Advent retreat

Last week I joined the Minnesota chapter of the Society of the Holy Trinity (STS, an acronym taken from the Latin Societas Trinitatis Sanctae) at their Advent retreat.

It was a wonderful opportunity to spend a couple days in worship, prayer, study, and fellowship with a group of very thoughtful and hospitable pastors. There were about 16 of us present, including a few other guests, so it was a nice size group to get to know people a little.

The teaching theologian was Dr. Steven Paulson, professor of systematic theology at Luther Seminary. He spoke about historical developments in baptismal liturgy and theology (as well as the unfortunate tendency to separate liturgy and theology as I just did), and he argued for maintaining the custom of exorcism in baptism. I assure you that it was much less strange than it may sound, but certainly there would be a need for explanation and teaching around such a practice.

Much of our time was spent in worship and prayer, largely following the daily prayer offices of matins, vespers, and compline. The retreat also included the best hymn-sing I've ever been part of, wherein we sang every single verse of every single Advent hymn in the Lutheran Book of Worship. Apparently I've found people who share both my penchant for Advent hymns and my appreciation of thoroughness.

All in all, it was a very refreshing couple of days (which was nice, since I returned to a busy week). Check out the stunning surroundings of the Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo, Minnesota.


Views of Buffalo Lake from my room (and/or any number of other rooms, including the main dining room and the atrium).








Atrium/solarium/all-around spectacular room. I think they call it the "garden court." It was kind-of a hub connecting the various wings of the building.





Chapel. The MN chapter holds retreats at King's House three times per year, I believe, and the folks of the retreat center are very hospitable and gracious about letting them rearrange chairs, take priority in the worship space, etc.








Dining room for small groups. We ate most of our meals in the larger dining room, which had a fantastic view of the lake but wasn't as photogenic as this fancy little room.