"Let us then pursue what leads to peace and to building up one another." ><>Romans 13:19
The best retreats that I have been on have been the ones that include retreatants and staff getting together to do what's called "affirmations." Some people don't much like them because the structure of the situation makes the exercise feel somewhat contrived and pretentious. But I like them because I think having the exercise there recognizes a problem that has existed in Christian communities for a long time, namely, a lack of props.
If there are not a whole lot of "kudos" getting tossed around in a Christian community, a Catholic parish, then something is greatly amiss. It is not that we should ignore the many problems that exist in the Chruch. But if people started their conversations, or their relationships in general, with affirmation rather than immediately leaping into ideology, we would at least be highlighting what we fundamentally agree upon, namely: that we wish to pursue the love of Christ.
I don't know about anyone else, but the most fulfilling Christian relationships I have aren't the ones where I banter intellectually, as much as I enjoy that. They're the ones that involve shared experiences of mission and ministry. Because when the focus is the mission, nothing else matters. It's all about the goal of bringing Christ into the lives of those to whom we are ministering. And to really work together and do that, affirmation is not an option: it's a prerequisite.
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