sharing “Action, Reflection, and Celebration,” the three pillars of community life, with residents.

Julie Redpath and Dee Mueller job-share in the office, answering phones and emails, and keeping up with the many details that make an office run. They make sure bills are paid on time, donations duly noted and donors thanked, and rooms assigned and lovingly labeled with guests’ names.

Julie came to ARC after a 30-year career in the DNR; she now lives in Rock Creek with her partner Rebecca, a Cambridge librarian. Dee arrived last October after training and working as a scientist in an earlier career. She and her husband Mike live outside Cambridge.

Bob Carter, who lives with his wife Mary in Fish Lake, oversees the overall maintenance of the
facility and supervises our volunteer “wood days,” ensuring an adequate supply of combustibles for the winter months.

A bonus: all of them are dog-lovers!

ARC also welcomes new resident community members:

Jeff Wolfe recently graduated seminary from the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana. Jeff brings to ARC 
varied interests in contemplative prayer, Quakerism, painting, Buddhism, youth ministry, guitar and banjo, and a 
desire to hone cooking skills. Jeff’s desire is to blend aspects of spiritual formation and pastoral ministry in his future 
practice.

Tonda Rader, also a student at Earlham School of Religion, blesses ARC with her interests in creativity, cross-cultural 
ministry and inter-faith dialogue, theology of the arts, pastoral counseling and chaplaincy. Tonda has experience in 
HIV education and awareness, nursing home activity planning, youth ministry, and ministry in the National Parks. 
Tonda hopes to continue her studies in theology and communicate God’s love through pastoral care and cross-cultural 
ministry.

Stuart Mays, a Quaker, has a background in teaching, business management and fundraising, so naturally he has been 
working almost non-stop on the labyrinth! Previously he has used his varied skills as a yearlong volunteer in other 
intentional communities, working at a women’s homeless shelter in Washington, DC and at a Franciscan Mission on the
Navajo reservation. Between stones, he can generally be found following his favorites on the LPGA tour via office internet.

Together, we look forward to a sharing ARC’s hospitality in wonderful ways this fall. But we still need our volunteers: remember, you don’t have to live here full-time to be part of the ARC community!

Gifted Retreat Scholarship Program expanded

The ARC Community is grateful to the many donors who made possible retreats for City House clients and Lydia Apartments residents, as well as individuals referred by pastors or therapists. City House provides spiritual services to the homeless, and Lydia Apartments offers transitional housing. Time apart in solitude and silence is particularly meaningful for people in transition from homelessness or other disruptive and disorienting situations. Third time retreatant Jerry Smith, for whom Lydia Apartments was the springboard to a new life, wrote after his retreat this year, “I personally feel this is a GREAT opportunity and I hope this endeavor will continue in the near future. Thanks a million!”

This year we are also hoping to open our Gifted Retreat option to people who pour themselves out in service to others. For example, workers in low-paid jobs requiring intensive interaction with others, such as nursing home or hospice workers, will receive a special rate on weekdays. In particular, we wish to welcome members of the military just returned from active service, especially those coming home from Iraq or Afghanistan. If you would like to contribute to this program or refer someone in need of a retreat, please contact Director Jan Wiersma at 763-689-3540.

Real Cream of Tomato Soup—a late summer delicacy

If you find that your garden is producing more tomatoes than you can eat, try this recipe with fresh tomatoes. We use orange or yellow heirloom varieties that give the soup a rich golden color and an unbelievably full taste. (Tip: Fresh garden tomatoes can be washed and frozen whole, or quartered, in freezer bags. Use them to bring a taste of summer sun to mid-winter pastas or soups.)

1 Tbsp. butter                            Freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 c. chopped onion               3 1/2 c. canned or fresh tomatoes, diced

1 clove crushed garlic                 3 Tbsp. dry sherry (optional)

1/2 tsp. salt                               1/4 tsp. honey

1/2 tsp dried rosemary               4 oz. cream cheese or Neufchatel

1/2 tsp. dried basil                     Fresh parsley

In a saucepan, sauté onion and garlic in butter with salt until onion is soft and translucent. Add herbs and pepper and sauté a few minutes more. If using fresh tomatoes, dip them in boiling water for half a minute and the skins will peel off easily. Add tomatoes, sherry, and honey. Cover and simmer 30-40 minutes. Cut cream cheese into small cubes and add these to the hot soup. Continue cooking and stirring until smooth (the cheese will take a while to melt thoroughly). Blend if smoother texture is desired. Serves 4. ARC adapted this recipe from Mollie Katzen’s Enchanted Broccoli Forest, one of our favorite vegetarian cookbooks.

The ARC Cookbook, Third Edition, makes a perfect Christmas gift for the people in your life who love eating healthfully and like cooking from scratch. Full of tried and true favorites from the ARC kitchen, it also includes most of the ARC table graces. $14.95 apiece, plus $4.95 for shipping up to three copies. Use the response form to order.