I arrived at the Vallombrosa Center in Menlo Park, right outside of San Francisco, yesterday afternoon. Not exactly sunny California. The rain has been going on all week long here, but today promises to see a break of it and temps in the high 50's. Only 10 degrees warmer than home, but somehow it is enough to warm the Connecticut bones.
I had hoped to blog yesterday, but Internet is sketchy here and the only place we can definitely get online is in the center lobby, so here I sit with my coffee. Morning prayer begins in the Chapel at 7:45am.
We learned that Vallombrosa has been owned by the Catholic Diocese since 1947 as a retreat, but the land and original mansion on site was owned by E.W. Hopkins beginning during the Civil War period.
The name Vallombrosa means "Shady Glen" in Italian, in reference to the beautiful forested area of south east of Florence Italy that Mr. Hopkins visited often.
We counted 5 of us from Connecticut...a noble feat considering the distance to travel. There are about 50 attendees this year from Episcopal Dioceses all over the country. I see familiar faces from last year and have met many new educators already.
Yesterday our host church, Holy Trinity had an open house where we toured their Godly Play rooms. Wow! This is an incredible program. It is being used more and more by Epsicopal Churches and I was so impressed. More on that later.
They also had a beautiful labyrinth chapel. The wooden floor has a carved labyrinth for walking meditation that is a very moving experience. With the soft lights, candles and soothing music, you get lost in your thoughts as you walk it. I almost didn't go over to that building, but I am so glad that I did.
Food is included in this conference, and unfortunately it is incredibly delicious and plentiful. It is served cafeteria style with lots of healthy options as well as not so healthy ones. They even offer wine with dinner :). Coffee, bottled water and fruit are available all day long between workshops.
Last night after dinner was an evening Eucharist led by Bishop Marc Andrus. I have made a mental note to ask David about a few things that were different (like the Lord's Prayer) in this service and is there a "standard" form of it that Episcopal Churches use.
After the Eucharist there was fellowship by the fire at the mansion house, but us East Coasters who had been up at 4am had crashed and burned somewhere shortly after communion and needed sleep badly. My roommate is from the Diocese of Oregon so she stayed to visit while I and the other time change challenged folks, limped off to slumberland.
Today are the workshops. My first one is: Youth Ministry Today: Navigating Statistics, Trends and Popular Culture for the Sake of the Gospel.
Morning prayer is about to begin...I'll check back in later today and let you know how things are going.
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