Dear Friends,

I am writing a short note today to acknowledge the Men’s Retreat this weekend.

As you know, it is an annual event that brings together 20-30 men. Most of the men are active members of Talmadge Hill. But the event is also a form of outreach which typically draws a handful of men who are “friends” of the church.

People ask, “What is the purpose of the Men’s Retreat?” If I were to answer in a general way, the purpose is to get to know each other on a deeper level. The purpose is to have some fun. The purpose is to identify ways to be a better husband, father, friend and citizen. Then of course, the underlying purpose is to consider what God’s role might be in shaping and instructing us along the way.

Yet the purpose cuts even deeper. It has layers. For too much of history, men have led with distorted forms of masculine energy. (Frankly in more recent times, women have sometimes done the same.) However in healthy institutional cultures, masculine and feminine energy is in balance. Thus on the Men’s Retreat, we emphasize vulnerability. We encourage men to identify their primary emotions. We ask men to take risks, do something different, change the paradigm, seek different outcomes. At least in part, this is the value of feminine energy which is sorely missing in too many places.

So I/we ask for your prayers this weekend. May we seek and find a better balance of the masculine and feminine. Jesus embodied it. We aspire to do the same.

Carter