Last November, at the annual meeting of the Baptist General Association of Virginia, I was the winner of a drawing for a free spiritual retreat at LivingStone Monastery in Newport News. (The last time I won any kind of drawing was at a bankers’ convention in Cincinnati for two free tickets to a National League Championship baseball game, but that was more than half my life ago, long before I was a preacher, and back when the Cincinnati Reds used to have good teams. But that's a whole other story.) This past week, I finally claimed my prize from LivingStone, which provided me with three days and two nights free room and board, as well as a quiet spiritual atmosphere conducive to personally connecting with God.I had never stayed at a “monastery” before. Actually, LivingStone is an extended ministry of Hope Community Church, a young Baptist church in the city of Newport News. The actual facilities were originally built
in the 1950s, as the home of the Order of Poor Clare, a cloistered community of Catholic nuns dedicated to a ministry of continual intercessory prayer. In 2004, when the nuns finally decided to vacate their increasingly urbanized surroundings for a more placid, country setting, they put the property up for sale. But they would only sell it to a Christian ministry that agreed to perpetuate the longstanding intercessory prayer tradition of the location, a proposition to which Hope Community Church readily agreed. Hence, LivingStone Monastery remains a citadel of intercessory prayer. And the monastic tradition continues on as eleven workers of the ministry actually make the facility their full-time home. The facility also serves the larger body of Christ by providing opportunities for personal and group retreats. And their extended campus serves as “home” to six different churches of varying flavors that worship there throughout the week, as well as a food bank, a thrift shop, and a ministry providing weekly hot-cooked meals for the needy.
For my personal spiritual retreat at LivingStone, I decided against bringing a lot of things to read. Just my Bible (two translations, actually—the New International Version, from which I preach, and The Message) as well as one devotional book—the classic Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening Devotions. I have been on personal retreats before. Sometimes they have been more study-oriented. This one was much more prayer focused, which was intentional on my part. That’s why I didn’t want to bring too much reading material. I didn’t want to spend time reading that I really needed to spend praying.
I spent the bulk of my time either in my tiny room, or in the chapel, or walking the grounds praying. I also participated (with the resident workers and the handful of other guests) in LivingStone’s daily corporate prayer times. The monastery operates on a daily “rhythm” of prayer. Three times a day, everyone stops whatever they’re doing to gather in the chapel for brief prayer services at 7 AM (just before breakfast), 12 Noon (just prior to lunch), and 9 PM (to close out the day). There’s no preaching, but a lot of scripture is read aloud responsively. And there are a number of recited (as well as spontaneous) prayers of adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication offered to the Lord. It was more of an ancient, liturgical or contemplative approach to prayer & worship, rather than what one might regard as a typical “Baptist” approach. But I found it very refreshing.Interestingly, throughout the day from 7 AM to 9:30 PM, the Prayer Chapel is open for people to come and go as they may. Praise music can be heard echoing from the chapel throughout the day. Sometimes, it’s in the form of a CD recording. Sometimes, there’s a live singer/ guitarist, leading gentle praise unto the Lord. People come and pray and worship privately as the music is played. Artists, seeking godly inspiration for their artistic expressions, come quietly to the chapel and set up easels and paint or draw images in worship unto God while others are praying.
As I’ve already noted, the history of this place is deeply rooted in prayer. For more than a half-century, the St. Clare nuns would
offer intercessory prayer around the clock. Interestingly, there is another chapel that is separated from the current prayer chapel. The only thing that links the two is a pair of lofty, massive, swinging doors, high above the altar area. These doors can be opened so that sounds of worship can emanate from one chapel to the other. Yet, anonymity is maintained as persons on either side of the wall remain hidden from each another. For years, the nuns would pray in the interior chapel, out of view of the general public. Yet, the public was free to come into the outer chapel (the current prayer chapel) and listen to the prayers of the nuns, day or night.I had set some goals for my personal spiritual retreat, and all of them were met within my almost 48 hours on site. Some of the prayer goals were personal—things that I needed to bring before the Lord during a time when I could give them a long, concentrated, uninterrupted focus. But one of my prayer goals was to intercede for our local body of Christ in an exhaustive, comprehensive way. Thus, during my retreat, I prayed for our entire church family,
individually, personally, by name. I prayed through our church directory. I prayed through the most updated version of our church prayer list. I prayed through the many names and addresses I have recorded in my day timer. I prayed for all the people whose phone numbers I have stored in my cell phone. (Thus, this prayer effort extended far beyond our Mount Hermon church family to include friends, family, churches I formerly pastored, as well as many mission partners around the world.) The point of me telling you this is to let you know that, if you are reading this blog, in all likelihood, you were prayed for. All of you were prayed for at least once. And some of were prayed for multiple times during my stay.It’s a four hour drive from Danville to Newport News. But the trip was well worth it. I was there at the monastery from approximately noon on Monday to noon on Wednesday. It was a timetable that proved to be just right for what I had hoped (and needed) to experience. God truly blessed me by providing me with the gift of this unique opportunity. Perhaps, Lord willing, I’ll go back to LivingStone again sometime. But I'll definitely continue the practice of periodic personal spiritual retreats, whatever the venue.
Pastor Danny
