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Studland, Dorset: known for its sun, sea and sandy shores. It was to this beautiful area of the south coast that an intrepid band of 20 or so St Nic's men ventured for the second year in succession.
We left Newbury in a carefully planned sequence of cars, from soon after Friday lunch to early evening. Some of those that arrived early kindly found the local tavern so by the time we had retired to bed we were all in good spirits.
Saturday began, as all days begin on Men's Weekends, with a gut-busting breakfast carefully crafted by SM Wolak and team. Soon after, we began the real reason for the weekend; getting away from the pressures of daily life to get closer to God. Worship led by the Daws troop of players soon took us there, after which we had an informative teaching session led by the Revd Rimmer, one of David Stone's old friends from Bible school. After much reminiscing about their days at Bible school (David has paid me to stay quiet), we thought about what we strive for in our daily lives as men, John Ortberg's seven pathways to God and how we're all wired differently, meaning we all get closer to God in different ways.
Lunch was served, after which we rolled our separate ways; walkers to the coastline for a while, but eventually succumbing to the tavern again in the face of adverse weather, while the golfers were blown around the golf course along with the balls that they (sometimes) put up in the air. We returned and dried out for a short worship session which set us up for what I found to be the most challenging and yet most rewarding part of the weekend. As men we don't often get 'up close and personal' but prayer triplets can help with that: a chance to share in each other's issues and offer them to the Lord.
By now we were all wasting away, so it was time for the obligatory Saturday evening Colin Cunningham curry, which has by now become a St Nic's male institution, followed by an extremely well researched pub quiz by quizmaster John Hunter.
Sleep (of various durations), followed by a Wolak special breakfast and another Daws worship session, took us to our second discussion session of the weekend led by David Stone. After reminders about the early church (Acts 2-5), Hope08 and SPEAR, we spent much of the morning talking about how we would like to see St Nic's develop in the future. One key theme emerging from the discussion was how an agreed strategy needs to be progressed through identification of specific actions with champions to lead them (I paraphrase grossly and look forward to much debate about my interpretation).
The weekend finished with the breaking of bread (cheese, ham, etc.) over lunch after which we departed from our retreat and returned to the real world.
On behalf of all present, my thanks go to all those who helped to make this weekend work so well: organisers (John and Pete Harrison and John Hunter), the Daws troop of players (Brian, Rick and Mark), the speakers (Revds Stone and Rimmer) and the other chefs (Pete Harrison, Steve Wolak and Colin Cunningham). Most importantly, thanks for the fellowship of everyone who attended. God Bless.
Jim Lupton
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