What can you expect at a "retreat"?

What can you expect when you attend a function called a "retreat"?  Many people have experience going on corporate "retreats" or other spiritual "retreats", and even NFL and college football training camps are sometimes called "retreats".  A condensed definition from Webster's Dictionary defines a "retreat" as:

¹re·treat

 noun \ri-ˈtrēt\

Definition of RETREAT

1

a (1) : an act or process of withdrawing especially from what is difficult, dangerous, or disagreeable (2) : the process of receding from a position or state attained <the retreat of a glacier>

2

: a place of privacy or safety : refuge

3

: a period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study, or instruction 

There are many potential clues about ACTS just from the fact that it is called a "retreat" -- especially when combined with the retreat format that involves staying overnight for three nights at a location away from the home Parish facilities.  After all, there probably is plenty of available meeting space in the Parish facilities on a Friday and Saturday, and it would be simpler and easier for everyone to just attend the retreat during the day and go home at night.

Just as football training camps differ from practices, "retreats" differ from usual "meetings" in that it implies an important goal is to withdraw from the usual day-to-day concerns and to consistently focus on things that don't get enough attention when you are multi-tasking through a typical day. If the goal is to withdraw from the usual day and focus, then it would be contrary to that goal to spend time at the retreat on outside entertainment or reconnecting with your usual day-to-day life on the internet or phone. The whole point of a retreat is to "get away" physically so that you can "get away" mentally.

The ACTS retreat application form usually asks about any special needs of food and accessibility limitations, so one could read that as implying they will provide all the "usual hospitality" needs of the average person, including food and sleeping facilities.  If you have any special needs, the retreat organizers cannot know that unless you tell them.

Now what is considered "usual hospitality" in Alaska might be different than other places in the lower 48.  But if you travel to Alaska just for the retreat, then you are entitled to make up stories about bears, wolves, eagles, fish, eagles, glaciers, igloos and even penguins that everyone back home will totally believe.  :-)