Students to experience Psalms in new ways at weekend retreat

Bible Professors Charles Rix and Grant Testut will lead students in different ways to read the Book of Psalms during the weekend retreat at Camp Dakani. *Photo by Abby Bellow*

Through a weekend retreat, students have a chance to explore Old Testament spirituality with an opportunity to study the book of Psalms in a unique way.

This weekend Oklahoma Christian University Bible Professors Charles Rix and Grant Testut will lead the very first Experiencing God Through the Psalms Retreat at Camp Dakani in Edmond.

“Myself and Dr. Testut are both Old Testament scholars,” Rix said. “So we really welcomed the opportunity to be able to open the Scripture in an experiential way to students.”

Sophomore Tanner Robbins brought the idea of holding this retreat to fellow student junior Elijah Weaver.

“He wanted to do a retreat in which we could see how the Holy Spirit worked in the Old Testament,” Weaver said. “Once we started talking, we brought the idea to Dr. Rix and Dr. Testut and this is what evolved from it.”

During this retreat students will undergo several experiential practices to allow them to read or pray the Psalms in a unique way — in hopes of creating better understanding into what the Psalms truly mean.

“One way we’ll read the Psalms is with communal Lectio Divinia — a spiritual reading,” Weaver said. “We’ll also practice the postures in which they would have been read and worshiped in the original Israelite community.”

The retreat will include a specific focus on Psalms 118, 23 and 136 — emphasizing how the Psalms can embody our worship today by learning how they were used in temple worship.

“I think the retreat will unlock those who attend,” Rix said. “I think when you unlock your being that allows you to have a fuller experience.”

Weaver said he is looking forward to attending the retreat as well as seeing how the retreat impacts others who choose to attend.

“I am looking forward to seeing how it influences or encourages people that get the chance to go, or may not have had previous experiences to do a retreat like this,” Weaver said.

Experiencing God Through the Psalms Retreat is Friday, Oct. 23 through Saturday, Oct. 24.

The retreat will begin at 6 p.m. at Camp Dakani in Edmond and will continue through Saturday, ending at 1 p.m. Retreat goers will return to campus Friday night to their own lodging.

“What I hope people will get out of the retreat is to see how the Psalms can release them and give them language for expressing their inner thoughts and emotions to each other and to God,” Rix said.

This event is free to all Oklahoma Christian students. Students can sign up here.