Sacred Spaces of Grace for Your Story

Telling the Story – again
Finding the sacred within the story, more deeply.

These phrases came to mind after I had been sharing the story of The Journey with some new friends. I realized that each time it comes from a deeper place within me because it is such an essential part of what we do and who we are.

Our recent week staying in the downtown eastside, with accommodations at The Empress and The Balmoral, brought us into a deeper awareness of how little dignity is given to the poor, the disenfranchised and those whom society cannot figure out where to put. Must we “put” anyone anywhere?

A team of 8 women will be leaving to head to Moldova and Hungary and we will be spending time creating sacred space to share story. Just as The Great Room in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, or Linwood House, is sacred space to honor the journey of each one, so will the sacred moments in Eastern Europe be a place to honor story. We hope to meet with women who have only begun holding their story in the Light. It will be an honor to walk with them as they continue this process and move more deeply into their own calling in these countries.

Those as home will hold the fort and keep the sacred space of Linwood House open for any who need it.

The Taste and Colour of Dignity

Sacred Spaces in the Eastside

The sacred space of Linwood House has been held by the men we have left up there to "guard the fort" and to take care of Kelly the dog while our team of women has been on a mission in Vancouver.

Gwen, Jen, Sue, Jackie, Stephanie, and Erin have been hanging out in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, and sharing our Great Room, our sacred space presence here. It has been amazing to have met so many friends who have come up to Linwood House for the Journey and to see their surprise that we are staying here in their community. They have welcomed us, run to hug us and continued to supply hugs each time we meet. Our accommodation has been 1 room at the Balmoral Hotel and 2 rooms at The Empress Hotel. If you have ever seen programs on TV about the poverty in this community, you will also have seen these hotels shown - 1 toilet per floor, 1 shower between 2 floors(there are at least 12 rooms on each floor). Most rooms have enough space for a bed and a chair, there is a sink which may or may not work, and there is normally an infestation of some kind of rodents or creatures. Silence or stillness does not exist in this community so one is always surrounded by "noise". There is much more to write but we will save that for later when we put together our reports.

One thing that has become so clear to us is that the poor, the extreme poverty group of our society, have no dignity whatsoever. They have no proper place to wash, go to the bathroom, to rest, and even to sleep. They are seen as a throw away part of society and hence because they have been given no respect they are unable to treat anything or anyone with respect.

Yet when they enter the beautiful space of the Great Room they seem to visibly put on the cloak of dignity.

Jesus was all about giving dignity to those with less and letting them know they are part of those who are imbued with more, Kingdom more/greatness.

We have been blessed to be in this community visiting with our friends, making new friends, and seeing God at work with new eyes.