Sacred Space

It is Sunday night and all but two of our nine team members are home again after our journey to the Ukraine. Once we get some rest, share with our friends and family, and put our thoughts together we will have more to share. We have lived in a sacred space together for the last two weeks, with a team that worked together in an amazingly organic way with just the right person, with just the right story to weave with the story of another's pain. And the pain is soul deep in the women of the Ukraine. The pain is soul deep in the women of this world. Pain is soul deep in humanity.

One glance into our sacred space for you just now. The train left Sevastopol at 6:20 PM on Friday evening and rolled through Simferopol and up the Peninnsula into Kiev, arriving there at 11:10 Saturday morning. We had three sleeping compartments but gathered in the middle one to share and chat. One pastor had given us some tetra packs of white and red wine, we had purchased some bread rolls, and had a bag of granola bars which was to be our supper and breakfast! Somewhere after we left Simferopol we all gathered in one compartment, shared our fears for the trip and how they had been met, shared a specific sacred moment of the journey, and also whether or not God had revealed something specific for future action. Children raced along the corridor, music blared through the speakers in the hallway, the rhythmic song of the train, and the colours of the setting sun were the touches of reality surrounding our sacred space. Within the compartment all nine of us took communion together and at this point I cannot describe the sacredness of it for words just are not there to let you have the scent of this sacred fragrant moment. It just seemed so fitting that as we closed our time in Crimea it was with the reminder that we all belong to this Body, this Church, this group of broken people who have said yes to following Jesus, who have said yes to carrying the Light, who have said yes to letting the past be redeemed through story telling and breaking bread together.

Thank you for your prayers as we journeyed. Thank you for coming with us. Thank you Abba for the gift of these 2 weeks.