The Onground Intensive: A Look Back with Pictures

This week-end, I spent some time finishing the first book for the spiritual director certificate program, The Practice of Spiritual Direction by William A. Barry and William J. Connolly.  I've written my first response paper and sent it back to our small group leader.  I've also spent time thinking about the time in January, and as I've looked back over my January blog posts, I realized I didn't ever do much with photographs here (perhaps because I made some Facebook posts with photos, and I didn't want to repeat).

So, let me do that now.  It will give me joy to look back on that time.  Just a few weeks ago, I was getting packed and ready to hit the road.  On January 15, I'd get to campus a few hours before check in time, and to my great happiness, I was able to check in early.  For this intensive, I stayed in a historic house:

There were four bedrooms upstairs, and each bedroom had 2 twin beds:

My favorite part of the house was the converted sunroom.  My mind has often returned to this spot where I wrote and sketched:

My favorite part of the campus was the library, which seemed to have every book on Christianity that I could ever want, as well as beautiful spaces to spend time reading:

The above is an upstairs reading nook.  Here's a view of the main floor:

The chapel is a beautiful example of modern design (modern for the 20th century--will it seem modern in 30 years?  I have no idea):

The cross had amazing carvings:

We spent a lot of time in this meeting area in the Voight classroom building:

My small group met here:

One of the seminary buildings, Alumni Hall, had works of art by John August Swanson and He Qi--numbered prints, not just framed posters.

I was stunned that the building was open, and anyone could wander in.

 I spent some time in contemplation there, thinking about how rare it was to be able to be that close to art of that quality with no guards hovering by.  Below is a picture of the outside of Alumni Hall:

I love being on a campus where we're greeted by this statue of a merry Martin Luther.

I love a campus that has a chapel on one end and a library on the other end--I love the idea of balance that the architecture implies.

What a treat to spend time away, time focused on something besides the metrics of the modern workplace (cost-benefit ratios, budget to actual spreadsheets, retention rates and completion rates and examination scores).