Men Retreat Together to Live Harmoniously (2/21/25)

Posted by on Jan 9, 2025 in EventAnnouncement, FEATURED, Friends & Fellowship, men, UMM | 0 comments

The 2025 Mens’ Retreat is almost upon us!  The retreat will be held on the weekend of February 21-23.  For 23 years (except for the pandemic year), the men of PUMC and our community have gathered at the Black Rock Retreat  Center to get away from the daily distractions and to focus on our walks as disciples.  Black Rock offers series of “pre-programmed” retreats, but we’ve always arranged our own themes and speakers.  This year, the sessions will be led by a duo of familiar pastors:  PUMC’s  Mike Chapman and The Church of the Nazarene’s Pastor Shane Ross.

 

Here are the details:

WHO:  Any man (16 years and older)

WHEREBlack Rock Retreat Center (Quarreyville, PA) (directions)

WHEN: Friday February 21 (6 PM’ish) through Sunday February 23, 2025 (noon’ish) 

HOW MUCH:  $215 (but don’t let that stop you if you can’t afford it!  Scholarships are available.  The cost includes lodging and five meals (Saturday breakfast , lunch, and dinner.  Sunday breakfast and lunch).  All meals are buffets.

WHAT: A weekend away to grow closer to each other and to God.

Details vary from year to year, but here’s what we usually do:

  • Friday afternoon / evening:  travel to Black Rock (carpools will be arranged), and check in at the front desk.  Most of us get dinner at the Quarryville Family Restaurant, which is a short drive away from Black Rock.  This optional dinner is not included in the Black Rock price.
  • Friday Evening:  After getting settled in, meet in our conference room for the First Session.

  • Saturday Morning:  Breakfast will be provided by Black Rock (always really good stuff!).  Somewhere around 9AM, we’ll gather in our Conference Room for the Second session.
  • Saturday Afternoon:  Free time!  Enjoy Black Rock’s many amenities.  Sit by the lodge’s large fireplace, take a walk through the property’s hiking trails, explore the nature museum, play basketball or frisbee tag (or chess!), or maybe even take a nap.
  • Saturday Evening:  Gather for the provided dinner.  Afterwards, meet in our conference room for the Third Session.

  • Sunday Morning:  Breakfast.  Afterwards, we’ll gather in our conference room for the Fourth Session, and wrap up with a short communion worship service.
  • Sunday Noon:  Lunch will be provided (but many of us opt to head home right after the final session).  Depending on how long you stick around (and on traffic), you’ll be home by 2-3PM.

For those who are familiar with Black Rock, we have booked rooms in the Maranatha Lodge (3 per room), and we are meeting in the Dogwood Conference Room (which is on the opposite side of the property- it’s worth the walk….).  Meals will probably be provided in the Maranatha Lodge, but we’ll find out for sure after we arrive.

 

To learn more about BlackRock and the Men’s retreats, check out the post about last year’s retreat.

2024 Men’s Retreat

 

Hostile Living…

In November 2024 we endured a political election that split the country down the middle.  Possibly moreso than ever, our lives are constantly being bombarded by things that divide us:   politics, religion, wars, church policies, and even sports (ask any Eagles fan how they feel about the Cowboys!).   Jesus called us to remain “in the Vine” (John 15), but the world keeps trying to send us to our own corners.

Even within the church, competing ideas on theology, worship styles, and personalities work to divide us.

People seek relief from this stress in many different ways.  We turn to religion, hobbies, media, and friends who think like us.  Some of us are into gathering as much money and possessions that they can get their hands on.  Others constantly burnish their own reputation and sense of righteousness.  

The world’s values make it hard to admit that you’re wrong, but Jesus calls us to be humble.  He calls us to love each other, even if they are different from us.  He calls us to repent, not to defend our reputation.  The walk of a Christian runs against the flow of the world’s values.  

 

Harmonious Living…

Jesus called us to join together to be fed on a common source of nourishment (the Holy Spirit).  Those who have been given to Him are not unified by cultural, politics,  hobbies (or even by sports teams).  True unity comes from  the God who created us all.  We all belong to Christ because the Father has given us to Him (John 17:6), but the world continues to categorize us and to pull us apart.

Pushing against the forces of the world which pull us apart, Jesus comes into our lives with forgiveness, humility, hope, and love.  The things that Jesus offers us  join us together, and more importantly, join us to God. 

Jesus doesn’t barge into our lives; we can choose to continue to live in the things that push us apart.  But if we accept the gifts from God and lay aside our own “needs” for self satisfaction and pride, we’ll find that the forces that divide us melt away.  We’ll find that the gift of “Harmonious Living” from God is way more satisfying than the temporary things we get from the world.

Here are a few examples of what Jesus said about God’s “Harmonious Living”
(click each left-hand tab):

John 17:20-23…

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,  that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—  I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

John 15:5-7…

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

John 6:32-35...

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”   Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 

John 10:14-16…

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep.  I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. 

John 14:15-20…

 “If you love me, keep my commands.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—  the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[in you.  I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.  On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. 

John 14:6…

  “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

 

 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had,  so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Romans 15:5-6

 

Two churches, one Church

Humans have made denominations, but Jesus made the Church.  When things are working the way God wants, Jesus’ Church has “One mind, one voice….” (and that voice is all about Jesus).

For years, the annual “Men’s Retreat” has been strictly an activity in the Pitman United Methodist Church. In 2024, PUMC joined with the men of the Pitman Church of the Nazarene to consider the question, “What are you doing here?”… what is your purpose in life?    The retreat was led by Pastor Shane Ross,  the lead pastor of  the Pitman Church of the Nazarene.

In 2025, we are again joining together with the Pitman Church of the Nazarene to share in a special weekend apart.  The 2025 retreat will be lead by the pastors of both churches:  Pastor Shane Ross (Church of the Nazarene) and Pastor Mike Chapman (PUMC’s senior pastor).

The two pastors have prepared a series of sessions entitled “Harmonious Living in a Hostile World.”  Coming together as Christians and believers is one of the most important things that we can do to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ.    

Pastor Shane is a dynamic leader whose real life honesty draws people to Christ.  At PUMC, we are excited by the faithful energy which our new pastor is bringing to us.  There’s no competition between pastors or between churches; we’re all motivated by love for Jesus and in our passion for drawing others to Him.  

In 2024 the men of both churches united under the purpose of knowing and obeying God,  and we formed new friendships.  In 2025 we look forward to “re-uniting” and rekindling our friendships, and then growing forward in a renewed purpose of unity in Jesus Christ.

 

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For more about the Men’s Group at PUMC, click the below button:

Men’s Fellowship

 

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