In a world where God and church can be distorted to appear just as commercial and superficial as your next big pop culture fad, Orthodox Christianity is not something easily comprehended, nor accepted. Today’s youth culture tells us to shun committment and spurn truth in favor of artificial replacements, and often it’s all too easy to do just that.  Orthodox Christianity doesn’t automatically appeal to how we are culturally conditioned to behave and think — Orthodox life takes time, demands effort, and it’s hard. As a teenager, I think it’s worse; we’re “supposed” to rebel, try new things, “fit in”, and the Church really doesn’t allow for much of that kind of messing around.

The teen retreat every winter has two purposes: it gives Orthodox teens to come together in fellowship and encourage one another in their faith, as well as an opportunity to deepen their knowledge of who they are as Orthodox Christians. And of course, Colorado Springs gets a chance to whomp on everyone in broomball (okay, to be truthful, this year was the first in a long time that “the south” came out on the winning end).  The retreat is such an important part of my Christmas break every year — the priority of God can get lost in the hustle and bustle of highschool and work five days a week. The Winter Retreat is a place to have fun and grow in my faith with people I love.

This year’s retreat brought together 56 participants from six parishes across three jurisdictions.  It was easily my favorite Winter Retreat so far. When we weren’t scrabbling around on a frozen pond with duct taped brooms after a volleyball, we were tackling Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.  We took a close look at the letter itself, listening to Fr. Anthony Karbo’s expositions as well as working in small groups on worksheets.  We supplemented the text with additional readings and some history notes on the Ephesus itself.  We talked about how problems and conflicts we encounter every day were similar to those St. Paul addressed in his epistle, and how we can apply his teachings in our everday lives.  We talked about the fall of man and its relation to modern misconceptions, and how the devil works to tangle us up in ourselves and our mind. We also took a good look at concepts that our world teaches are normal — like jealousy, manipulation, suspicion, or distrust — through the eyes of the Scritpures and the Church Fathers.  For me, the retreat went beyond “good” or even “wholesome”: it was encouraging, rejuvenating, reassuring.

I came home more sore than I have been since…. well, last year’s teen retreat, and the sentiment was shared by more than a few of my fellows.  And for those that didn’t care for the chaos of broomball, there was tubing, broomball, foosball, broomball, cards, broomball, and board games.  The teen retreat provides the perfect balance of fun and thought.  More in depth than summer camp, it’s an environment that expects and receives maturity, responsibility and godliness.

Seraphima