Wow. What a weekend. Meeting new people, meditation retreat, Urantia Book workshops, more food than you could ever possibly eat…I am extremely grateful that I was able to make it to Chicago this past weekend for the 2013 Summer Study Session.
Wednesday night Nick Stefaro picked me up from the airport and then we missed a turn and ended up taking side streets back to Techny Towers. Of course there was a White Castle and Doug Dodge wanted to stop. Ten minutes of waiting in the drive thru later they had their burgers which smelled strongly of grease and onion. The burgers weren’t quite what they were hoping for…
Thursday morning Doug, Karen Stefaro and I walked to Starbucks to get coffee. This was also the all-day retreat in the Africa Chapel which was just unexplainably cool and centering. Gard Jameson led this and as a group I feel we all grew closer. Jisoo Han from Korea showed up at lunchtime and joined in after lunch. She shared her story and we were all weeping like little babies. Thursday night the youth and young adults (YaYAs) met up in the Maria House for some snacks. We then went out to look at Saturn and its moons in the enormous telescope provided by John Causland. Afterward some of us went back to the Maria House to play a Korean card game similar to ‘BS’.
Friday was a full day, with workshops, socializing, meals, and in the evening some of the YaYAs played a few Korean games. We had a blast playing these games. Saturday there were more workshops and Saturday night socializing and some more card games. This time we played American ‘BS’. The workshops I went to were Chuck Thurston’s ‘Inner Voice’, my own on ‘Free Will, Finite & Infinite’, Angie Thurston & Ken Keyser’s ‘Introduction to the UB’, and Al Lockett’s ‘Answering the Call: Servant Leadership’. All of the workshops I went to were awesome. As my feedback session reflected for Al’s workshop it was like an MBA management course. Sunday morning was kind of sad as we all got ready to leave and my roomie John Callahan left early. He did a phenomenal job of MC-ing. As it is with anything you missed, you just won’t know how great it was unless you were there!
6 thoughts on “Summer Study Session 2013”
Love it Sean, great description of your personal experience! It was an amazing experience. Looking forward to seeing you next week in KS!
Thanks for sharing some of the highlights of your time at Techny. Meeting you and attending your workshop was one of my highlights. It was nice to see all ages enjoying in depth study of The Urantia Book and participating in community fellowship.
Thanks guys! Had a great time hanging with ya.
Sean, Thanks for sharing your perspective and expereinces. It was great to meet you and share a room. I expect that we will be continuing our conversations as time goes by. If you’re ever traveling in SoCal I trust you will let me know.
Sean said, “As it is with anything you missed, you just won’t know how great it was unless you were there!”
I can believe that it was just ever so awesome. Ta stax for sharing…at least most of us who are too far removed to even dream – at this point in time – to be able to attend anything such-like, have the privilege to share vicariously 🙂
For the Supreme!
fabulous video.. service in love is the answer.
go for it