This is my first time to use the polling feature of my new Drupal site. I now see that only people with a rlp account who are logged in can vote. All others just see the results of the poll. I think that is because the system logs who votes and won't let people vote twice.

So, to vote you have to have a rlp account and log in. After you vote you'll see the results and the poll won't be available to you. If you don't have a rlp account, just leave a comment and tell me your intent. I'll be counting what I read there too, as we decide how to organize the retreats.

I can tell you right now, based on less than two days of polling and in reading the comments, that there seem to be enough people to have three retreats this summer. June, July, and August. We'll get the dates to you as soon as we can.

More News: I've been contacted by a church that might be interested in sending money to help buy cots that we could use for these retreats. Tim Heavin has found some sort of fold-up mattress type things that don't have frames - meaning nothing to break or get bent.

http://www.nextag.com/hide-a-mat-tri-fold/search-html

Tim has slept on one of these, and he says they are quite comfortable. Like sleeping on a firm mattress. So maybe we'll get some money in to have enough of these for everyone who attends.

rlp

At the top of the right menu you'll notice a poll. Let me explain a little about it. Recently I announced that we were thinking of having one or more Franciscan retreats at our church this summer. For you. There is a video with more information.

Tim and Paul and I could do as many as three of these. One in June, one in July, and one in August. We're not sure how to organize it. One idea is to have one of the retreats be for those who are not Christians, but are curious, or just want a restful weekend, or just want to hang out with us for a day or two. We could have one that is open to anyone, whether or not they consider themselves to be Christians. And if there are enough clergy interested, perhaps one just for them.

We're not sure how we'll organize this. A lot depends on how many people will actually come. So it will help us if you'll take the poll if you really want to come.

We realize, of course, that you might want to come but the dates might not end up being convenient for you. That's fine. Go ahead and take the poll. You're not committing yourself. You're just helping us plan.

Thanks.

Note: You have to be logged in with an rlp account to vote. If you want to see the voting results, log out.

rlp

Some details about the retreat(s) we're planning. Hoping a number of you will be there.

Last March I wrote about someone stealing part of a prayer labyrinth at a church here in San Antonio. At that time Paul Soupiset was working on his Moleskine watercolor Lenten journal (which I HIGHLY recommend you seeing). One of of his Lenten pictures was inspired by his thoughts about building a prayer labyrinth at the back of the property at our church.

It looks like that dream is going to become a reality. A natural clearing has been levelled and some preparatory work done. There are a number of us who have volunteered to work on the labyrinth. Paul is blogging about it the process of this in a series of pictures during Lent.

This thing is going to be absolutely stunning. First of all, our church is buried in the woods. You'll have to follow a rather secretive and non-advertised prayer path out back that has no label and was made almost entirely by the vision and work of our 3rd to 6th graders. The path leads you through the woods to the back of the property where there is a simple pile of stones that forms an altar. And soon a labyrinth.

Here's a little video I made of the prayer path. The kids along with their very cool Sunday school teacher Ben have doubled its length since then.

Sorry about the video being jumpy

So now I want to let you in on a little secret. It's a dream that Tim Heavin (our other minister) and I have talked about. What do you think about having a Franciscan retreat at our church that would be open to anyone in the world who wanted to come? It would be rustic. We'd sleep on the floor and do contemplative prayers and singing at various hours of the night. Also hang out at the fireplace and talk about...everything. By then the prayer labyrinth would be finished, so people could try that too. What if all you had to do was get a plane ticket to San Antonio and you could stay at our church? We'd all eat together at the church, so you wouldn't have to worry about that. Then we would take people back to the airport and say goodbye.

Here's another cool thing. We wouldn't care if people were Christians or not. That's not the point. Anyone who is interested in exploring a monastic way of living could experience that for one night. We'd be thrilled if atheists and people of other faiths joined us. Imagine the conversations around the table.

I mean, do you think something like that could work? In this crazy world where we keep creating ideological and theological/philosophical barriers that keep us a part, do you think we could do something that would bring us together?

If we tried it, would you come?

rlp