Holy Nativity Men’s Retreat At Camp All Saints

On May 30 and 31, 2014, The Brotherhood of St. Andrew Chapter of Holy Nativity sponsored a Men’s Retreat at Camp All Saints at Lake Texoma.

The theme of the retreat was joining with believers in scores of nations to pray for our suffering and persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world. We focused on quiet listening to God, and then responding with intercession for those who suffer for his name’s sake. Through video reports and images the suffering church was brought to life and Christ’s words in Luke 9:23,24 and 14:27, that we, too, must share in his cross were made real.

The first session on Friday evening was entitled Global Persecution of Christians is on the Rise followed by a time of devotional and prayer, as well as becoming aware of the facts of persecution.

Saturday started with a Litany For the Persecuted Church and Morning Prayer. After a hearty breakfast came session 2, Reporting on the Persecuted Church and we began to pray for specific areas and to think globally of the church and ourselves as part of that global Body of Christ.

The final session was entitled The Call and we were challenged to make prayer for the persecuted a daily part of our devotional life and to seek God’s direction as to how He is calling us to respond to our suffering brothers and sisters.

Overall, the weekend’s objective was to quiet our hearts and come into a place of attentive listening, humbly asking for a deeper identification with those who suffer and how best to pray for them.

It was a challenging time of opening our minds and hearts to the reality of His suffering body.