Community Connection ~ March 16, 2025: DIY Spiritual Retreat

In a deep dive into ways to deepen one’s spiritual experience of Lent, we came across the idea of going to a Lenten retreat. What a beautiful idea! Unfortunately, it’s not realistic for many people, whether that’s due to time constraints, financial constraints, or questions of who will feed the dog/cat/child on a given day. But what if you could go on a retreat without leaving your home?

Conventional spiritual retreats not only provide the facilities but also the guidance around HOW exactly to do what you’ve come to do. If you choose to DIY your retreat, consider using the steps below as a starting point - they’re adapted from a 2020 guide to creating a wellness retreat at home, and if the year 2020 produced one thing in abundance, it was guides to doing things at home!

Step 1: Set aside the time. A whole day would be fantastic, but if that’s not possible, see if you can set aside a half day one weekend, or even just the time between getting home from work and going to bed on a weeknight. Whatever you can do is enough!

Step 2: Set the scene. Make a plan for what you’ll wear and what you’ll eat so you’re not spending retreat time thinking about those things. If your retreat will extend over a mealtime, you might prep a full meal or plan to abstain from abundance and eat something simple. Finally, put your device(s) away! Commit to fasting from technology during your retreat so you can be fully present the whole time.

Step 3: Set an objective and fill in the details. Be intentional about what you’d like to get from your retreat time and create a schedule for yourself (and your family, if you’re doing this together) that includes the activities that will help you get there. Your itinerary might include time to pray, meditate, journal, go for a walk, create or walk a labyrinth, read your Bible…be sure to include both solitary and communal activities, and both movement and stillness. And don’t forget to include some time to do nothing - this might be the time you most closely feel the presence of God.

While these steps are a blueprint for a possible DIY retreat, we hope you come up with lots of ways to make this idea your own - after all, all you really need to do is withdraw. And when you return, we hope you’ll feel ready, as Pastor Michael put it in today’s sermon, to produce fruit.

If you’ve got DIY retreat ideas to share, we’d love to hear them! Engage with us on Facebook or Instagram.