How will we celebrate the sisters 65th anniversary in Madison? Janet in our mission advancement office was posing the question.
I confess some reluctance to entertain the question, as a litany of ups and downs in this place flashed through my mind:
- an open pasture as the setting for our monastery—really?
- opening a school/closing a school
- in 1966 not many people were ready for an “ecumenical” retreat and conference center. Bill Wineke, religion writer for the State Journal wrote: “nuns take leap of faith into the dark”—could have written a “leap over the cliff” (Guess some folks believe we did)
And what did happen? We planted an ecumenical seed and everything came up ecumenical: a big family-variety of friends; you; the sisters’ community became ecumenical; and Wisdom Prairie, to daily remind us of our Creator’s love of diversity. What a good reason to celebrate 65 years at this place: we are blessed!
In closing, I share a friend’s definition of heaven. When asked what he thought heaven would be like he answered: Party! Party! Party!
Is there some event you need to take time to affirm and celebrate? You’ll be grateful you did—both for the event and the celebration.