Christ and Culture Lab #1 Take a Hike!

As one of the requirements for this course, you are asked to take a hike with your small group sometime during the first month of the semester. The three primary objectives for this "lab experience" are as follows:

1. To get to know the people in your small group a little better in a setting outside of the classroom.
2. To enjoy together the rich and beautiful creation that surrounds our campus.
3. To reflect a bit on your daily life--its purpose, pace and priorities--from within the different context that the hike provides. (In other words: Is there anything about the shape of your daily life that's easier to see during this hike?  Is there anything about the shape of your life that looks or feels different than it does when you're in the midst of your daily routine?)

In order to facilitate meeting these objectives, you are asked to do the following during your time together:

             1. In addition to your informal conversation, give each person at least 15 minutes to tell a bit of their life story. (Objective 1)
             2. Devote some of your time during your hike to silence and silent reflection. (Objective 2 and 3)

The other two basic ground rules for this hike are these: 1) the entire small group must do this together; 2) your hike must take you off of Milligan’s property.

On the assigned due date, each person in your small group is expected to turn in a one-page (single-spaced) report on your hiking "lab." In that report, you should have a separate paragraph offering your brief reflections on each of the three objectives listed above.