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“Time doesn’t seem to pass here: it just is. A remarkable place altogether.”

The second annual Tolkien retreat has come to a close, and the elven dreams of Middle Earth still linger in the hearts of those who have returned. Sixteen students and six faculty/staff headed to the majestic Leonard Lake Reserve for seven days and six nights of reading, reflection, fellowship, and worship. Each day began with a full breakfast and morning worship, and every evening ended with singing the beautiful hymn Abide with Me. Then most of each day was spent reading one of the six books of The Lord of the Rings. 

In the early afternoon we reconvened for Tea Time, read some more, went for nature hikes, rowed out on the lake, took polar plunges, swung on the rope swing, star-gazed, or simply took a nap. Every evening we would sit down for a full dinner together to recap the events of the day followed by board games, impromptu music sing-alongs around the piano, baking desserts or some candlelit communal readings of certain chapters. One night we even read about monstrous spiders in a dark wooded glade. 

There is something magical that happens when you remove technology, and any way of telling time whatsoever (other than the sun’s position in the sky), and you let an imaginative world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth weave its way into the communal thoughts of a small fellowship in an undisturbed wood north of San Francisco. This was shown to be true on the final night, where there was over an hour and a half of poetry readings, story tellings, musical performances, and Gandalf-Pippin rap battles. Reading great literature in peace stirs the soul and out flows the imaginative creations of created beings. 

The lake is haunting our dreams even still. Our plan was to read like Samwise, and that is what we did:

“Well, sir,” said Sam dithering a little. “I heard a deal that I didn’t rightly understand, about an enemy, and rings, and Mr. Bilbo, sir, and dragons, and a fiery mountain, and - and Elves, sir. I listened because I couldn’t help myself, if you know what I mean. Lor bless me, sir, but I do love tales of that sort. And I believe them too, whatever Ted may say. Elves, sir! I would dearly love to see them. Couldn’t you take me to see Elves, sir, when you go?”

As we look forward to next year, we are excited for this tradition to continue, and we cannot wait to bring new students and faculty into the joy and goodness of this time.