This past October 6-8 weekend, twenty CCC women attended the Women’s Retreat in West Virginia and a good time was had by all! If you are a woman of CCC and are looking for a chance to connect with other women, whether you haven’t attended any or have attended all, I would highly recommend attending future retreats. I have tried to include some of the highlights below to give you an idea of why I plan to keep going in years to come. I hope that I can impart some of that enthusiasm to you.
The theme for the weekend was Women of the Bible. Pastor Gloria Grant led us on a journey of Old Testament women, from well known figures such as Eve to some more obscure, such as Keturah and Tamar. An interesting fact I learned this weekend: while women make up half of humanity, they are severely underrepresented in the Bible. A quick Google search uncovers that of 1,700 people mentioned in the Bible, a mere 137 of them are women. The exact number depends on the source, and this was part of our study this weekend: part of our Saturday session was to check different sources for information about the focus women from the Bible.
For the morning session, we broke into 6 different groups and researched the women using not only different versions of the Bible but also an assortment of Biblical scholarly books. These provided extra information as well as different interpretations, depending on the era in which they were written and the perspective of the writer. We came together to report our findings, which included follow up questions by Pastor Gloria and space for open discussion. The Saturday afternoon session was similar: we broke into 7 groups and were each assigned a woman to present to the group at large. This time however, there was a twist – we were allowed to be creative! Groups presented using everything from poetry to choral response to rap – shout out to my rap group Claire Barry and Kareen O’Steen for letting me run with it and then having fun with it! I will never forget the story of Ruth after that…
There was plenty to do during free time. Many thanks to our artist in residence Kerri Hufford for leading a pottery craft session. We found leaves and made an imprint in clay that she will take home and fire in her kiln. Some made a collage representing the weekend theme while others could read or take a walk in the beautiful surroundings of the Cacapon River Valley. Kathy Stedman spent time knitting, which turned out to be a beautiful scarf of many colors, a gift for Pastor Gloria for being our leader this weekend. Saturday night included music and dancing to old Motown favorites. Sunday morning was a church service in which everyone participated.
I would be remiss if I did not mention the food from the weekend. All of the meals were tasty, well prepared and abundant. There was plenty of dessert, which was all homemade and absolutely delicious. Lastly, what I especially enjoy about these retreats is the fellowship and the chance to get to know people, either for the first time or on a deeper level. At the end of each retreat participants are asked to fill out an anonymous evaluation with the final question asking what you will take with you from the weekend. Time and again, women mentioned the fellowship. I will leave you with not my words but theirs:
“Thank you for the wonderful weekend of fellowship and womanhood.”
“There was a lot of positivity. I think everybody likes to contribute to help make it a special weekend for all.”
“Thank you Pastor Gloria for a joyful weekend of learning and laughter!”
“The beautiful fellowship. The sharing and worship. The peaceful environment. The delicious food and leadership.”
“Friendship, fellowship, learning about women of the Bible.”
-Elaine Elderkin
