Linwood House

We' Like To Introduce You To....

2007-08-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

Our new website! We have been working on this for some time and Mike Todd has spent a lot of time and energy getting our new site up and running, and drawing together everyone who needed to participate in this project. There will be much more to come and new updates on a regular basis. Our friend David duChemin has done some amazing photography for us.

Please have a look and we would love to hear your comments here at Linwood House Ministries.

Linwood Art Experience.2

2007-07-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

The Art Experience at Linwood House was more than we could have imagined. Four artists displayed their pieces, or rather 5 artists as we had one very young artist who made exquisite cards, and the community of the Sunshine Coast came out to enjoy a sunny afternoon. Our team of volunteers worked very hard to prepare gorgeous flower arrangements, setting up the art, creating wonderful baked goods, and the full bowls of strawberries and cream added to the Victorian tea/Art in the Garden ambiance. There were over 200 people who responded to the article in the local Coast Reporter and came to mingle. Melodies on the violin greeted guests as they arrived and tunes from the piano inside and a guitarist outside added to the casual air that invited many to linger, visit, meet old and new friends, and to interact with the Board of Directors from Linwood House Ministries.

Thank you to all who participated and contributed to raising funds for Linwood House Ministries.

Linwood Art Experience

2007-07-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday July 15th, 2007 1 - 5PM

Join us for an afternoon of Art, Music & Refreshments in the garden setting at Linwood House in Roberts Creek.

Talented local artists will display and sell original artwork.

Water colour paintings by Yzabelle DeLisle Milton
Stone Sculptures by Roland DeWilde
Acrylic Paintings by Fran Ovens
Oil Paintings by Douglas Rae

3144 Linwood Road
Roberts Creek, BC

Hoping for Summer

2007-06-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

We are all dreaming of summer here on the Sunshine Coast! There were a few days of summer early this month but that has been about it.

There is a lot of working happening around Linwood to make it very beautiful as there are several friends using Linwood House as the place to celebrate their wedding. Next weekend our friend Jeni will be married here. She has often been here as prayer support for The Journey, and now she will be coming to celebrate her new life. Flowers have been planted and they are well watered due to all the rain! There will be two more weddings in early September, one of which is my own, so for summer to arrive and linger here for a few months would be a most welcome arrival.

Ponderings for Today

2007-06-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

My Lord,
Draw aside these veils I have made
Interwoven and fashioned with the many fragments of my fears.
That I might glimpse Your Ancient Form upon the inner road of mine.
Where Wisdom reigns and Silence guards the Way to heavens gate.

May my heartbeats walk with a measured step.
May I see with Inner Eye.
Those gleaming forms of radiant Light upon this
Holy Way.

And perhaps at Journeys end when I turn to look upon the bitter and the sweet.
No vain regret will dim my eyes or diffuse the Light, upon
this my
own
Damascus Way.

raleigh michael smith - 1987

www.worldprayers.org

Reminder on Community

2007-06-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. I will always show you where to go. I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places—firm muscles, strong bones. You'll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You'll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You'll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community liveable again. Isaiah 58:10-12(TM)

Thanks Dwight for this reminder.

Delicate Blossoms

2007-06-13T14:15:00.000-07:00

She lives on the streets, works the streets, and carries her defenses in a tough outer shell. At "the spa", part of the Journey program, her nails were cleaned and painted while being held in tender hands. Her hair was cut and trimmed with care by one who has suffered her own losses yet poured in love as she worked. Then she sat down and had her make up applied by one who loves to help women find the beauty within. As she took the mirror and gazed as her new hair, her eyes took in the reflection and she said "Oh my, I feel like a beautiful woman- not like a tramp". Mine were not the only eyes that filled with tears as we saw a beautiful pure blossom open up for us all to see!

Final Thoughts on Bangkok

2007-06-09T09:18:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,

It has been several weeks since the end of our adventure in Thailand. Most of us are through the jet lag (thankfully!) and are now process and sifting through all of the experiences, faces, stories and heart deposits made during our time there. It was a life changing time for us all.

Two things have been rolling around in my mind and spirit since coming home, very simple words yet deep in meaning. The first is the idea of "the one". We saw time and time again the power of connecting to one woman at a time, investing in each relationship one by one by one. I'm reminded in the Bible of the many times that Jesus fought through crowds of people to get to the one person who needed his love and grace. Relationship is surely one of God's favorite places to hang out, and a place where much healing and transformation happens.

The second is the concept of "go". We spent so much of our time during those two weeks going into massage parlors and bars, going into the streets to where our friends were. Go is an action word, it requires something of each of us. I was reminded over and over again about the importance of going....to find the lost, to invite to the banqueting table, to bring to the party, to welcome home.

I received an email from our friend Bonita, the director of Home for New Beginnings, and she shared some reflections about the "fruit" of our time in Bangkok, and affirmed again the power of "going" to "the one".......

'You really can't know how significant your time here with us was. Two major things: 1) We have continued to have girls register for English that are a result of your "blitz". We have even opened an afternoon class for five girls from one bar! We have had eleven girls register -- just this week! While some of these are massage girls, some are beer bar and go-go bar girls and we have not had anyone from the bars register for a long time. The word spreads more easily through the massage parlors and it is easier for them to come in the morning but it is thrilling to have the others there as well. 2) Probably even more significant than that is the comfort with which Pu, Si and Jeed now go to the bars with us. Pu. Nit and Si are particularly comfortable and they weren't before. They made some friends and are always interested to go back and see them. They are beginning to see the value of relationship as well. While they wanted to go before - they wanted to help and they knew that others should be at Beginnings, they felt awkward about making contact and making conversation and all of that is gone. When they go to 7-11 to buy a phone card, they will now stop in a few minutes and talk with the girls they began a relationship with. It is AMAZING!! That would have taken us months to accomplish - if then - with only a one night a week experience. You can't know how significant this is!! and what it means to me - and to all concerned.'

What an awesome privilege it was to be "go-ers" for such a time as this. Thank you to each one of you for equipping and supporting us financially and prayerfully to be part of this incredible experience.

Blessings on you,

Sue Todd

Reflections for this week

2007-06-04T10:11:00.000-07:00

Thoughts to ponder from Thomas Merton

The Merton Reflection for the Week of June 4, 2007

"The progress of the person and the progress of society go together. Our modern world cannot attain to peace, and to a fully equitable social order, merely by the application of laws which act upon humanity, so to speak, from outside ourselves. The transformation of society begins within the person. It begins with the maturing and opening out of personal freedom in relation to other freedoms-in relation to the rest of society. The Christian "giving" that is required of us is a full and intelligent participation in the life of our world, not only on a basis of natural law, but also in the communion and reconciliation of interpersonal love. This means a capacity to be open to others as persons, to desire for others all that we know to be needful for ourselves, all this is required for the full growth and even temporal happiness of a fully personal existence."

Thomas Merton. Love and Living. Naomi Burton Stone and Brother Patrick Hart, editors. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979: 155.

Thought to Remember

"How does Man attain to a real union of love with his neighbor? Not merely by abstract agreement about truths concerning the end of all things and the afterlife, but by a realistic collaboration in the work of daily living in the world of hard facts in which everyone must work in order to eat."

Thomas Merton. Love and Living. Naomi Burton Stone and Brother Patrick Hart, editors. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979: 143.

Remembering

2007-06-01T15:15:00.000-07:00

One of our friends from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside died last week. We will miss her and right now there are not words to put down to share what her friends feel. There is an empty space - it will take a long time before we are not watching or waiting to meet her in her neighbourhood, wondering how she is doing.

Bring Your Senses to the Dinner Table

2007-05-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have visited Linwood House, you have probably observed that my passion is a combination of preparing food that looks and tastes good and that invites your senses to be involved in the dining experience.

We have also enjoyed sitting at the table with our friends from the Downtown Eastside. The joy they experience when they come to the table set with china and silver, beautiful flowers, the fragrance of the meal wafting through the house, and getting to know each other never ceases to make my heart fill up with wonder and awe. The “sensual table” is this sacred ritual of mealtime that invites our sense of taste, smell, listening, touch and vision to call us into being present to God and to each other.

Not only is this sacred table prepared at Linwood House for our guests but it will also come to you!

One of our community churches held a “Sensual Table” evening this week. Some drew in their breath when they entered the normally plain church hall to find it alive with candle light, the table set elegantly and rose petals liberally sprinkled all over the tables. Colour greeted them at the same time as the fragrance of the roasting vegetables and the scent of the saffron rice which was part of the paella. These people generously donated funds that are going towards this event being held for our friends from the Downtown Eastside.

One day I hope they can connect face to face at the sacred meal table.

If you would like to host a Sensual Table evening to provide funding for our friends from Downtown, please contact Stephanie for bookings.

Thoughts on Community

2007-05-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

As various members of the Linwood Team are spending time in places other than "home", they are out participating in community.

The following thoughts on community have come from others wisdom:

We clasp the hands of those that go before us,
And the hands of those who come after us.
We enter the little circle of each other's arms
And the larger circle of lovers,
Whose hands are joined in a dance,
And the larger circle of all creatures,
Passing in and out of life,
Who move also in a dance,
To a music so subtle and vast that no ear hears it
Except in fragments
Wendell Berry

The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say, "What are you going through?"
Simone Weil

The religious community is essential, for alone our vision is too narrow to see all that must be seen. Together, our vision widens and strength is renewed.
Mark Morrison-Reed

Party/Farewell in Bangkok

2007-05-14T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hello friends,

Tonight was our wind-up party, and what a party it was. Melissa, Boo, Nit,
and Sai spent all afternoon cooking in the outdoor kitchen. There was
certainly enough food for an army, including green currie, glass noodle
salad, steam-fried vegetables and custard for desert. Delicious! Jenn,
Britni, Sue, Jennifer, and Amy spent the afternoon decorating. We found
these great hanging lantern lights at the market, and the upper room had a
warm and welcoming atmosphere, very different from that in the bars.

At first, we only had a few guests, and we were fighting back discouragment.
It was pouring rain outside, and Thais really don't like to go out in the
rain. I think all of us had pictured this party as the culmination of all
the work we have been doing over the past 2 weeks, and perhaps imagined that
the attendance was a measure of our success. Puzzling over what God was
trying to teach us, we decided to go back to the bars and pay 5 girl's bar
fines, so that they could come be with us. The expression on their faces
when we told them that we wanted to pay their way to come with us was
absolutely incredible. The girls squealed and ran to get their street
clothes, thrilled by the knowledge that they got to spend a night as a women
in the presence of her friends, not as a bar dancer. If I came to Bangkok
only for that one moment, it would've been completely worthwhile.

When we arrived back at the center with our new friends, the party was in
full swing. There was a crazy game of musical chairs going on, and we
quickly joined in. We proceeded to teach them some "Canadian" songs &
games, such as the macarina,YMCA, and the limbo. I've never seen people
laugh so hard. And in the midst of all our fun, the language barrier
disappeared. We didn't need a common tongue to discern that somebody wiping
out after trying to get under the limbo bar was funny. We all just knew!

We closed the night with Christy and I teaching the girls a dance we had
choreagraphed to "Did you feel the mountains tremble." There is a line in
that song that speaks of dancers dancing upon injustice, and that had been
our prayer for this trip. At the beginning of the song, there is a line
that asks, "Could this be the land of the free?" We truly believe that, and
so together, we danced.

God has been incredibly faithful (as always!) The friendships that have
been made will last for a lifetime in our hearts. Thank-you for your
prayers, for they have been answered.

In Him,
Lyndsey

Bangkok, Africa, Eastern Europe and Home

2007-05-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Sue and Jen are in Bangkok and are keeping us updated from there. Mike is off to Africa now and we look forward to hearing from him soon.

Vancouver Downtown Eastside, Moldova, Hungary, Thailand, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya - these are the destinations our team has had the privilege of spending time in this year and getting to work with and share life story with. Each of us have had the honor of doing this daily just where we are, here in our home places.

"Creating sacred spaces and inviting a broken world to experience God's extravagant love and grace" is our theme at Linwood House Ministries. The Spirit continues to call us and those we meet into relationship in sacred space.

I am in gratitude this morning for how big our God is and how small our world is so that people can connect so powerfully on this earth.

Dancing Red Lights in Bangkok

2007-05-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

Hello to everyone back at home!

The past few days here have been full and exciting! Since there are no English classes on Wednedays, we as a team were able to have a wonderrful time listening to Roy and Bonita who run the Centre here. We were able to hear more of their story as well as ask lots of questions to them. What a wealth of wisdom those two are! We covered a lot of the topics we as a team have been wondering about, such as human trafficking, the beggars we often see on the streets, gangs, etc. It was good to get answers, but sobering as well.

In the afternoon we did not do any ministry as some of the team was feeling quite fatigued and some have been struggling with some sickness. It was nice to rest as well as have time to process all that we heard in the morning. Please pray for continued strength and health for the team.

That evening, Jen and Amy both felt led to stay back at the hotel to pray instead of going out to do ministry in the bars. The rest of the team went to Nano Plaza to do ministry in the Go-go bars. God worked in a very interesting and unique way that night. When the team came back together after ministry, we were able to hear some good reports of connections that had been made in the bars that night as well as a word Amy recieved from God while praying back at the hotel. [This is Amy now typing]

While praying for the girls, I felt God leading me to stand on the balcony and just look at the city of Bangkok. I went outside and looked at all the streets, buildings, people, cars, lights, and business of Bangkok (it is a city that never sleeps!). As I was doing that, a light off a building caught my eye. It was just a small, red, blinking light - very insignificant compared to all the other blaring lights of the city. Yet my eyes were drawn to that single, red blinking light so I asked God what He wanted to show me through it. But then I realized that the more I looked around, the more small, red blinking lights I saw all over different buildings. Some were blinking fast, some were slow, some were constant, others not. I looked around and just kept seeing more and more, and more, until they were all I could focus on - these red blinking lights. It was one of those "once you see it, you can't not see it" type things.

I came inside and felt God leading me to Hosea 1:10 which talks about the children of Israel being as numerous as the sand of the sea, not able to be measured or numbered. It was then that I realized what God was trying to show me. Just like it seemed impossible for Abraham to have children as numerous as the sand of the sea, likewise, it seems impossible at times for change to be brought to Bangkok and multitudes of girls set free. But God wanted to show me that those red lights that caught my eye represented girls who have been washed by the blood of Christ and are now free to dance for Him. Right now it seems like there are only a few here and there, but then as soon as you see one, another one appears, and another, and another.. We are believing that soon this whole city will be filled with what I like to call "Dancing Red Lights". It also spoke to the "Red Light" district we are reaching out to. Right now we can only see a few precious Lights - Si, Bu, Jid, and KwanJi who live at the Centre but we took this Word from God as hope for what is to come. Through it all, God gave me a poem (I haven't written a poem in years!!) which is attached to this email for you all.

The next day after English class, we were able to share the story/poem with Bonita and Anne who started weeping right away. It was such a special moment to share that with them as it truly encouraged their hearts. Anne then translated it for the girls who were also touched by it.

That night instead of going into the bars for ministry, we did a prayer walk through "Pat-Pong" which is another Red-Light district. Then we went to an evening market for a bit more shopping. Lots and lots of Thai pants being bought!!

We just finished up English classes for the morning where we taught adjectives and played BINGO!! The girls really enjoyed that.

We are now off to lunch and then Si's baptism!! We are all VERY excited for that.

Thanks again for all of your prayers. God is moving both in Bangkok and in each of our hearts and we look forward to sharing that all with you soon!!
God bless you abundantly!

-Amy Stevens :)

Bangkok Baptism

2007-05-11T08:09:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends,

This will be a quick email; we have two much longer team emails coming later today. But we wanted to let you know about something very exciting happening today and to ask you to pray.

At 1:15pm Bangkok time, our wonderful friend Si is going to be baptised. Some of us met her for the first time in October of last year. She has been living at Home for New Beginnings after leaving prostitution and her work in beer bars here in Bangkok. She has been on an amazing journey, and next month will begin taking classes at a bible college. Si came to Bonita and told her she wanted to be baptised so that "Satan would know that she doesn't belong to him anymore".

We are so thrilled that we have the honor of being witness to this sacred day in her journey. Please pray for Si and for her life, that God will continue to bring healing and freedom to her, will redeem all the parts of her life and use them for His glory.

As I'm typing this, Jen just came to tell me that our friend Kwan Ji who was here in October and then left the Home against the encouragement of the staff here, is moving back in today!! She called to speak to Anne and Bonita yesterday saying that she wanted to come back but felt ashamed for making the mistake of leaving. Please pray for her, pray shame off her and grace on her so that she will feel like the prodigal daughter coming home, feeling embraced and welcomed and loved, and will feel much celebration at the fact that she has returned.

Thanks, we miss you all but are continuing to have an amazing time here. Much more later!

Sue

Dancing on Injustice

2007-05-09T08:06:00.000-07:00

Here are the May 3rd and 6th communications from the team in Bangkok:

May 3rd
Hello to everyone!

Wow, it is hard to believe that we as a team have only been in Bangkok for two days now as so much has already happened! The past two days have been filled with orientation at the Centre, outreach in the various local bars, English lessons, lots of sharing, talking, praying with the team, and, of course, some amazing Thai food!

God has been so good to set up some divine connections. On Wednesday, after we had morning and afternoon orientation with Roy and Bonita at the Centre, in the evening, we as a team split off into teams of three and went to the local "Go-go bars" to do outreach. We all had mixed emotions walking into these places, and I know for me personally, I felt such a sadness as I looked at these girls going through the motions simply because it was their only means of making money. Through translators we were able to start up simple conversations with them, asking questions such as "What is your name?" How old are you? How long have you worked here? etc. A few times we were able ask "Do you like working here?" and the answer was always a shrug of the shoulders, a shake of the head, and they would say something like "It's so-so". It was easy to read into that this is NOT at all where they want to be. Then we would invite them to a "Party" we are having on May 14 at the Centre and also told them about the English lessons that are available there. We got quite a few good responses so we are praying that those connections we made will continue and that the girls will come to the Centre.

Today we went to the Centre and went on a "English walk" where each girl from our team paired up with a Thai girl and walked around the city for about an hour, pointing out different things and we would teach them the English word for it and they would teach us the Thai word. What a lot of fun that was!! Lots of laughing from both sides! I personally think they were laughing at our pathetic attempts of speaking Thai! :)

In the afternoon we split off again and went in groups of two with a translator to the Massage Palors that line the streets here. Inside we got a hour-long foot massage (I know, foot massages aren't exactly what I would call "suffering on the mission field") but it was great just to talk with the girls, share lots of laughs, find out more of their stories, and invite them to the Centre. Most of the girls who come to the Centre are from these massage parlors, which do the regular foot massages, paint fingernails, etc. in the front, but sadly also "service" men in the back. Again, it is so obvious that this is not what the girls want to be doing and that they have so many dreams of their own, but due to poverty, this is their only way of living. So many of them have dreams of cooking, opening their own restuarant or clothing store, but they think the only way to do that is to marry a foreigner.

After that we had a bit of downtime back at the hotel to take a nap (jet lag is still affecting some of us!), or journal, read, or just chat with each other. Then we went to a wonderful Mediteranean restaurant for dinner and after that it was time for more outreach! This time we went to the Beer bars and I think each of us had a really amazing time connecting with different girls. The places weren't packed with men yet so we had almost a full two hours just to talk with the girls, find out lots about them, tell them about ourselves, and of course, invite them to our party/the Centre. It was a really great time and God is definitely working some divine connections.

So if you are thinking of us, please pray for continued divine connections, and that God would continue to fill us with His love, peace, strength, and wisdom. Each one of have commented how we have felt God's grace upon us so strong so far just to be able to handle all that we are taking in, to not become angry or bitter towards the caucasian men, and to realize that it is a spiritual, not physical, battle that we are fighting. Also, pray that the girls we have encountered so far would sense a drawing towards the Centre and would come to the English classes and the party on May 14.

Well, on behalf of our team, thanks so much for keeping us in your prayers and we will keep you more in touch in the days to come!
God bless,
-Amy Stevens

May 6th
We continue to have an amazing and blessed time here in Bangkok, and we have felt so encouraged by God. On Friday night as we left Soi 7 where we were doing outreach, two women came running out of one of the massage parlours with our Thai leader Anne. They had seen Sue and Jen from the window and remembered them from their first visit back in October. It was a great reunion right there in the middle of the street, but also such an encouragement to us all that every single woman we meet and connect with here is important. We have no idea of the impact of a single conversation, a hug, a smile and no idea of the work that God continues to do in the hearts of these women well after we're gone.

This morning our team divided; Jen, Britni, Jennifer and Christy went with Roy and Bonita to a house church that Roy leads. There are approx. 20 Thai's who go, some new Christians and many still searching but on the journey.

Sue, Melissa, Amy and Lyndsey had their own "hotel church" and got an amazing word from God about our team being "dancers who dance on injustice". Having spent almost a week now with these (our team) young women, Jen and I are constantly laughing about how they skip and twirl and dance everywhere! They all have happy feet. It was an amazing picture then to think of us here in this place where the only dancing is in shame and bondage, dancing in freedom and joy and celebration. There is a song where the chorus says, "Open up the doors and let the music play, let the streets resound with singing; songs that bring Your hope and songs that bring Your joy, dancers who dance upon injustice". God gave us another picture of the doors of every go-go bar, show bar, beer bar and massage parlour opening and the women spilling out into the streets of Bangkok dancing in freedom, their bar fines paid once and for all. On our last night here, we are throwing a party at the centre, and we feel led that this is to be our theme, dancing on injustice, dancing in freedom and joy as friends and daughters of God.

Right now we are at the centre, and we are spending the day hanging out with the women who live here....Anne, Si, Bu, Nit, Jeed and Bibi. We just finished a worship singalong and now Jen is giving Si a guitar lesson, Melissa is in the outdoor kitchen making fudge brownies with Bu, and some of the other girls are sitting watching a movie together. We're looking forward tonight to having dinner together and a chance to share more of our stories with each other.

This week we will be continuing our outreach and English teaching. We have invited many many women to the centre for the party and for the classes and we are praying that we will start to see more of our new friends coming this week. Thank you so much for your love and prayers....we can feel them! Please continue to pray for divine connections, supernatural communication and that we will keep dancing with great joy and freedom around this city. We'll be in touch soon!

Sue

Bangkok Update for May 8th

2007-05-08T11:19:00.000-07:00

There are a few back issues that will be posted shortly. This is the email for May 8th from our team at work in Bangkok:

Hello Every one,
Hope that all of you are doing well. On Monday our team got the chance to experience a different side of Bangkok. Ann, Bonita, and our English students took us on a tour of the Grand Palace. It was quite hot but we managed to explore and take in the beauty of it all. After that we took a boat down a river to a small island where we shopped and got to meet some of the locals. It was good to experience the peaceful island and escape the business of down town Bangkok. After that we took the boat back down and enjoyed a nice diner, as well as getting to know the girls more.
Today (Tuesday) we went to the center and spent the morning performing skits. We demonstrated English words for the girls, centered around the theme of getting up in the morning. It was quite fun and the girls seem to learn alot. An amazing part was that three new girls came to the center. That was truly a blessing from God and good to see His abundant faithfulness.
In the afternoon we went and visited the massage parlors. We divided into groups and headed out. It was nice to get to know new girls and continually plant seeds in the hearts of these women. We have all found that though we are here to reach out to the women, they in return honor us in opening their hearts to us.
After dinner the team went to Soi 1 which contains a dozen or so bars. Some of the team reconnected with girls they had meet last week. They were able to share more of their stories and to grow in their realtionships. God has been so good to us and we constantly are feeling connections that deepen and grow between both the girls at the center, and the girls in the bars.
Thank you so much for your prayers and emails- they mean so much to us and keep us going!

Jennifer

Back to Thailand

2007-05-01T09:52:00.000-07:00

Sue and Jen have returned to Thailand with a team of women from Trinity Western University. Here is their first communication with us:

We have arrived safely in Bangkok after a long but very easy and smooth journey here. After checking into the hotel and resting for a bit we walked to the Home for New Beginnings to meet Bonita and our friends. What a reunion! It was so great to see our friends Si and Bu. They look as beautiful as ever. We were so touched to see pictures from our October visit on display and also the decorations from our final friendship party still hanging in the classroom. Bonita said the girls have told her she can't take them down! The impact of our first visit here seems clear. We have spent some time with Bonita learning about the history of the home, the vision and mission and the daily activities that go on here. English classes continue, as well as computer classes, vocational training, counselling and bible studies. Si took us to the rooftop to see the garden she has recently planted. They are going to grow kale and other vegetables there for the home.

Tomorrow will be our first full day at the centre, and we are going to spend quite a bit of time having orientation and training for doing outreach into the bars in Nana Plaza. It sounds like we will be doing quite a bit of outreach; Bonita has organized several Thai volunteers so we may have as many as 4 outreach teams going over the next two weeks.

Everyone is well and healthy. Please pray that we'll adjust quickly to the heat and time change, and for continued health, and pray also for great impact as we begin outreach in the next couple of days. Thanks to all for your love and prayers.

We'll be in touch soon!

Sue

Sacred Spaces of Grace for Your Story

2007-03-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

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

2007-03-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Sacred Spaces in the Eastside

2007-03-02T16:45:00.000-08:00

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.

Freedom Fridays

2007-02-09T11:57:00.000-08:00

We continue to join the Freedom Friday noon time prayer and fasting to call for the release of those in the sex-trade, and human trafficing. As the Robert Picton trial in Vancouver continues, it places a cloud of pain over the Downtown Eastside where many of the missing women lived.

Idelette continues to provide us with prayer and reflection on our Freedom Fridays. Here is the scripture and meditation for today:
Scripture
"Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm."
Reflection
"God is over all things,
under all things,
outside all,
within, but not enclosed,
without, but not excluded,
above, but not raised up,
below, but not depressed,
wholly above, presiding,
wholly without, embracing,
wholly within, filling.

By Hildevert of Lavardin, as quoted in "Walking on Water" by Madeleine L'Engle

Great Room TV Interview

2007-02-03T13:06:00.000-08:00

The Great Room, the most recently created sacred space of Linwood House Ministries, has become a fantastic gathering point for old and new friends of ours in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. This community has the lowest income of any postal code in Canada and the highest rate of HIV in North America - to give you a perspective on the climate of this community.

Sue and Jen work tirelessly with women in the new Great Room space. Their work in the downtown eastside has been sowing seeds, with other ministry workers, and these seeds are sprouting to life. The current, well publicised trial of Robert Picton has deeply affected those who knew so many of the victims. Lorna Dueck of Listen Up TV approached Jen and Sue for an interview on the Great Room project which they held in this sacred space. The interview will be shown on Global TV in the near future. Part one of Lorna's interview will be February 4 at 10:30 AM Pacific Time. The Linwood House Ministries interview will be in part 2 and we will advise you of the date when we have it.

Also Febraury 25 - March 4th, we have a mission trip for women, to come and participate in the work Sue and Jen do in this downtown community. If you are interested in joining us for those dates, the cost is $600 per person. Please email us via our website for more information.

God Would Kneel Down

2007-01-17T15:31:00.000-08:00

I think God might be a little prejudiced.

For once He asked me to join Him on a walk
through this world,

and we gazed into every heart on this earth,
and I noticed He lingered a bit longer
before any face that was
weeping,

and before any eyes that were
laughing.

And sometimes when we passed
a soul in worship

God too would kneel
down.

I have come to learn: God
adores His
creation.

St. Francis of Assisi
from Love Poems from God

Love and Reconciliation

2006-12-28T16:48:00.000-08:00

One theme of the Christmas Season is to invite love into places that require reconciliation, and open our hearts to the work required. During this past week Linwood House has been full of family, of love and laughter, and the confirmation of how much we need each other. It is also a safe place for family to gather and share and give to each other.

Reading this piece from Henri Nouwen today is a reminder that this is how we, as Christ followers, are called to love. This is the Truth of Jesus Light we are called to live in, offering it to ourselves, each other, and all around us. A good piece of Truth to hold close as we finish off 2006 and move into 2007.

"Being Safe Places for Others

When we are free from the need to judge or condemn, we can become safe places for people to meet in vulnerability and take down the walls that separate them. Being deeply rooted in the love of God, we cannot help but invite people to love one another. When people realise that we have no hidden agendas or unspoken intentions, that we are not trying to gain any profit for ourselves, and that our only desire is for peace and reconciliation, they may find the inner freedom and courage to leave their guns at the door and enter into conversation with their enemies.

Many this happens even without our planning. Our ministry of reconciliation most often takes place when we ourselves are least aware of it. Our simple, nonjudgmental presence does it."

Light, Redemption and Hope

2006-12-20T11:35:00.000-08:00

Come to the Table

2006-12-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

Christmas at Linwood House would not be the same without all the volunteers and the artists who come and help create this beauty. Our friends who have a flower shop, have been at work preparing the table centers for a banquet that takes place in a few hours.

In a few days neighbours and friends will arrive for the annual Christmas Open house. Some will bring their musical talents, others bring food creations, some bring their ability to connect, and others will come seeking something they cannot define. Jesus says "I am the world's Light...I provide plenty of light to live in."

Our friends from the Downtown Eastside will come in the middle of the month for their Christmas Journey. We will certainly celebrate at the banquet table, and in many other ways that speak of Light, Life, Grace and Hope.

New Kitchen - a Working Kitchen

2006-11-30T15:21:00.000-08:00

While the oldest member of Linwood House works in the kitchen at almost 94, we enjoy the ambiance and new appliances. We also love when people step into the kitchen, lean on the island, elbows resting on the new granite, sipping coffee, and sharing in the laughter and love that comes in this heart of the house.

Christmas Looks Like This

2006-11-30T15:17:00.000-08:00

Winter Wonderland

2006-11-27T10:59:00.000-08:00

Snow on the Sunshine Coast here in British Columbia is very rare and so being lost in this winter wonderland has brought our small communities up here to a halt. Those inside Linwood House are warm and cosy, and enjoying the tranquillity and silence that this snowfall has brought. Huge fluffy flakes have piled up and created top hats on the shrubs, blanketed the trees and caused them to bow down and caused the driveway to disappear for now! With the Christmas lights on inside, full of colour, and the white blanket outside, it really should be Christmas Eve tonight. At least from the snow perspective it would make a perfect Christmas Eve.

So for today our Happy Hour card making event has been postponed, the computer lines are down, the fires are burning and Linwood House and its residents are staying put until we can clear our way through this winter wonderland dump of snow!

PS - sorry but in the confusion of continuing renovations up at Linwood, we still have not located our digital camera and the cord to download the photos. Hopefully soon it will be found so you can see Christmas at Linwood

It's Starting to Look a Lot Like Christmas

2006-11-16T11:36:00.000-08:00

When the middle of November rolls around, and the usual West Coast rain storms are raging, we begin to unpack Christmas here at Linwood House. Boxes of decorations, bags full of garlands, wreaths, at least 21 Christmas trees, family heirlooms and treasures, and the full pallet of colour that comes with this celebratory season. Not to forget the tunes of the Season as well.

So last weekend friends and family joined us to play in the chaos that comes from all the unpacking and we had a lot of hard work, laughter, and sitting down to feast together.

Gwen always says, “As a follower of Jesus, we have the very best reason to extravagantly celebrate Christmas”. It is a time when those who are our “neighbours” find time to stop in. The Christmas Journey is so much fun when we celebrate with our friends from the downtown Eastside – carol singing, making wreaths, sitting by the roaring fire, and making new memories.

But you know – it just feels fun this year to think about the Light of the World and how much I am looking forward to celebrating Christmas over the next number of weeks!

We have photos all ready to show you but….the cord to download them has decided to remain out of site! Will have them up soon hopefully.

Looking Back on Bangkok

2006-11-05T14:23:00.000-08:00

"It is officially one week since we returned from our journey to Bangkok. We are each trying to settle back into our routines, and adjust physically, emotionally and spiritually to all we saw and experienced. To those closest to us, thank you for your understanding, patience and grace as we go through this process.

As you read in our updates, there were many things that were difficult to witness in our time there. The bondage and oppression of both women and men, as well as children, was evident everywhere we went. But there were also many "God moments", moments of light and color in the darkness. The beauty and sacredness of the Home for New Beginnings. The women who have stepped out in great faith and courage from the bondage of the sex trade towards healing and freedom. The dedicated partners who work together to support, guide and extravagantly love each of these women. A true celebration where over forty women laughed, sang, prayed and shared the stories of their lives with each other.

There is much work to be done to bring freedom to sexually exploited women and children in Bangkok, and around the world. But we are believing in faith that chains were loosed, and God's purposes and plans were furthered. We are also so grateful that we have deposited into a partnership between Linwood House Ministries and Home for New Beginnings, and we are filled with anticipation about the ways that God may bring us together in our shared passion and work.

You have each been so faithful in your support and prayers while we were in Bangkok. Please continue to pray for Home for New Beginnings, for Roy and Bonita Thompson and for the important work they are doing in the red light districts. Pray for staff and volunteers with a passion for this work, and for good working relationships and partnerships with other ministries in Bangkok. Pray for new vision and energy for Bonita specifically, as the ministry grows. Pray for the relationships that Bonita and her staff are developing with the women living at the Home, as well as with the many girls they connect with on outreach into the bars and clubs.

One of the most striking observations we made in Bangkok was how disconnected and "vacant" both the women and men appeared. In the bars, many of the women seemed distracted and almost bored, simply going through the motions of what was necessary in order to get paid. Many of the men we saw, either in the bars or on the streets had a similar appearance; caught up in all that was going on around them but with the most vacant, lonely looks on their faces. One can only imagine the disconnect that has to happen between body, mind and spirit in order for either a woman or man to be part of such exploitation. Ecclesiastes 4 reminds us that "a three cord strand is not easily broken" (NIV). We often think of this verse as a call to relationship with others and God. But in these last two weeks, we were challenged to consider body, mind and spirit, and that the integration of the three into one is what is necessary for healing and wholeness in Jesus for all who are caught in the bondage of sexual exploitation.

Please continue to pray, then, for a "holy reconnect". That each woman would know her worth and value in Jesus, would see the impact of her choices and have the courage to choose something different, would be reawakened to the hurt that is inside so that healing can come to those places. That each man would see in the woman he is buying, not just an object, but his own mother, wife, sister or daughter. That he would become deeply aware of the consequences of his choices, and would come to know that it is only Jesus who can fill the empty places inside his heart.

We cannot thank you enough, each of you, for your financial support, your words of encouragement and your prayers for our team. There was never a day that we felt alone; we knew and could sense that each of you was with us praying, wondering where we were and what we were doing, and eagerly awaiting the latest updates. We are so grateful.

Be blessed, as you have blessed us.

Sue,

On behalf of Jen, Gwen, Krista and Maureen"

Relentless Love

2006-10-29T10:49:00.000-08:00

Our team of 5 travellers are back from Thailand, safely, tired, and processing all they saw and holding in the Light those they walked beside. There will be much to tell and share but for now they need time to rest.

A friend of Linwood House, Adele, works in Kenya and pours her heart into her calling in that country. In her recent update she wrote her version of 1 Corinthians 13, Relentless Love:

If I speak English, Afrikaans, Chinese or even some Swahili, but I don't love relentlessly, I'm nothing but a dog barking at the moon.

If I share God's Word with children and adults alike and have enough faith to move to Kenya, but I don't have relentless love, I am nothing.

If I give up luxuries, opportunities, and resources to reach the people of East Africa, if I live alone surrounded by Kenyan corn fields, but I don't love relentlessly, it's as if I've journeyed nowhere.

It matters not whether I can speak with a funny accent, pray with passion, believe without limits. Without love, my life is worthless.

Relentless love never, ever gives up, even when life is tough.

Relentless love cares more whether the kids are warm than whether I'm comfortable.

Relentless love doesn't want what God hasn't given.

Relentless love doesn't do things to be seen or heard.

Relentless love doesn't care about my opinion and my needs, but listens to the opinions of others, and takes it to heart.

Relentless love puts others first.

Relentless love doesn't get annoyed when yet another person asks for money, or drives poorly...

Relentless love forgives, again and again.

Relentless love doesn't rejoice when others fail.

It finds joy in truth and in seeing others discover these truths.

Relentless love doesn't give up, but puts up with all things knowing that it is part of God's greater plan, and trusts that God has the best at heart. Always.

Relentless love seeks to see the best in others. It doesn't look back and wish for better days past. It pushes onward, knowing that beyond this mountain, far greater things await.

Relentless love doesn't wilt, nor dies. It's not "on" one day and "off" another. You can depend on it, even though you cannot depend on things and systems, even though you cannot always even depend on other believers.

Though I don't know or understand all at this stage, the day will come that I will understand fully. I will no longer be craving insignificant pleasures. Instead, I will grow in understanding and maturity. Right now, I don't see things clearly. It's like a window splattered with mud. But the day will come that all impurities will be removed. I'll see clearly, just as God sees me clearly. I'll know Him as He knows me.

But for now, while we are not yet there, there are three things I can hold onto:

Trust in God, always. Believe that He is who He says He is, that He can do what He says He can do.

Let hope be the fuel that compels me to move forward: Hope in God.

And the best yet: Love relentlessly, without ever giving up.

If we could put the words "Vancouver Downtown Eastside" into this, it goes to the heart of our work in that place, and to what the team of 5 have been living out in their time in Bangkok.

Shalom

Report from Bangkok - Tuesday Oct 23

2006-10-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

Hi All:

It's 9pm and Maureen, Sue, Jenn and I have just returned from Patpong with Tui, a staff member from the Home of New Beginnings. I am sad, very sad.
We have seen more than anyone needs to see of the sex industry. Tui faithfully goes twice a week to the bars to love and provide opportunities for women to leave and live at the Home. I don't know how she does it. We went into one bar and at least 10 girls crowded in and made themselves available to us. UG!
We do have good news though....

And lots of reasons for you to pray...

Today we finished decorating the sacred space and it looks beautiful.
Bonita is back at the center and feeling better. We spent some time with her encouraging and loving her. She is very tired and discouraged but thrilled with the feedback she has been receiving from the girls and the staff and of course, loves the splashes of colours that are everywhere around the center.

One of the girls, Plao, who is attending the English class and who also came to our Bracelet afternoon has made a decision to move into the Center. That is thrilling for everyone. She still has to fulfill an obligation where she works so please continue to pray for her. There are also two other women considering this possibility.

Tomorrow is the Big Party and there seems to be lots of enthusiasm in the neighbourhood. Tonight we paid bar fees for a girl to come. We hope to have at least 25 attending. We are calling it a Friendship Party. Maureen and Krista went shopping today for favours, decorations, etc. Everyone is making food and we are going to try and use the pancake mix from Capilano Suspension Bridge and make pancakes on a wok with of course, Canadian maple syrup. The girls are preparing songs and dances and they expect us to do the same. ..we have asked everyone what a party looks like other than a party in the bar and no one seems to know. Hopefully we will be inspired before tomorrow. We are going to teach them the hokey pokey except change the words hokey pokey to "do the Jahweh Sister Dance"...oh well anything goes! We have flags from Canada and Thailand.

Thanks again for your prayers. We are missing everyone but can't believe our time here is almost over. We will never forget our friends here and will forever have in our minds and prayers the women who are trapped in this horrible sex business. It is such a perversion of what God intends for men and women. We are desperate for God to intervene and set the captives free, both men and women.

That's all. (It's been one of our sayings, thanks to The Devil Wears
Prada...)

Gwen and Gang

Team in Bangkok

2006-10-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

For almost 2 weeks we have a team of 5 women in Bangkok who are creating sacred space there with Bonita who has a home in the middle of the sex-trade district. Bonita connected with Sue and Jen this summer at a conference on this issue. Our team has been excited to encourage and help Bonita with her dream and to share what we have learned in our work. So Jen, Sue, Krista, Maureen and Gwen ventured off. Their time is almost at an end but here is a report from this week.

Maureen and I have stumbled on an internet cafe so thought I would drop a line. I think it is my turn. I know it should be informative but really I have a head full of thoughts and my mind is whirling.

I had an interesting experience last night after going to the Christian School with the women from the center where the youth from the Doulos ship gave a presentation of the gospel. I think the women enjoyed the experience. It's hard to tell with the language barrier. My personal experience was coming eye to eye with a man heading for the bars; primped and looking for all appearances like a peacock. He wreaked of cologne, with flood pants and sparkling belt and loafers and a red face. I could not get this man out of my mind all night and I mean all night. Would the evening satisfy his need...I wondered...purchasing a woman or maybe two, numbers 34 or 63 bought from the bar. The beautiful women smiling at him, flattering him and whatever and underneath hating every moment with him. How could that be satisfying? He interrupted my sleep! Ug! But then God began to break my heart for him. I thought of the woman caught in adultery and the men asking Jesus if they should stone her. You know the story. Jesus asked the men who would throw the first stone? Jesus remained with the woman and all of the men disappeared, beginning with the oldest. Who would go with the men? I am sure that they left with guilt and shame thinking of their own shame and guilt. I asked our host, Dr. Roy if there was any ministry to the men who come to Thailand in flocks dressed like peacocks to enjoy the women. He said he did not know of any such ministry.

Anyway that is where my mind is right now and I appreciate you listening to me. It is interesting that we are gearing up for the Olympics as a Christian community in Vancouver because there will be people from all over the world who need to meet Jesus coming to our city. Here in Bangkok there are desparate men coming from all over the world searching for something and think that sex will satisfy their need. I sincerely believe that an encounter with Jesus would change their life, and give them meaning and purpose and satisfy the longing of their heart. Please pray for the peacocks we are seeing everywhere. By the way, would you believe I met that same peacock from last night on the streets this morning..

Sue and Jenn are doing an amazing job of leading our team. It is wonderful for me to "just show up". I realize how easy it is for me to follow competent leadership. Sue dreams and plans. Jenn looks after all of the details. Maureen is absolutely amazing, loving everyone everywhere. Krista is growing and learning new things all the time. She has settled into life in Bangkok. We had a most amazing experience together with Krista. It was like a full circle thing where God was carving out a new picture for Krista. We went to the bars to encourage women to come to the center for English classes. I have never seen anyone so desparately try to give a girl in the bar an opportunity to get out than Krista. She promised to give them everything except a husband and a car. Of course, they couldn't understand her but it was a wonderful experience for us to see through Krista how God desparately wants to rescue women from prostitution.

Bonita continues to rest and we haven't seen her since the first day. Please pray for her healing. Roy is taking good care of us. Yesterday we went shopping and today we will go and see if we can do a little decorating in the Home for New Beginnings. We think it is beautiful the way it is so we don't want to mess too much with the sacred space.

Thank you for travelling with us in prayer.

Update from Linwood

2006-10-13T15:50:00.000-07:00

Rarely is there a day when someone does not drop by to visit us here at Linwood.

The new kitchen is a wonderful asset and although there are a few finishing details left, we continue to create, sit down together, and find it the hub of conversations. Warm lighting and the deep gold of the new granite countertops are hues with tones of calm and gentleness.

Yesterday was one of those rare days where no guests stopped in to chat. It was a day of preparing the chicken broth and beef broth for the freezer, roasted cauliflower soup for a group coming in soon, and Grandma making her wonderful old fashioned coffee cake.

Our team of 5 women head off to Bangkok to help encourage Benita who has a vision for sacred space for women in the sex trade on the streets of that city. Pray for them as they work together to bless and be blessed.

Changes

2006-09-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

The kitchen as it was on the left, is no longer! We are in the midst of renovations of this cheery, busy part of Linwood House and it feels strange to be surrounded by the chaos of it all, not quite sure how it will all look in the end.

But those who have been working hard on the designs and the installations know what it should look like so hopefully next week we will but up and running and experimenting in our new, changed but still cheery, busy inviting heart of the home!

With Open Hands

2006-09-07T15:02:00.000-07:00

The weekly Experiencing God study continues to take us deeper into listening for, and hearing God speak. One of the chapters speaks of surrender and giving up what we hold so closely, and how to live with open hands. In order to receive our assignments from God, and God sized ones at that, it can only be accomplished if we are willing to let go of what we hold most tightly to. Jesus says "Simply put, if you're not willing to take what is dearest to you, whether plans or people, and kiss it good-bye, you can't be my disciple." (Luke 14:33 The Message)

There are times when we feel that if we let go we will become lost as a person, have no identity and no purpose - for that which we have clung to has been our false identity and purpose.

The words of Jesus are in fact a kind of dichotomy; one must hold their hands open to let go while waiting with them open to receive what God will choose to place in them thereby bringing us into an encounter with Him. Unclenching our fists may well mean letting go of fear and exchanging it for freedom.

Dear God,
I am so afraid to open my clenched fists!
Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to?
Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands?
Please help me to gradually open my hands
and to discover that I am not what I own,
but what you want to give me.
And what you want to give me is love -unconditional, everlasting love.
Amen
from With Open Hands

A New Sprinkler System

2006-08-29T10:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a wonderful team of volunteers, the long awaited sprinkler system is in! And Gwen was certainly excited about this as you can tell.

We are so thankful for the great artesian well and abundance of water we have here at Linwood House, which Ron thanks God for every day. An abundance that allows us to have plenty for our guests to drink, to take long soaks in the deep bathtubs, or a nice long shower. Water that brings out the beauty of the folliage and flowers that surround the house and patio.

Thank you Gerry and your team!

Meeting God in the Poor

2006-08-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

When we are not afraid to confess our own poverty, we will be able to be with other people in theirs. The Christ who lives in our own poverty recognises the Christ who lives in other people's. Just as we are inclined to ignore our own poverty, we are inclined to ignore others'. We prefer not to see people who are destitute, we do not like to look at people who are deformed or disabled, we avoid talking about people's pains and sorrows, we stay away from brokenness, helplessness, and neediness.

By this avoidance we might lose touch with the people through whom God is manifested to us. But when we have discovered God in our own poverty, we will lose our fear of the poor and go to them to meet God.
(Henri Nouwen Daily Devotional August 19,2006)

I cannot help but believe this statement because I have experienced it. With each Journey program, with new and returning guests from the downtown eastside, I see God in these women. They remind me that these are the uninvited guests Jesus welcomed to the table. These are the "poor" that Jesus reminds us are with us, are us, so we can find God

Blessed are the Poor

2006-08-18T07:39:00.000-07:00

"Our Poverty, God's Dwelling Place

How can we embrace poverty as a way to God when everyone around us wants to become rich? Poverty has many forms. We have to ask ourselves: "What is my poverty?" Is it lack of money, lack of emotional stability, lack of a loving partner, lack of security, lack of safety, lack of self-confidence? Each human being has a place of poverty. That's the place where God wants to dwell! "How blessed are the poor," Jesus says (Matthew 5:3). This means that our blessing is hidden in our poverty."

August 18, 2006 Daily Meditation
from Henri Nouwen Daily Meditations

Linger a While

2006-08-10T13:49:00.000-07:00

“To be slow in parting or in quitting something” is how Miriam Webster defines this word LINGER. It is a word very appropriate to the summer season of enjoying holiday time, warm weather and visiting with friends in an unhurried atmosphere. This action of lingering has been written into much of my own activities this season, and I have become more conscious of how much the scent of sacred space comes with it. Lingering could be defined as purposeful movement of the heart and soul to remain present, having your senses fully alive, and allowing that moment to be imprinted into your soul. I am coming to believe it is an essential piece of being a follower of Jesus while we are show how to leave his fingerprints as we pass through life.

Retreat time holds much space for lingering, as do slow mornings, or quiet evenings. Linwood House is all about offering this space to those who come, and encouraging the embracing of that time.

What about the communion and essence of community that is held in the sacred space where we tarry or wait with each other? Is this not the kind of community Jesus modeled with breakfast on the beach, lunch for a crowd in the open park and inviting himself to dinner in other’s homes?

A group of women have been meeting on Wednesday evenings to pursue the study Experiencing God. The allotted time is 1.5 hours for each evening but we have never been able to leave before 3 hours have passed! We just cannot seem to condense it to anything less as there is so much to share about what God is speaking in our daily lives. There is an abundance of fellowship happening in our evening together and someone mentioned that this is truly church to them. Community that the soul is longing for is glimpsed, and embraced, it seems, when we linger in sacred space – wherever that is found.

Isaiah seemed to understand this when he wrote these words:
“We’re content to linger in the path sign-posted with your decisions. Who you are and what you’ve done are all we’ll ever want. Through the night my soul longs for you. Deep from within me my spirit reaches out to you” Isaiah 26:7 The Message

Lingering, obedience, sacred space, hearing the voice of Love: all ingredients to experiencing and knowing the Almighty who is pursuing real personal relationships.

Water Systems

2006-08-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

This has been a marvelous summer on the Sunshine Coast with unusually warm weather which we have all enjoyed and basked in. The flowers are blooming profusely and their thirst means constant watering. The lawn enjoys Ron`s constant tending but it too requires much watering to keep it healthy and green.

So this weekend, thanks to Gerry Sly and his men`s group, Linwood House will host these men and their spouses and Gerry will direct them in installing a much need spinkler system! We look forward to lots of laughter, and getting plenty of food on the table for this crew of hard workers who are volunteering their weekend to install this for us.

Have a great weekend all.

Experiencing God

2006-07-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

Going deeper with God, finding out how to hear God and know when He speaks lead some women in our community to ask Gwen to lead the 13 week Experiencing God course. The first evening began in the midst of a community tragedy. Two local girls were killed in a tragic accident and were well know by the children of women in the study. Each mother was carrying inside them the pain that they felt for the families loss. It often is events like this that bring us to a crisis of belief – a very real piece of experiencing God. Through the next weeks we wait for God to speak, to experience Holy Presence in a new way, and to step deeper in a life of following Jesus footsteps

The following song was quoted in the workbook for the Experiencing God course and is full of rich pictures for each to hold and wait with:

THE RIVER

God’s passion is an endless river
White water running wild
In a restless rushing fury
To see souls reconciled

It reaches wide across forever
It’s dangerous and deep
And while some venture to the shoreline
Some even dare to leap

And the river rages
The river runs all through the ages
Long after I’m gone
There’s a truth I’m finding I can’t ignore
Whether I dive in or stand on the shore
The river keeps rushing on.

All of those who ride the rapids
Have a message they must tell
There’s a joy in being lost in something
That’s bigger than yourself.

And though the current takes you places
Where you learn to lose control
And if you think you’re going under
He’ll never let you go
Never let you go.

Toward some quiet sea somewhere
There’s nothing like the journey there.

From: Experiencing God: Music for Knowing and Doing the Will of God.

Lingering in Summer

2006-07-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

Summer time has arrived here in the Western Hemisphere, school is out and holiday times are being enjoyed.

Linwood House garden is full of colour in this season, with flowers in full bloom, the tent (Tent of Meeting we call it) adding a whimsical touch at the edge of the garden, umbrellas and garden chairs inviting one to come and linger, and the windows are open inviting the breezes to come in with all the fragrance they hold.

Family come to hang out, grandchildren spend time with Grandpa Ron and Grandma Gwen, and summertime memories are imprinted that will be carried with them all their lives.

As I write that I am aware that it is about relationships – and one of the things about sacred space is the invitation into relationships. Summer is the season for lingering, going slower, spending time, and taking a time out of routine. At least that is how I remember it as a child, and how I look forward to it as an adult. Guests at Linwood House in these months are often coming to linger and go slow. One group of guests had come simply to hang out together and to experience God in whatever way their heart and soul could hear the Almighty. It was beautiful to see them begin to establish relationships together and to experience God.

This is also the space of time where we at Linwood House can relax our schedule a little and enjoy what we are surrounded with. Sometimes in the business we need to be reminded that this is a season to enjoy the good weather, and sit on the front porch and linger.

Room at the Table

2006-07-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

One of the foundational themes at Linwood House Ministries is unconditional love and grace. Not because they are our theme but rather that they are the Kingdom theme, the heart of God, the message of the Gospel and Jesus.

Mike Todd, Executive Director, has a huge heart for justice, living out this message. Gwen McVicker, President, is passionate about justice – God’s view of justice and freedom for suffering women. Our team in the downtown eastside gives, and gives, and gives, to walk the journey with women they are in relationship with. This is a journey about healing, freedom and justice.

In the kitchen at Linwood House, or the dining room, the theme at the table is also about freedom, healing and justice. I have been reading through Robert C. Morgan’s book “Who’s Coming to Dinner?” The following excerpt from that book seemed to give yet another piece on this subject of meals, justice, and those who with fight for the downtrodden (Jesus theme of ministry):

Words inscribed on the grave of Dag Hammarskjold: “Justice must be done. Every human being deserves justice. Some people are powerless to attain what is equitable and fair in life. It behooves the person of faith and conscience to stand with those who are treated unjustly.”

Robert C. Morgan goes on to say: “I remember singing around the campfire an old spiritual ‘Plenty Good Room.’. The words mean more to me now than they did when I was a teenager. ‘Plenty good room in ma Father’s Kingdom, just choose your seat and sit down.’ The African-American slaves sang the spiritual when they were denied a place in society. They longed for the time when they would have a ‘place at the table.’
Once when Jesus was the dinner guest in the home of a Pharisee, he made known, in dramatic terms, his concern for love and justice.
Late in the afternoon, while Jesus was speaking on the theme of sincerity, he was interrupted by a heckler. The rude heckler was the Pharisee who later that evening because Jesus’ dinner host. Jesus was accustomed to interruptions, but this marked the first time a heckler invited him to supper.”
(Who’s Coming to Dinner? Pg 67/68

The table is indeed sacred – a place where the theme of Jesus heart is to be displayed.

Journey Update

2006-06-26T15:49:00.000-07:00

In the days since our last Journey program, I have tried to sit down and write and share what went on. It has not been as easy as I had hoped. Perhaps the reason for that is simply that there is so much that is “felt” by all of us during these three days and words cannot do justice to the essence of grace and unconditional love that seems to permeate the whole of Linwood House. It is the essence of what we do at all times yet somehow The Journey more than any other event makes us all aware of our own vulnerability, and that we are each on a journey to healing and wholeness.

Many of our guests arrived at Linwood House for their first Journey. Leaving their environment on the Downtown Eastside can be very traumatic and so they were in a place of being totally overwhelmed by the drive, the ferry, and the beauty they encountered up here. After settling into their rooms we encouraged them to explore, have a latte, and just get familiar with their surroundings at their own pace. It doesn’t take too long for laughter and camaraderie to begin to emerge. This is a huge breakthrough due to the fact that barriers are rarely brought down when you live in the Downtown Eastside. Barriers that invisibly say “keep out” are firmly in place with those who live in an environment of sheer survival mode constantly.

Our Friends of the Journey who come a long distance to volunteer their hairdressing and makeup services are a great hit and this time we had a friend come from the Interior of BC and lend her heart and her hugs as she painted nails. Our Monday night group of women that gather at Linwood House offered to prepare the meal and serve it. So it gave us a more restful afternoon and a lot of fun as we worked together. After the meal one of our group brought her art supplies and encouraged each one to paint something to represent a special moment in life. The artwork was incredible! Watching the body language say it was safe, they could relax and express something special was amazing.

Perhaps what came to me as I interacted with our friends was that we want to let them know they are beautiful, they have value, and they are worth it to fight for and walk beside in life. Yet as we pour these truths into their lives we are learning to accept them ourselves – to know we too are of value, our life is worth fighting for and having friends walk beside us, and each has their own beauty. We are so much more alike than we are different at our core.

We are all in the image of God who wants to draw us into freedom, love and to experience those unforced rhythms of grace Jesus talks about.

Unforced Rhythms of Grace

2006-06-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

It is time for our friends to arrive from the Downtown Eastside – vases of fresh flowers are in the bedrooms, the menu is ready, Grandma as filled the cookie tins with fresh baking, and the sun is peaking out from behind the rain clouds of the morning.

The Journey, what we call this program, is always exciting. There are new faces, familiar faces, steps taken, battles continuing and in all of this we see the beauty of these courageous women we are growing in relationship with. Part of the purpose in The Journey is to walk beside our friends as they discover their worth and beauty and begin to see that they have a purpose. Yet this morning as we chatted it was interesting to see that not only are our friends from the Downtown Eastside learning, the team at Linwood House Ministries is learning these values personally, more deeply, in the process.

Partnering is never meant to be an “us and them” work, not is it where one holds power over the other, but rather it is the beauty of working together, learning about and from each other and experiencing the mystery of God’s presence in that process.

One recent retreat was a group that wanted to bring together creative talent in their community, that wasn’t known or expressed in the traditional church worship setting. It was amazing to watch the beauty unfold, but more amazing was the feeling of energy, or honoring each other and the surprises that they received together. Just feeling the Spirit move brought into reality the words Eugene Petersen translated from Matthew:
“Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Watching this unfold is an invitation to dance with the Spirit.

Once again, as guests arrive to spend time with us, we are honored to partner with them, with the Trinity and with each other – we will observe the unfolding in each other as the unforced rhythms of grace invite us to step into relationship with each other.

Once again, we are reminded to hold in the Light, those who have been forced into slavery that degrades them, that sears their soul with abuse and bondage and takes away human dignity. We remember them and say a prayer that they will find a safe place and gently be touched by the unforced rhythms of graces that sees beyond the wounds to the beauty that is their true identity.

Honouring All Mothers

2006-05-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

May 12, 2006

Mother’s Day will be this weekend: the busiest day for florists, a busy day for restaurants, and family dinners in honor of Mom and not to mention the sales at the cards shops.

Last Monday, our Happy Hour group each honoured their Mother. There were tears as stories were told, pictures were shared and we saw another layer of each one of our gathering. There was pain from that past and yet each woman was able to share how a child couldn’t see strength but the adult now looks back and knows how courageous their Mother was in difficult circumstances. Redemptive threads were certainly present.

This next week we will visit a local Seniors Home and honour the women who live there.

In 1870, Julia Ward Howe wrote a Mother’s Day Proclamation that came out of her pain watching two sons fight on different sides of a bitter ward in the United States. Her words then are just as pertinent today. So we share this with you all in honour of Mother’s Day 2006.

“Arise then…women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
‘We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.’

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own. It says: ‘Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.’
Blood does not wipe our dishonour,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace…
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress,
Not of Caesar, but of God
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international question,
The great and general interests of peace.
Julia Ward Howe 1870

Weekend Teaching Time at Linwood

2006-04-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends:

We have recently learned that a friend of ours, Coralee Murray is arriving from Budapest this Wednesday and staying at Linwood House until Sunday. Coralee is an amazing Bible teacher and has spent many years researching the role of women in the home, church and world. Our hearts connected in Budapest when a team of women from Canada met with her in Hungary. We realized that we were all passionately concerned about the plight of women in the world. We talked, laughed and shared our experiences and stories. We had many questions for Coralee and she diligently answered by taking us through scripture and historical books and transcripts. Our eyes of understanding were opened and our resolve to see all women everywhere find freedom and wholeness were strengthened.

All of this to say, we would love to share Coralee with you over the next few days. Come to Linwood and share in her teachings and bring your questions and it should be fun! This is the plan, although it is open to change as far as topics as we will go with the flow.

Friday, April 21, 2006

1:30-3:30: Women, Genesis and Family
4:30-6:00: Happy Hour with Coralee (Bring your questions)
6:00-7:00: Dinner
7:30-9:30: Women and the Church: Women and the World

Stay overnight if you like…..

Saturday, April 22, 2006
8:00-9:00: Continental Breakfast
9:30-11:30: Women and Leadership

I know that this is short notice but if you can, come and share in all or part of this “suddenly” workshop. Bring friends. Call if you have questions. The cost of this event is a donation to Linwood House Ministries.

Please RSVP Stephanie. 604-885-0214 or Stephanie@linwoodhouseministries.org

Shelter in the Wind

2006-03-23T12:07:00.000-08:00

In the last few days the power of the wind was seen when a BC Ferry hit a rock in the night and sank. Passengers tossed and huddled in life rafts, being pelted by rain, until they were brought into safety.

A phone call has just come in of a woman whose life is being pelted by the rain, whose anchor in life is being severely strained in the midst of this storm she is surrounded by. She needs a shelter, somewhere soft, inviting and quiet to curl up and hide, and to know it is safe. Watching those you love be robbed of health is agonizing and its own kind of torture – because you are helpless to change this course. Perhaps Linwood House will be the shelter in the storm for her this weekend.

Emails have come in asking for prayer for those in places of desperation. Another asks for our understanding while she retreats to grieve after the slow death of her husband – 6 years of agony and pain which will not go away in the next few months. We need a shelter to grieve, a safe haven to heal in these times.

Yet is the shelter only required in the storm? Perhaps I should change this word to sanctuary – is it only required in storm or the “dark night of the soul” to quote John of the Cross? Sanctuary, as defined by Merriam Webster:

Etymology: Middle English sanctuarie, from Middle French sainctuarie, from Late Latin sanctuarium, from Latin sanctus1 : a consecrated place: as a : the ancient Hebrew temple at Jerusalem or its holy of holies b (1) : the most sacred part of a religious building (as the part of a Christian church in which the altar is placed) (2) : the room in which general worship services are held (3) : a place (as a church or a temple) for worship2 a (1) : a place of refuge and protection (2) : a refuge for wildlife where predators are controlled and hunting is illegal b : the immunity from law attached to a sanctuary

Sanctuary as defined here is for safety, for intimacy, for celebration, worship, protection and refuge. Linwood House has been, and is held out as holy ground and sacred space. As we continue to hold it this way, the fullness of sanctuary continues to unfold to us, for us and within us.

Journey Update

2006-03-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

The Journey never ceases to amaze me: our own journey yes, but The Journey here at Linwood House when the house is full of voices, questions, laughter, tears, searching, resting, pacing. When old friends and new friends come from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, and Jen and Sue lead them in their time together for 3 days, we are given a new and wonderful look at beauty. We see beauty that has survived the horrors of living on the streets, and we see how betrayal has deeply wounded them. Yet together we see courage and compassion in each other as we hang out together here at Linwood.

In this past Journey, Sue and Jen shared about the imprints of love that God makes on each of us. Heart prints was a symbolic part of the time – what are the prints on your heart? What are the imprints of the Almighty that we can see in each other?

Every piece of creation has an imprint – leaves, flowers, rocks, there is no end to them. With rose petals scattered over the table by Jackie the theme of imprints also reached the meal table.

A rose
A flower that is whole
Yet really in pieces
Each with its own imprint
Each piece with beauty
No matter where it lies

Your life pieces
My life pieces
Each have their own imprint
And even though they seem broken
Each one holds beauty.

Subtlety of Change

2006-02-03T09:42:00.000-08:00

Stepping from one month into the next comes in the night, flowing from day into night and into day again. There is no visible sign that you have moved from one to the other.

The Christmas decorations are not only down, they are stored away – they have been moved from visible to invisible for the next 10months.

Transformation often happens this way – it simply moves us from night to day, from one chapter to the next, one season to another, chancing us with the ease that comes with the ebb and flow of the sea.

I think of each person we meet here at Linwood House and the places they come from, the stories they have to share, and how each of us leave something on the other that is part of the imperceptible movement of transformation.

And today we are enjoying the beauty of what has been given to us. Tomorrow we will enjoy what will come from those who spend the next days here at Linwood House. The subtlety of change continues. The wonder of transformation never ceases.

I love Jesus invitation to “change”:
I'm here inviting outsiders, not insiders--an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out."
Luke 5:32

Waiting for...

2006-01-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

For a brief moment the sun has broken through the endless days of rain and everything seems to change with the light! We have been waiting for about 29 days for these rays of sunshine.

Ron and Gwen are relaxing in the warmth and sunshine that Maui offers. They are taking a much needed rest and time to be together. In this quiet time of relaxation they are waiting for the Spirit to give them ideas and plans for this next year as it unfolds.

The Christmas decorations are down, ready to be stored away and wait until the end of this year and that promised celebration. Outside the picnic table and chairs are sparkling with the droplets of this mornings’ rain, and waiting for summer to arrive.

There is much that waits for the next season or the next time of celebration, or for the darkness to become light, the rain to become sunshine, and pain to be changed to joy. But what IS the now holding? What is the present moment gifting to us as we wait?

In various conversations over these last weeks many have expressed the struggle that comes as they wait for phone calls, appointments, changes, news…whatever it may be they are waiting for. Often this puts us into living in the “what if” in order to negate or mitigate the wrestling in this place.

This moment of sunshine, the putting away of Christmas, and the waiting for summer are all reminders that life does change. Moments are here and then gone but we remember and we carry that esperanza within.

At Linwood we wait for Ron and Gwen to return, we wait for more sunny days, for those guests that are scheduled to arrive at their appointed time. We continue to wait to see how God will unfold our projects, our mission trips, our workshops and we wait in esperanza for what will arrive with each one of you we cross paths with.

Happy New Year - 2006

2006-01-03T14:25:00.000-08:00

The hum of Christmas has changed key and changed to the melody of a New Year. The sounds of laughter and family and friends have become the sounds of cleaning up, re-arranging, and refilling the larder. Christmas candles are being changed for a new fragrance and the aroma of cinnamon and pine will be put away until December arrives again.

New Year’s Eve at Linwood House was a slow and relaxed evening with a friend from Florida treating us to her culinary expertise. The aroma wafted out to the Great Room where we waited for the call to come and dine together.

As 2006 begins there are plans to be made, schedules to look at, and time needed to let this year begin to unfold so we can see what God’s schedule is for this Ministry.

The January “Thought” posted on our website is about having Jesus character when we meet others.
Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me – you did it to me.’

Christmas is a season where you find people giving to others in need and sharing the “Spirit of Christmas”. In reality Jesus calls us to have this aroma of giving, of sharing, of being aware of others every day. Today as I sort through paperwork in the office, as I remember all the fun and joy of the past weeks, I am reminded that the routine of living also carries its own melody and fragrance.

Consistency and change go hand in hand. Consistency in how we treat others, how we model Jesus while at the same time we change as we become more Kingdom like in daily living. Like the key change of a melody – the tune is the same but the notes are played slightly different.

As each of us move to the key change, we wish you a Happy New Year from all of us at Linwood House.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

Linwood House will be filling up with family over this next week. Laughter, tears, sharing, being snuggled up in a corner with a good book in the library, or chatting in Grandma's room - there will be plenty of sweet wonderful family time in this big house!

We wish each of you the peace of Jesus in this season of celebration.

Stars are the theme this year at Linwood and they hang in many places in the house. Stars are also found in each one who comes through the door. Scars we carry can become stars as Jesus touches our lives.

We wish you a time where the scars can reveal star qualities in your life, reflecting courage as you have journeyed, and as you continue to journey.

Thank you for travelling with us in whatever way you have touched our lives.

Shalom to you
Blessings to you
from all of us at Linwood House.

A Woman of Strength

2005-12-15T15:46:00.000-08:00

Our Monday "Happy Hour" group of women, who get together each week to share where they are on the journey, has a couple of new additions. The youngest one, and one who is courageously into day 29 of walking to freedom from addictions, brought us this.

A Woman of Strength
A strong woman works out everyday to keep her body in shape,
And a woman of strength builds relationships to keep her soul in shape.
A strong woman isn't afraid of anything,
But a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of her fear.
A strong woman won't let anyone get the best of her,
but a woman of strength gives the best of herself to everyone.
A strong woman makes mistakes and avoids the same in the future,
But a woman of strength realizes life's mistakes can also be unexpected blessings and capitalizes on them.
A strong woman wears a look of confidence on her face,
But a woman of strength has faith that it is in the journey that she will become strong.

Christmas Is Coming

2005-12-11T10:50:00.000-08:00

The days are flying by at Linwood House, with almost 200 people having been through the doors in the last few weeks. It is beautiful to see the lights on the trees in every room, hear the crackling of the fire, smell the coffee on or Grandma's baking giving the house an inviting aroma. There has been such incredible participation from our community here on the Sunshine Coast. At The Journey this week a bible study group from a local church prepared an amazing turkey dinner for our guests from the Downtown Eastside. Our Monday night Happy Hour group of ladies (we meet each Monday to share where we are on the journey) arrived, dressed in beautiful long coats and lovely hats, to sing carols for our guests. We even had a participant in The Journey who we just met and she lives not far from us. It was an honour to have her join our group. The "Beauty Babes" - our wonderful team of women who drive from the opposite side of Vancouver, arrived to pamper our guests with hair cuts, makeup and manicures. We have enjoyed the musical contributions of various friends and guests which have added to the fun, the joy, and the meaning of this Season of celebration.

There are a few more community dinners and open house events happening before Christmas is actually here.

Yes it is crazy busy, and yet, what is this Season of celebration, what is the message of grace and love, if we do not share it with everyone we can? That is what gives us the energy to keep going - knowing it is such a wonderful time, knowing it is much too grand to keep to ourselves, and that we are called to let this love fill every part of our living.

Restoration, Grace and Stars

2005-11-23T13:07:00.000-08:00

It has been quiet on the Linwood House blog but not the least bit quiet within these walls. We are still cleaning up after two floods in the front part of the house and as I write painting, tiling and restoring baseboards is underway. Then we can begin to decorate the other half of the house in its celebratory garb for Christmas.

Yet something wonderful has come out of all of this mess. We have been deep cleaning the attic, the office, the laundry room…taking out what we don’t need, what is outdated and keeping what is essential and valuable. It has also brought wonderful people to do the work and they are feeling something special as they participate.

In our Monday night Happy Hour women’s group we talked about grace, how have we experienced grace, extended grace and wished we had been more conscious of giving grace. This comes with taking off our mask and being honest and “true faced”. Sorting what we don’t need also brings us to the place of revealing who we really are.

A great quote from the book TrueFaced : “Grace is the face that love wears, when it meets imperfection. Joseph R. Cooke” Pg 83

I am thinking about this wonderful blend of grace, love and imperfections. Restoring the beauty after the floods is like revealing the grace with eyes of love that see not only the imperfections but the delightful wonder and beauty.

The theme at Linwood House this Christmas is “Stars” – the stars revealed by Jesus in our life and the scars in our own lives that have brought out those star like qualities.

Restorations, grace, scars and revealed stars – they are all connected I think.

Oh yes...Christmas is coming!

Christmas is Coming

2005-11-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

If you were standing outside Linwood House looking in this weekend you would be soaking wet and cold in this pouring rain. It seems to have been raining for weeks. But it is far too horrible outside so come on in and join us - we are Christmas decorating!

The Great Room windows are holding wreaths of berries, the mantle is cradling a nativity scene and somehow a reflection of an angel seems to be etched on the long wall above the chimney. The grand and stately boughs of the main tree reach out with their lights and decorations and seem to be spreading the feeling of Christmas to each one who enters. The rest of the house is following this lead and each room has its own special tree theme. Grandma is especially pleased that her room is getting particular attention.

People have been coming and going for the last few days and help is plentiful. Last night we sat down where ever we found a comfortable space and ate one of those comfort food meals - roast chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy. Maureen stopped by and made pans full of apple crisp for dessert.

The front section of Linwood is still in utter chaos as we wait for the new flooring to arrive after our flood.

The theme this year at Linwood is "Stars" - what is the star quality of Jesus to you. What scars of yours have been turned to stars in this last year?

Well it is time to get back to work and join the team that is hustling and bustling and creating!

Shalom to you all,
and don't stand on the outside...come on in and enjoy the scent of grace.

Rain - Inside and Out

2005-11-03T15:40:00.000-08:00

The steady beat of rain and the trees being bent by the strong wind provide the colouring outside the office window.

Our latest newsletter has arrived giving us the succinct picture of what is happening in the various spokes of Linwood House Ministries.

At the Monday night Happy Hour God was very present in the sharing and discussions. This group of women, in our own community, are exploring this sacred space and sharing how God has shown up in their week. Gwen shared at the end of the time how when the enemy comes in like a flood God will raise up a standard.

We had no idea how literal this would be! When Ron and Gwen woke up Tuesday morning they discovered a flood in the dining room, parlor and library! It was discovered that a water pipe had broken and leaked and the hardwood had to be ripped up and the floor is now drying out. There was also a little flood over at Hope Renfrew. Right now the floors in the front part of the house are torn up, the area is sealed off with plastic and huge fans and steadily humming to try and dry out the damage area. We had hoped to begin the Christmas decorating with a group on November 11th weekend. Right now we are not sure what the time frame is for the drying process and then the relaying of hardwood floors.

On Wednesday night the team leaders of various projects at Linwood House Ministries met to touch base. Jen and Sue are very active in building relationships with women we have connected with through The Journey. Idelette is getting her dream of Global Girls Network going and soon you will hear more about it. Mike is balancing studies at Regent College and his duties as Executive Director of Linwood House Ministries. Gwen and Ron are very busy with Hope Renfrew and are putting much of their time and energy into this project. All the volunteers that have come alongside us have been amazing. We would love to see this project ready to go by the end of this year. Dorothea is very busy with her Breakfast Groups and they are currently working through Jesus Life Coach. Grandma keeps the cookie tins full and keeps us all in order!

The chaos in the hallways just now reminds me that just because things have turned upside down in the house doesn’t mean that God is not very present, nor do we stop doing what we need to do right now - continuing to provide sacred space that facilitates healing, blessing and transformation.

Update to Darkness and Light

2005-10-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

Our next Journey begins today and the theme of friendship will be woven through it. It will be a poignant message because our friend Lois died early this morning. She has been such a part of our team at The Journey and we are going to miss her deeply.

In darkness we look for Light, and in the face of death we also look for life. Lois lived passionately inspite of extensive health issues.

Our prayers are with her family and her community.

Darkness and Light

2005-10-18T04:32:00.000-07:00

This week is bracketted on both sides with groups visiting Linwood House, and in between we have the women from the Downtown Eastside. Both weekend groups work directly with the marginalized as well. This directly involves the necessity of walking in the dark places with those we are all called to minister to. The light becomes more obvious, more drawing in the dark places.

So Grandma and Dorothea have been busy baking and preparing cookies, the rooms are ready, and Sue and Jen have been busy planning and preparing special activities and treats for the women this week.

In this midst of this, one of the women whose heart is hugely involved in the work with the women from the downtown eastside, and usually arrives with this group coming today, is critically ill in hospital. She has some complicated medical problems so please pray for her. Pray for our team - we will miss her help this week. It seems dark but we are seeking the Light that brings the shalom, the One who is Shalom.

Right now here on the coast the weather is dark - dull, rainy, foggy patches, cold and damp and it feels dark.

Last night at Happy Hour another story was shared, a gift offered to our group. M's story holds dark and light and the beauty of seeing her hold it out to us was enhanced by the fact that another knew the same story of dark and light and it gave her courage to know there is a safe place to tell that story.

Darkness causes fear but the Light allows us to know the presence of the Father that cannot exist in anywhere but Light.

Pray for us all as we walk beside these wounded women who will be at The Journey this week.

New Perspectives and Different Glasses

2005-10-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

These last days have been busy at Linwood. Rarely is there a day where someone does not drop by or a group is coming or going. Then there is the work that Ron and Gwen are doing at Hope Renfew, the house in town that is being remade into sacred space for women who want to leave the life of the downtown eastside and be mentored in living a life of freedom. All of it keeps us active, alive and listening!

As autumn continues to display her glorious colours and cooler temperatures, the fireplace is on more often, a pot of soup is more frequently simmering on the stove and the flowers in the garden are less plentiful.

Yet, like in a winter season, there is so much goes on beneath the surface, that is only whispered or hinted at, which is a reminder that in “sacred space”, what Linwood House is all about, the Spirit continually works.
- someone sitting at the piano and filling the house with the sound of Chopin, talent from the writer and the one playing.
- A syncopated melody of the rain outside mingled with the notes of Chopin’s First Nocturne blending the Classical and the natural.
- Pampas grass dips and sways in the breeze with such ease, and inside slippered feet whisper in passing as guests find a soft sofa or chair to snuggle in.
- One quiet gentle woman, who has visited several times, looks so alive as she shares some new avenues of creativity in her life and gives us glimpses into her heart.
- A written note tells of how safe one felt as she snuggled into a bed with a feather tick, able to sleep deeply.

“Happy Hour” – our Monday gathering of ladies in our community is evolving into a group that has committed to share story, to protect the stories that are told, and to become women who reach out to suffering women of the world. Yesterday Gwen began our time with a letter full of infectious happiness between friends (Paul’s writing to the Philippians)
If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care– then do me a favour: agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends.
What are deep-spirited friends? How do we become one of these? Safe places for the heart have a lot to do with that along with how we love and honor our own story.
Laurie Beth Jones writes in her book Jesus Life Coach about Jesus stealing our tent. "Jesus once described himself as coming “like a thief in the night”. I love the idea of his coming to steal our tent – the tent of our limited perspective – the tent of our fragile and segmented understanding – the tent that we think is keeping us safe, but is really just keeping us from seeing the universe.”
What is the tent Jesus is taking away from me, from you, so that we can get a larger perspective on life, that allows us to see the Kingdom in action more clearly? Sometimes we were someone else’s glasses to see the world and our vision is blurry – do we wear our parents, or our spouses glasses? What about our own God given lenses to see the world – what do we see with them on?

This is just a glimpse into the last few weeks of life at Linwood House Ministries.

From A Full Cup of Life

2005-09-26T15:39:00.000-07:00

Things had Linwood have not been silent - in fact they have been busy and full of life.

Monday night Happy Hour continues to see women coming to share where they are on the journey, to seek and to ask for prayer. We had a great discussion last week on emotional healing that developed out of an article Maureen had printed off to read to us. We briefly talked about being in "awe" through these times and being in awe of our own story.

Several groups have come and filled the house with prayer, with laughter, with tears and we have had the honor to holding sacred stories. This past weekend a Tuesday morning downtown Vancouver breakfast group of women came up. Late into the night they sat around, telling, listening, receiving, and seeing dreams be held open for others to speak into them.

Ron and Gwen have been very busy working at 28th Avenue, lining up volunteers, overseeing work, finding treasures for this sacred space. Check out our website to see more on this. Then they had a few days away together to enjoy a little road trip - after all, isn't that the delight of being retired? You can just take off for a few days together and explore.

In all this I have found that the "island" in the kitchen continues to be a place where, as I work, I can dialogue with wonderful new people, and with old friends, and hear more sacred story. As I chop the vegetables for soup that will simmer and flavours will mingle, I see that each ingredient on its own is good, but together it is something very delicious. On our own each of us can be an island but when we speak together in community a strong fabric is woven.

Sunday morning we lingered at the table, eating spanikopita omlettes, laughing, throwing out new ideas. And then we stilled, we waited, and we took communion together. We held the cup, held it up and offered all of our lives, our joy and our sorrow, offering all of it to God to use however He chooses.

Come Sit at the Table

2005-09-12T15:19:00.000-07:00

As a culinary minister I firmly believe that the table is sacred space. Culinary art on the table is the invitation to come and dine.

Jesus said those words “come and dine” and invited his friends, in intimate settings, to come and take communion together. He also says he is standing at the door knocking, waiting for the invitation to come and dine with us, to be present at our table as we “break bread” together. Solomon, in his love song, invited his lover to come and dine.

The kitchen or dining room table here at Linwood House is holy ground where the sacred of our stories is shared and the fragrance of the pain and joy is added to the aroma of the food. There is such a sweet perfume of humility in this place that becomes “church” in action.

A large place of fresh greens, slices of cucumber, ginger carrot salad, corn salad, pea sprouts and skewers of grilled chicken tenders: this is live food for the body as well as protein, mixed with flavours and colours that entice the palate to participate more deeply in the eating adventure. But subtly there is much more to this picture – the “live” portion of this meal, in the middle of the day, brings healing and cleansing to the body.

The Spirit regularly issues the invitation to linger at table – linger and let the presence of the Divine One hover and move. What is spoken or whispered there is sacred and remains so for safekeeping; the 2.5 hours spent at lunch brought discussion, pain held out, tears bathed it, prayer for healing and restoration surrounded those in need. This circle of trust (as Parker Palmer describes it) invited each one to participate more deeply in community.

I still firmly believe that Jesus created meal time for Divine encounters and I celebrate the privilege of providing the epicurean part of the equation for them. Taking the Good News to the ends of the earth also involves taking it to the kitchen, or dining room table in fresh colour and texture!

Colours of the Heart

2005-09-10T11:56:00.000-07:00

The air is cooler, crisper in the mornings, the days are shorter and the light has a different glow at sunrise and sunset. Warm earthy tones in the changing leaves, in the fallen leaves, serenade us with a different melody as Autumn comes and makes us aware of her presence. Colours that are gloriously warm yet hold the message of another season that follows.

Colours. The long pine table, its warm honey tones, was full at breakfast; it will again be so at lunch and supper. The room was perfumed with laughter, with languages and colours as the multicultural group of women here this weekend began their day together. J

As grace was spoken in Korean we all gave thanks to the Almighty in our own language of praise. The One who has made “every tribe, every tongue and nation” and brings the colours of character, nature, culture, eyes, skin and language together at His banquet table.

The beauty of it is seeing cultures together in laughter, in tears, in honoring of each journey is delightful. Just as Autumn brings her colours to our senses, so the Spirit comes with the colours of Abba’s daughters this weekend. It is the colours of God’s heart – the feminine heart that I see this weekend.

Kitchen Table Weavings

2005-08-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

Mix together the oats, the bran, the nuts…all of the ingredients for the granola then add the honey, oil and vanilla. Soon the medley of fragrances blend into one and float through the house.

Another medley of fragrances is in the air – the medley of stories being shared at the kitchen table. Friends in ministry have “stopped by” and the ever unfolding beauty of story has been happening for a couple of hours while they sit at the long sunbathed kitchen table. Once again our paths intersect as they head off to new things, and we share new pieces in our ministry.

The threads of story and the fragrance of the banquet table continue to weave the tapestry of Linwood House Ministries.

Tomorrow new guests will arrive and there will be more stories told, more threads in the warp and woof .

This and that from my desk

2005-08-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

After 8 weeks all the painting of Linwood House is done, except for a couple of trim boards. It has been a huge job that could never have been accomplished without the many weekends of volunteered time. Gerry Sly has been the one to risk painting the highest points of the house and we are so grateful to him - thank you Gerry!

Work continues on Hope Renfrew. The carpet has been ripped up in the living room/dining area, wonderful donations of furniture for several rooms has been collected and ideas are flowing. There has been great enthusiasm for this project.

This week we begin having guests again at Linwood and getting back into the routine. July was devoted to the painting of the house and our guests were all the wonderful volunteers.

Monday afternoon “happy hour” has intrigued more women to come and explore what this time is all about. Thank you Maureen for your enthusiasm that draws other women to come and join our chat time.

Grandma is back and busy baking and gardening and in good form. Ron has retired and he is busy helping Rob with the studio. Doug and Dorothea go back and forth between their home in West Vancouver and Linwood House.

We hope you have had a wonderful summer too. It is now time to begin easing back into the routine of life as September approaches.

Shalom

Retiring

2005-07-29T11:10:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day of work for Ron McVicker! Or rather, the last day of work outside of Linwood House.

It is an exciting time for Ron and Gwen where they will be working side by side full time in the ministry now. Ron and Gwen have give their weekends and now Ron will also be with us in the weekdays.

Congratulations Ron!

We look forward to how this new part of your story, the story of you and Gwen that God has authored.

Blessings for "Hope Renfrew"

2005-07-27T13:42:00.000-07:00

"Hope Renfrew" is our temporary working name for the house in Vancouver that we are restoring as Sacred Space.

These words from Amos seem so fitting:
Blessings Like Wine Pouring off the Mountains
11" I will restore this sacred space that has fallen to pieces. I'll repair the holes in the roof, replace the broken windows, fix it up like new. The downtown eastside women will be strong again 12and seize what's left of enemy Edom, plus everyone else under my sovereign judgment." GOD's Decree. He will do this.
13"Yes indeed, it won't be long now." GOD's Decree.
"Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won't be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once--and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. 14I'll make everything right again for my people Israel:
"They'll rebuild their lives.
They'll work their gardens and eat fresh vegetables.
15And I'll plant them, plant them on their own land.
They'll never again be uprooted from the land I've given them."
GOD, your God, says so.
highlited areas make this blessing our own prayer for Hope Renfrew!

Fresh Paint, Fresh Colours, Fresh Life

2005-07-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

We are on the homeward stretch! The painting of Linwood House has an end in sight, and although it has taken many weeks to get this far, it has been an amazing labour of love with many many hours of volunteered time. The new colours are slightly different and just enough to give it a wonderful fresh look.

Yesterday as I was out painting the craft cottage I thought a lot about how long it takes to get renovations, restorations, and new colours on a place. It takes time, patience, team effort…it is a process. There are the uncomfortable high places to climb up to and the low places were I simply sat on the ground to paint.

This parallels the whole concept of Linwood House Ministries – the process of restoring colours to the heart in order to life to be restored. The Journey, our partnership with Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, gives women from the streets the opportunity to come to a place that is vastly different from their daily environment. Not only is the scenery different at Linwood House, but God wants them to begin to see how beautiful they are, soul deep beauty. Abba wants them to begin to see that they can exchange the dark colours of the heart and soul for fresh new colours that put Jesus Light within. The process of this exchange takes enormous contributions from volunteers who give their labour of love at all hours of the night or day. Each of us must walk in the uncomfortable places, whether high or low, where God can do the restoration work necessary. Time, patience, community, and choosing the change, asking Jesus for change are the “colours” we need for this fresh colour, fresh life.

The painting is almost done but life has continued as we have worked. The process involves constantly moving, working toward completion.

I think we will need to have a party to celebrate the finishing of Linwood House’s painting!

Abba loves to celebrate the fresh colour and fresh life in everyone who chooses the hard work, the labour of love that is healing.

Extreme Make-over of Sacred Space

2005-07-21T20:19:00.000-07:00

Relationships. Somehow what God keeps trying to show us is that He is all about relationships. Hence He designed various combinations of relationships to reflect His heart and to benefit us. However dysfunctionally we have managed those relationships we still have a God who gives us glimpses of how powerful they are.

And that was clear today as a crowd of us gathered at a house in Vancouver that is going to become a home where women from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver can live together and learn about community through relationships in a family/home setting. One of the women who has courageously made that change from addiction life to a healing life that has Jesus in it, shared with us how much a Linwood House would have moved her toward healing at a faster pace. A home with "sacred space" that reflected God through deep beauty and being made to feel worth while.

We sat around, papers and pens ready to jot down ideas, as we brainstormed the "extreme make over" of a home we are going to be involved in teaming up with. It was amazing to hear the following"
- oh we have construction friends and will have them come in to help
- we have friends who can connect us with those who "have" and want to give to those who "have not", and the website to check.
- a garden artist looked about and gave ideas on how this backyard could become a sacred space
- two others surveyed the bedrooms and quickly assessed what was needed and will contact an amazing seamstress who could begin some ideas for curtains, bedding etc.
- another wants to bring his children who are qualified in woodworking and could build a wonderful laundry room.

On and on the ideas flowed and the enthusiasm built. In this city we have enough facilities for food handouts and enough outreach facilities but what we don't have enough of is the relationships required to walk together and move forward. This "home on 28th" will be about relationships and seeing them grow, develop and enlarge the Kingdom.

And God said to him, 'I've listened to and received all your prayers, your ever-so-passionate prayers. I've sanctified this sacred space that you have built: My name is stamped on it forever; my eyes are on it and my heart in it alway.

Reminders

2005-07-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

This morning I read the following verses from Psalm 10:
Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless.
Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.
You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.

Gwen often says that our ministry at Linwood House Ministries is to the poor, the hurting and the broken. That includes all of us! Reading these words from Psalm 10 remind me, that again today, our purpose, my purpose is to live in the hope of these words, to share them with whoever crosses our path today and to pray for this world so full of hurting, broken and poor. It is the gentle reminder that today there is beauty to exchange for ashes, captives to be released, prisoners to set free. It is the daily whisper that a heart set on pilgrimage is a heart that will experience blessing from the Almighty.

Today each of us will meet the hurting, the broken and the poor - they will come through the door of Linwood House, or your home.

Isaiah has good words for me today, in the reminding of my heart, the call to our work:
Stop oppressing the helpless and stop making false accusations and spreading vicious rumours! Feed the hungry and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out of darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as day. The Lord will guide you continually, watering your life when you are dry and keeping you healthy, too. You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring. Your children will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities. Then you will be known as the people who rebuild their walls and cities.

Yesterday Gwen spent time with some partners who are setting up a home in the Downtown Eastside. It will be a place of Light, of watering the soul. Pray for Lois as she prepares this home where the hurting, the broken and the poor will come for sanctuary.

Saying "Yes"

2005-07-12T15:26:00.000-07:00

Monday afternoon "happy hour" we had our friend M and a new friend V. The four of us sat in the Great Room on a rather dull summer afternoon (felt like winter) and talked about "saying yes". What could we say "yes" to that would move us out of our comfort zone and take us one more step along the journey to wholeness, and be a yes to adventure?

These were the questions Gwen had for us:
- With one word what do you need today?
- If you could ask God any question in this moment, what would you ask Him?
- What was one thing you said yes to today that was out of your comfort zone?

When Naomi headed back to her homeland Ruth said yes to going along while Orpa said no. One said yes to adventure while the other chose the comfort of the familiar.

What can you say "yes" to today that is an affirmative to more aventure with God?

Mission Trip - today's

2005-07-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

This morning I was reading Reclaiming God's Original Intent for the Church by Wes Roberts. "Wherever Christians were, that was their place of mission." This line so fits with what we believe at Linwood House Ministries.

One of our Board members, Gerry Sly, came up several weeks ago with 6 couples and helped with the house painting. Gerry had suggested to his men's group that they go on a "mission trip" - it just happened to be from Vancouver up to Roberts Creek to help paint a large home. Never before have we been the recipients of a mission trip like this that I am aware of.

We have travelled to China, Bulgaria, and the Ukraine with teams of women to minister to women. Sue and Jen regularly go to Eastside Vancouver to work with women we have met through The Journey. This is mission work on home turf. Discussions have taken place on bringing women from the places we have visited in Eastern Europe so together we can do a mission trip in Downtown Eastside Vancouver.

Wes's thoughts therefore just confirmed for me the idea that mission is here, now, today. I appreciate these following thoughts from his book:
These early disciples had a sense of mission. They saw themselves as sent by God into the world for the sake of the world. Wherever Christians were, that was their place of mission. Local congregations become intent on ministering in both word and deed as witnesses of Jesus Christ. Mission wasn't the job of a few professional clergy.
Early Christianity was radical - far more radical than the bland, conservative product we call Christianity today. Early Christians seemed to understand that their faith involved a radical commitment to a wild God who would often lead them to dangerous places.
This new community ...were bound together by the common purpose of the kingdom of God. They served their local communities with good deeds. They sacrificed and gave of themselves for the service of the kingdom of Christ. They had the conviction that they were a part of God's continuing story of the unfolding of redemption.

Thanks Wes for being part of our community. Thank you Gerry for letting the painting party also be a mission/learning/sharing experience for us all. We look forward to our Monday "happy hour" when women stop by to share, encourage and pray with each other.

Today another mission will take place wherever we are if we are willing to be "a part of God's continuing story of the unfolding of redemption". Mission, story, redeeming of story - we live in it, it lives in us and we learn more of life in Christ.

Celebrations

2005-07-09T17:17:00.000-07:00

Today the Board of Linwood House Ministries met for one of their regular bi-annual meetings.

There is so much to celebrate! The wonderful people who have come and volunteered their time to paint the outside of this home. Those who come on Monday evenings to share and pray together in what we call "Happy Hour". All who have come from the Downtown Eastside Vancouver, into an unknown, unfamiliar place, and share their lives with us. Some of them have never felt safe before, others are reaching out to touch what could be the beginnings to change in their lives. We celebrate with each person who comes to retreat here, to groups who come to plan and move forward with their organizations.

Celebration in this moment, at this point in the journey, for all those we are in relationship with, at whatever point on their journey, or our own we are on. Sharing what we have in our hand is a reason to celebrate this sacred space in our lives.

And so as Gwen spoke to the Board today she celebrated all that has happened in the last month!

These words from Nehemiah were shared:
7Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, and Pelaiah, all Levites, explained The Revelation while people stood, listening respectfully. 8They translated the Book of The Revelation of God so the people could understand it and then explained the reading.
9Nehemiah the governor, along with Ezra the priest and scholar and the Levites who were teaching the people, said to all the people, "This day is holy to GOD, your God. Don't weep and carry on." They said this because all the people were weeping as they heard the words of The Revelation.
10He continued, "Go home and prepare a feast, holiday food and drink; and share it with those who don't have anything: This day is holy to God. Don't feel bad. The joy of GOD is your strength!"
11The Levites calmed the people, "Quiet now. This is a holy day. Don't be upset."
12So the people went off to feast, eating and drinking and including the poor in a great celebration. Now they got it; they understood the reading that had been given to them.The entire congregation that had come back from exile made booths and lived in them. The People of Israel hadn't done this from the time of Joshua son of Nun until that very day--a terrific day! Great joy!
18Ezra read from the Book of The Revelation of God each day, from the first to the last day--they celebrated the feast for seven days.

Celebrate today. Celebrate the things of change, the moments of clarity, or what freedom feels like. Celebrate if you feel weak, because the Almighty has strength to give you.

We celebrate each of you who are on this journey which has intersected with us.

New Colours

2005-07-07T12:54:00.000-07:00

Linwood House in undergoing a colour change. Over the last few weeks we have been painting the house and it is looking really great.

Our house painting party several weeks ago was amazing. There were over 20 people came up for the weekend and volunteered to climb ladders, take of trim boards, take out nails etc etc.

So much to do and a cool rainy summer so far has delayed things a little. This week some old friends of Ron and Gwen have come for a week of holiday. Together the four of them have been painting, while they talk, laugh and catch up.

The new book being read around here are Can You Hear Me? by Brad Jersak as well as ones being re-read such as the daily devotional from Eugene Peterson Living the Message. A library is an endless source of reference, revisiting, renewing.

Observations from the Kitchen

2005-06-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

Grandma is Queen of the Kitchen and the aroma of her baking wafts through Linwood House. She loves to bake butter tarts for a certain Pastor from North Vancouver, butterscotch pie for Jen and Sue, cereal cookies for Rob and apple pie for Ron. Two large tins of cookies were waiting on the shelf for the women that arrived to participate in The Journey. Dorothea was given a pan of Matrimonial Squares for her birthday and Grandma baked a rich double chocolate cake for the joint birthday dinner of Doug and Dorothea. When it gets very crowded in the kitchen she bows out and leaves the cacophony of sound for the tranquillity of her suite.

Last week was a hectic one with The Journey numbering 28 guests and workers, one day break and then a team of painters, making our meal time number 35. But all in all, it was about community, gathering at the table and sharing, everyone participating and moving forward.

It never ceases to amaze me just how profound sitting down to "break bread" together is. Laughter or tears, stories and tales, listening then speaking, pondering, watching, enjoying, or at times even retreating. There is a flow like the underground stream beneath the house. It is the essential ingredient to life - living water.

The first meal for our friends from Downtown Eastside Vancouver was prepared with comfort in mind: roast chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, carrots in creamy onion fresh herb sauce. Grandma made apple crisp and it was served with dollops of whip cream. Comfort food that was designed to subtly invite them to come in, find safety and to remind them perhaps of happy memories from childhood (if there are any). Having been at Linwood for only a few hours most of our first time guests were still very much in protective mode and controlling what they can - that happened to be what they did, or did not eat. Many plates came back with portions of the meal untouched.

The last meal we prepared for these beautiful women was designed to be living food (fresh greens with as many raw ingredients as possible without being intimidating) as well as a portion of some essential food for women's health - salmon with Omega 3 oil in it. Women should eat salmon and broccoli at least once a week. With fragrant rice and fresh bread we set the banquet out and suggested they help themselves. This meal was the one meal where there were no leftovers!

Those who come to the table may not be aware of how or why this particular menu was chosen. What is important is that you enjoy it, enjoy community as you eat and that you be touched by the fragrance of the Kingdom. The aroma of unconditional love and grace.

Crossroads

2005-06-22T06:06:00.000-07:00

The house is full of guests today. The next Journey is in full swing and we are excited to have newcomers in this session.

Sue, Jen, Elaine and Gwen have put together the theme of "crossroads" and there are various stations outside for them to go to with specific tasks. I love it when Sue and Jen arrive and focus on getting every detail in order for these wonderful women to experience when they arrive.
Our friend Jackie is here to observe, assist and just absorb the essence of what this is all about too.

These are amazing women from Vancouver's downtown eastside. Many of them have a soul that is hemoraging, and has been for a long time. A local friend is also staying with us - her soul has been hemoraging for a long time too. Perhaps here at Linwood, we can encourage each of them to come to the intersection where Jesus stands. His only "agenda" for their lives right now is that He meets with them at the intersection and He invites them into relationship together. How that looks, how it works - that is as unique as each individual.

So pray for us as a team as we understand our own crossroads, and that every intersection we have with each other will have the breath of Yeshua in it.

Wisdom of Years

2005-06-20T11:02:00.000-07:00

Speaking truth is a powerful voice. Speaking truth is essential in our journey, and along with that we must soak ourselves in Jesus love and grace. Then when we speak truth it comes with wisdom and honor. Jesus says that "the truth will set you free".

Anyone who has been to Linwood House knows that this family believe strongly in speaking truth, with love and grace and honor. Grandma, at 92, can get away with almost anything! But in her years of living, of speaking truth, and the matter of fact way she addresses things, her words can hit home with clarity.

A friend of our is travelling a tough road of change just now and when Grandma sat and chatted with her these words the words of truth delivered:
Get out of the dirt and find your wings

So for those in a stuck place today...get out of the dirt and find your wings! And allow that truth to set you free. And once again the Jesus words of life are if the Son sets you free, you are free through and through.

Just Enough Light for this Step

2005-06-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

A book title on my bookshelf is “Just Enough Light for the Step I am On”. Perhaps that best describes this week at Linwood House.

Gwen has been in Vancouver and spent some time with several women who are in transition, change, cataclysmically changing their thinking processes. The change is towards freedom, hope, health and a heart, mind and body that is alive in Jesus love; one step at a time towards change.

At the house we have been walking with friends who are in transition, change – the process of walking towards restoration, hope and a mind, heart and body that is alive in God’s design.

There is an old song that says “One day at a time sweet Jesus, that’s all I’m asking from You”. The reality is that in the wrestling even one day can seem impossible. It becomes more of a minute by minute and hour by hour journey with just enough Light for the next step, just enough breath to keeping breathing in this moment, and giving oneself permission to step out of routine and listen to the rhythm of the heart.

As the wind gently causes the pampas grass, the purple foxglove and yellow poppies sway in my line of vision, I am reminded of the gentlest whisper of Divine love and the unwavering gaze of our God who sees us as free and as colourful as the blossoms on the hillside. He sees beyond these moments of anguish and pain but remains with us through it. That presence is the Light and Breath of a Triune God giving life.

King David understood this journey well and Psalm 121 reflects that:
I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from the mountains?
No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
He won’t let you stumble, your Guardian God won’t fall asleep.
Not on your life! Israel’s Guardian will never doze or sleep.
God’s your Guardian, right at your side to protect you –
Shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from the moonstroke.
God guards you from every evil, he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return,
He guards you now, he guards you always.
The Message

Body Psalms Written at The Dance Workshop

2005-06-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

Body Psalm

At the beginning of the month we held the first workshop for The Dance. Celeste Snowber, author of Embodied Prayer, and co-leader of this workshop had each of us write a Body Psalm. Before I share a few lines from various ones, I quote the following from Celeste’s book. This gives you some insight to “Psalms”

“The psalms capture our hearts with total immediacy. The words no not slide across the skin but penetrate to marrow and bone.
Our emotions cannot hide when the psalms grip us. The psalms explore the emotional terrain of pain, joy, turmoil, hope, doubt, anger, or feelings of abandonment by God. The psalms encourage us to give ourselves permission “to be” and “to live” in the emotional terrain of our own lives. As John Calvin said the psalms are an “anatomy to all the parts of the soul”. They uncover the skeletons hidden in our body-soul and give fuel for the road of transformation. Our bodies become a reminder to our hearts, giving us warning signals of what is spiritually and emotionally needing our attention. When our hearts betray us, our bodies ring true. The psalms ring true to every part of us. By including the language f movement in praying or reciting the psalms, we allow God’s word to take on a deeper dimension in our lives. As we begin to express the words and nuances of the psalms with our hands, feet, and torsos, its powerful metaphors sink into our spirits. Inner barriers are broken down, and we can truly pray the range of the psalmist’s prayer from lament to joy.”

Here are some quotations from Body Psalms the participants wrote:
“Sing loudly in the cocoon of my bathtub not caring who awakens. Stretch largely and groan with volume even if someone will ask what is wrong. Ask for what I need without focusing on what is needed.
Soar on wings of praise with the feel of the wind beneath my body lifting me higher and higher to dizzying heights of joy.”

“Live dangerously with tenderness, the tenderness of a ripe melon waiting to be eaten. Don’t ask why so much. Cease analyzing and trust – this is a new land for you. The land of trusting what and who comes in your life.
Stay with the rhythms that are life giving– quieting, swimming, stilling, walking, listening, writing.”

“Swim at your own pace, ground your energy in your feet. Recognize your woman story, look to those moss covered rocks not as relics, but as symbols of sustenance, nourishment and order. Allow. Allow without words. Allow. Don’t answer questions; live questions and dodge answers.”

“Dance with the voice expressing every timber of sound it can. Pointing toes, aching shoulders, back and knees. Stretch the hands that ache with unseen tensions. Open my eyes to see that it was created with the hands of Designer knowing.”

“As the Lord loves me, I should love me.”

“The breathing exercise – in the stillness of the process, makes me aware of myself as part of the universe, a spiritual communion of oneself and God. This whole learning process is very liberating. I love my body as not confined to my old definition of skin-covered flesh, but as part of the universe, part of God’s creation, and loving my body because it is from God, and everything He creates is good and perfect.”

"Nap during the day, listen to my body, play, create, look forward to things - and then enjoy them. Be content while I wait..."

"To laugh again, deep in my belly laughs, as I discover the truth, hidden for millennia by fear engraved on the ancient paths. You challenge me to think, to reject illusion and lies, to seek authenticity regardless of the cost, for You are my supply."

Discovering the physicality of psalms became very practical - discovering a psalm that made our own physicality very tangible.

Treasures in the Junk

2005-06-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

Grandma is a great one for bargains and her daughters and granddaughters have joined the treasure hunt! Finding what some cast away and making it useful again. Finding value with a second look and seeing beyond the surface to what the real truth is. In part that is what Linwood House Ministries is all about. Not only is this sacred space for stories to be told and the redeeming colours to be revealed but it is also holy ground where Yahweh changes our vision. On holy ground and in sacred space the Almighty can change our feelings of worthlessness into ones of truth. When we feel safe we are willing to be vulnerable and allow Jesus to exchange the lies we have used to determine value for the truth of our worth in his eyes.

Duane is taking a few days of quiet here, and quiet it is. It allows each of us to quietly do our tasks and attend to the inner quiet we need. It has been busy since we returned from the Ukraine, held The Dance workshop and attended to the upkeep here.

I found this article framed in the hallway this morning and believe it is another garage sale find!
When we build, let us think that we build forever. Let it not be for present delight nor for present use alone. Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for; and let us think, as we lay plank on plank that a time is to come when those planks will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and men will say as they look upon the labour and wrought substance of them, “See, this our father did for us”.
Anon.

A Rare Weekend

2005-06-10T17:21:00.000-07:00

This will be a rare weekend at Linwood House - there will be no guests. It gives Ron and Gwen the opportunity to truly have their sanctuary to themselves. Grandma will be puttering in the garden, or heading to garage sales if Sarah will take here, and Rob will be working on the studio.
There will be activity but an easy paced one. There is a never ending list of chores to be done and a weekend like this allows us to proceed with some of them.

Sabbath and rest. Perhaps that is what this weekend will be about - time to be paced and relaxed, to enjoy family conversations, read some books or perhaps nap in the hammock in the garden. We all need sabbath rest yet so often it is postponed to "another time".

This is then a reminder that Sabbath and rest are some specifics that Jesus asked us to observe. And we are thankful for this weekend in which to do that.

Enjoy your weekend - may it be filled with shallom.

At the Crossroads

2005-06-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

Coming face to face with our pain, our past, our wounds, brings us to an intersection. This place of intersection will be the healing path, the place of redeeming our story. We must choose whether or not we will walk towards healing or whether we will remain in the place of wounding. Our body, mind and heart will bear the effects of our wounding, and it will also bear the effects of our choice at every intersection we face.

Over the last few weeks our team of 9 women came face to face with our own past as we shared our stories traveling through Crimea. We saw the areas of redemption and the places we needed to bring into the Light for Jesus to work on with us. In our sacred space as a team we came to many intersections and made choices there. Oppression, suppression, abuse combined with a strange teaching that anything in your “pre Christian” life remains unspoken, has left the women of the Ukraine holding deep pain within. Their faces and their body language reveal the immense burden they carry. Over and over we saw how Jesus in the Word would heal wounds, honor the woman for her faith and then tenderly ask her “tell me your story”. Nothing can change how Jesus loves us. It was a privilege to hear the hearts of Ukrainian women, to pray with them, and encourage each other. It was an honor to stand at a crossroads with them and know that Jesus heard our hearts.

Last weekend The Dance workshop took place and it was an awesome experience. Becoming conscious of how our body, mind and heart need to connect, are meant to connect, is another decision that comes at those intersections of living. This was an amazing workshop and later on we will post some comments from those who attended.

Every Monday, M comes to meet with Gwen and have prayer time. We call it “happy hour” and enjoy a latte together, share where we are and then take this to Abba. Last night M brought along another friend, L, and we talked about “crossroads”. The prophet Jeremiah had some good advice on this subject, having us look at ancient paths, looking at our own past and seeing new ways of walking in life.
16GOD's Message yet again:
"Go stand at the crossroads and look around.
Ask for directions to the old road,
The tried and true road. Then take it.
Discover the right route for your souls.
Today I have heard several stories of friends who are at their own crossroads. They are looking for the tried and true road and choosing to take the hard road to healing because it is the right route for their soul. Choosing healing isn’t easy – but it is the road to redeeming all of our past for a Kingdom future.

Comment Update

2005-06-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

We have finally adjusted the "comment" section here so that anyone can come and leave us their thoughts! We look forward to hearing from more of you who stop by.

The Dance was an amazing workshop this last weekend with 9 women participating. Hopefully I can share more with you this week, once I get out from under the laundry and the finishing up of details to do with our Ukraine trip.

Today has been eventful to say the least! Some friends of Grandma's came to visit and at breakfast one of the gentlemen lost consciousness so we had to get the paramedics. He is staying overnight in hospital just to ensure that all is okay so he and his wife and friends can return to their home on the Island. Then the water pressure dropped to zero and one has to become a mechanic and try to figure out the problem! Thankfully Ron was reachable by phone and it only required resetting the pump down at the well. Two young interns have come for a couple of days as well so....no water would be not a good thing here. Our friend M will be here soon for Monday "happy hour" - our prayer time with several women. I am sure many of the things we learned at The Dance will be shared in this worship time.

There is much to write about the Ukraine still and many things to report on The Dance but it will have to wait until another day.

Stephanie

Sacred Space

2005-05-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

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.

Hagar's Journey

2005-05-25T06:37:00.000-07:00

Gwen often speaks of Hagar and her story. Her God who said to her "I know where you have been, I know where you are and I know where you are going."

This morning as we sat outside in the church courtyard eating our pancakes with sourcream and jam under the Ukrainian sun I thought of this again. I thought of how our prayer times with women here have show us their past, their confusion and the pain of where they are now, and their prayer requests for where they are going.

As a team of 9 women we are using our past to share why and how we are here and to lay our tomorrows on the drawing board of God's timing and schedule.

Never before have some of these women told their stories. But there is not one story told that a member of the team cannot identify with. Our pasts are filled with tattered threads sometimes but there are gloriously coloured threads being woven in us, between us and through us because of God's redeeming of every shread of brokenness.

Sevastopl

2005-05-24T06:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I received an update from our team in the Ukraine, who have been on the move! Here it is in it's entirity:

Sorry things have been a little quiet on our end for a few days. God, and the team have been very busy.

We moved from Kerch up to Sevastopl. A very long van ride where Gwen road on the luggage on the floor for part of her birthday, it was as close as we were going to get her to a massage! Amazing how much stuff and people can fit in a van. A little excitement arrived with a police man who pulled over the van driver for failing to go through the turn-about properly, no wonder, they have added lights to the turnabout (there seems to be only one light in Kerch) and I don't think our driver was familiar with the technique. So the police made the van go back and after some discussion and whatever, had him do it all over again. But we arrived safe and sound.

Our bus pulled up to the gates of the church and we were greeted by a horde of lovely people who were waiting for us, to help us carry luggage, welcome us with arms of love. It was certainly different than the last greeting and we very much appreciated it.
We are actually staying at the Baptist church in Sevastopl. It is a wonderful congregation, a large population of young people. The pastor Misha and his wife are lovely. Please pray for his wife Veronica, she is struggling with a very busy life but wants to come and talk. However, things keep coming up so she has scheduled a time for tonight. Please pray that Veronica will find freedom in talking. Pastor Misha is a good man who obviously relates so well to the youth. There is another couple here, from California, doing seminars on "What is a profit". That's right. I didn't spell it wrong on the cyrillic keyboard that I am becoming very familiar with. He was scheduled to preach. But we had an amazing time of worship in the morning. They have a fabulous young worship team lead by Vadim, who is becoming the youth pastor and his wife Anya. Actually, we really need prayer for Anya's mom, Larissa. She is in such pain and is upstairs now, praying with Gwen and Jacquie. Anyways the worship was great and pastor Misha led a time of prayer for a family who lost their father this week. A young wife was there whose husband died in a freak accident, he was ship's captain whose ship ran into power lines and he was killed. He was 46, same age as Larry and Gwen had a very brief chance to share with her.
Actually, I need to go back a bit. On Saturday night, we had a service where women came and we were able to share our stories. It was an amazing time ofprayer and opening of doors. Each team member shared a part of their story and they seemed to resonate with different women throughout the congregation. At the end of the service we invited the women to come back Sunday night at 6 (which I talked about a bit already), Monday from 10 - 2, and then again at 6, Tuesday we are having a day off! Wednesday from 10 - 2 and 6 and then finally on Thursday from 10 - 2 and again at 6. It is busy but people just keep coming. I can't share all the stories here but one big theme that is breaking people's hearts right is abuse. There is a great deal of spousal abuse and God is bringing it to light. Last night, the ladies asked practical questions about abuse, what do they do if they are abused, where do they go, is divorce wrong? Wow, huge questions. And yet, God was able to speak through Gwen and the team to provide responses to these concerns. We are encouraging the women to support each other, to begin to share their stories with each other, and with their pastors. Pray that God will continue to reveal his answers to these women struggling with this heart-breaking pain. Bottom line, Gwen told them that it is not God's plan that anyone should abuse another. Pray that even that truth be something these women can accept as their first step to freedom.
Two of our team went to another church yesterday, Kathy Kennard and Carrie. This church has a great vision and we think there will be amazing synergy between our two ministries. This church is already working with prostitutes in the toughest part of the city. The pastor's heart is broken for this group and he is also working with the AIDS patients in his community. It is in the roughest part of the city. Pray that the whole team, and especially Gwen, will have an opportunity to meet with this pastor.
Ok, one more prayer request for now. For L. She is the cook here and has been taking such great care of us. But she lives with a very physically abusive husband. The first night we were here, she left late because there were so many women needing prayer. She got in a great deal of trouble. Herhusband does not want here here talking with us. Pray for her safety and pray for strength that God will tell her what to do right now today.
Finally, pray for the team. We are exhausted. This has been a good trip, but non-stop, and the pain of these women is almost unbearable. Pray that as intercessors we can shoulder their pain and then release it to the greathealer. Pray that we will have the words to say and also know when to be quiet and encourage these women to ask for what they need. Pray for health for the team and energy.
Sevastopl is absolutley beautiful. Though technically it is Ukraine, it is actually a Russian port city. The Russian navy is housed here and everyone here considers this place Russia. We have heard stories of great pain from women whose husbands have been in the army and the navy. Continue to pray that God's light will grow brighter through the churches that are already doing such a great work here. And pray for courage and continued strength for Pastor Misha and Veronica.
Ok - enough from me. I might be able to write again soon.
We love you all! Thank you for your continued prayers. We really really need it. You are just as much a part of this as those here. Please keep us in theLight!
Great to hear from you Dana (We love that Taiwan is praying for us) and Marlene. Continue to invite others to pray.

Hope

2005-05-17T08:00:00.000-07:00

It's great to hear directly from the team in the post below! They have found fairly good internet connectivity, so hopefully we will hear more from them. In the mean time, here are some additional comments received via email this morning.

Some details and prayer needs:

"We arrrived at Hope Center on Monday afternoon around 3pm. Hope Center is now a children's camp but was once a Communist Training Camp. It is operated by Global Action and runs 4 camps of one hundred childre each for poor, needy or orphaned kids. They have owned the camp for 3 years and have been working hard to restore. Much has been done, MUCH is needed to be done. They are hoping to operate camps for battered women as well, which I blieve is why we have been invited.

The weather is great, the living conditions - communal. We have group showers and bathrooms and have two rooms where everyone sleeps. Comfortable. Actually it is histerical, we have wireless connectivity but very limited toilets - who knew? In the middle of the camp is a raised platform which used to hold a large statue of Lenin. The statue is down and in the crumbling rubble is a wooden cross, tilting a little to the left but firmly planted. For Hope.

Gwen has asked for specific prayer to break through the barrier of communism that seems to still exist. It is a barrier of oppression, especially agains all things female. There is a spirit of confusion, unsure exactly what to do with us, very awkward and confused. Pray that the leadership will have barriers broken down as well. Gwen has asked that people at home pray and if they are led, fast, to break through this blanket of oppression and let in the Light."

And, some specifics on how their week is shaping up:

"Last night, we did our first service with the church in Kerch. In fact, we are doing things different this year. We did the one service last night and it was amazing. About 45 people came, women and curious men / maybe a little bit nervous about what those crazy Canadian women are going to tell our wives! They had a worship team that sang beautifully, songs that we know, and they we had an opprotunity to share. Gwen spoke about Linwood House and our vision to
work with women around the world, and in our backyard. We made the group honorary Canadians and gave them pins and annointed them with oil from across Canada. The service was based on John 4, the Woman at the Well. Robyn and Stephanie shared parts of their stories and and Kathy Kenard spoke about what Jesus didn't say and how he set us free from condemnation. At the end of the service, people were invited to come up and drink a glass of water from the well. Everyone came forward to drink from the well. Then, all the people were invitd to come to Hope Center this week, anytime and meet with us one on one or in small groups where we will share more of our story, hear theirs and pray with them. We will be staying at the camp all week and the offer is open for people anywhere, to come at any time, to meet and bring friends.

So, as you would expect, we woke up this morning and looked around at our "sanctuary". It is cold, dismal and lifeless. After a beautiful time of prayer, God revealed that we needed to turn this place into Linwood House Ukraine and we got to work. Beds are being moved, chairs, tables. Flowers are being cut and water bottles are bing used as vases. God told us to show the women and men of Ukraine the feminine face of God and the beauty and extravagant love he has for us. Most of the team is busy cleaning, beautifying. Gwen is obviously in her glory! We ran to the market across the street and bought peonies, tea and bread.

So, please pray for us that God will lift the spirit of oppression here. That His LIGHT will shine through and warm the hearts and the ground of this place."

Thanks for your continued prayers for the team.

Linwood House in Ukraine

2005-05-17T00:17:00.000-07:00

We are staying at Hope Centre here in Kerch, Crimea. It is an old Communist Camp, unused for many years and in great need of updating. Slowly they have been painting, fixing etc but the lawn is uncut, there is little to no decorating and needless to say resources are limited.

But God's extravagance means we live from abundance not scarcity. Abundance is colour, life, fragrance and hope. Scarcity is a place of little hope, little vision, and ambiguity.

So this morning Robyn, Larissa and I could hear Gwen, Carrie, Kathy, Beth, Jackie, and Kathy all taking at once and with great excitement! They obviously had ideas happening down the hall!

Our quarters are in a building with 5 rooms, high ceilings that echo, no heat, one toilet (or rather 2 side by side with no privacy) and no hot water. Scarcity? Could be. Abundance - certainly. We have heavy blankets to keep us warm, we have chairs, tables and running water. We have purpose and hope! Today, tomorrow and the rest of this week we have invited women in the churches and town to come and join us for conversation, prayer and tea. Transformation is happening in our building. A quick trip to the market for flowers, bread, a tea pot and cookies, iris and lilacs from around the camp, fabric that was given to us to bring, our bed spreads, table and chairs, and heaps of creative feminine hearts and minds and we are making a Linwood House here on the eastern most tip of the Crimean Peninsula! Beauty, life and colour surround us when we look at creation. Our Divine Maestro has provided us with artist hearts and from this each of us can bring abundance into scarcity. Hence the hive of activity within our quarters. This place that once housed people living under oppression has been prayed over this morning so we can give glimpses of freedom. Freedom to women who live in oppression and poverty, sickness and hopelessness. We who have come from Canada and Washington also press into this freedom wanting more of it, thirsty for it, hungry for it and eager to bring others with us in the seach for the One who offers us freedom in the Living Water.

Thank you for your prayers for us here. We are well, having a great time and so excited about the adventure here this week.

They're Off!

2005-05-14T06:52:00.000-07:00

After a time of blessing, prayer, and details Thursday night, we finally got 9 very excited women to the airport here in Vancouver yesterday! Please remember these women in prayer as you can over the next 2 weeks. For many this is their first overseas experience. And while we have friends there we are working with, this is the first time in Ukraine for Linwood House Ministries.

Please pray for

Gwen
Stephanie
Larissa
Robyn
Kathy K.
Kathy S.
Jackie
Carrie
Beth

I'll post periodically as I hear from the team, and who knows - perhaps there will be a long distance post or two.

Ready to Go to Eastern Europe

2005-05-11T11:05:00.000-07:00

The preparations for the trip to the Ukraine are well underway. Gwen and I are leaving and Sue and Jen will be up here keeping the place running, serving groups etc. Grandma will be keeping everyone in order, Mike will be to-ing and fro-ing and emailing updates, Ron will be keeping an eye on everything and Doug and Dorothea will help out as well. Our prayer team and Board will be supporting us in prayer. Guests at Linwood House Ministries house will have the usual treatment. This is what teamwork is all about – the seamless transitions, working together and keeping community.

We have had 5 days with ministry friends from Budapest. Several years ago we spent time with them on our way back from Bulgaria. They have given us many insights into the climate of the Church in Ukraine and this information will help us to be sensitive while we are there. The meal table has been the venue for great dialogue on where we are, where we are going, and unfolding the issue of men and women working together equally in ministry.

Our friend L from downtown eastside Vancouver is in a safe place working on getting into detox. She phones regularly, making sure we are ready to go and already anticipating our return home. She continues to work in her brokenness, making choices toward healing and wholeness. Our team travels to Eastern Europe with each one of us going in our brokenness, stumbling toward wholeness, and letting God use us as we are, where we are, to connect with the women in Kiev, Simferopol, Kerch, Yalta and Sevestapol. Abba doesn’t call us to be followers and sharers as being “put together”. No we are called to come as we are, be vulnerable and open, and keep following those “red letter” words, as Mike often reminds us at The Whatever.

Mike will stop in here while we are away and leave you with some thoughts and tidbits of our journeying.

Stop by and leave us your thoughts here.

Brunch, Bocci and Broadway

2005-05-07T11:50:00.000-07:00

A cool May Saturday morning, where the weather isn’t sure whether it wants to rain or shine.

A group of elders from Vancouver have eaten brunch and are now out having a game of bocci ball. They are breathing in the air that is also the Breath that has breathed upon them in their discussions.

Friends from Budapest are stopping here for a few days to rest before heading to meetings in the City. He plays Broadway hits and the sound floats through the house as I change beds, and she sits by the fire reading a book.

Steaks in the fridge are waiting for the evening meal.

Gwen is preparing for our trip to Ukraine this next week, Ron works in the garden, and somehow this mix of just being and doing has the scent of shalom.

A Stop On the Journey

2005-05-04T17:20:00.000-07:00

Visits to Linwood House may be a stopping or rest on the journey, perhaps a place for the mind to rest, change scenery and pace. It has also been a holding place for objects, treasures and things that just need to be home for a while.

Today a friend of Dorothea's moved some treasures that began their voyage in Singapore, went to New York, then San Fransisco and found their way to Linwood House. They have been useful in their stay here but now it is time for these treasures of G's to be moved to a new place in Florida.

Gwen often says that what is in your home should be a treasure, have a story, or be necessary. All else just doesn't need to take up space. The desk, some figurines, silver canteen set, cook books and a few other items were valued as they waited here until they could be taken home. Now they are on their way south for the summer, the fall, the winter and spring - as long a season as our friend G remains there.

It is just like the chapter of the book you are reading - when it is finished you move on.

King David wrote these words that elude to stopping places, chapters and moving forward:
He stood me up on a wide-open field:
I stood there saved - surprised to be loved!
God made my life complete when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together, he gave me a fresh start.
Now I'm alert to God's ways; I don't take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways he works; I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together, and I'm watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.
Psalm 18:19-24 The Message

And thankfully we have a new part in the boiler/heating system and should have hot water by tomorrow morning!

New Arrival

2005-05-03T10:10:00.000-07:00

Tayla Louise McVicker has arrived in this world!

Scott, Idelette and little Gabrielle are very happy with their new little girl. Grandpa Ron and Grandma Gwen are very excited too!

Welcome Tayla to the adventure of a lifetime.

Conversations on Choice

2005-05-03T09:53:00.000-07:00

Dan Allender, in his book The Wounded Heart, writes “Abuse strips a person of the freedom to choose”.

Conversations often drift to the discussion of choices – what we do or do not choose, when those choices are made and what results.

We recently had a group here of women who became mothers in their early teens. They sat by the fire drinking lattes and sharing their stories. We do not know their stories but we do know that the sacred space in the Great Room holds the honor of knowing secrets were held in the Light and healing balm was applied.

As I made breakfast one morning, a young lady came for her first cup of coffee and stayed to chat. She spoke of choosing to conceive a child and to raise this little one but her reasons were not the wisest. This remark continues to sit in my heart.

The heart knows what it wants and will continue to ask for it. Yet distortions of truth, lies, abuse, and wounding may have the answer to the heart desire being filled in a way that may seem to be a strange choice. The Lover of our soul continues to pursue us and our heart continues to seek what it really desires. The Liar continues to discount Truth and paint contempt across the Lover’s words to hide them. Is it possible that our heart is always seeking Truth but at the cross roads in life the Liar switches the road signs and we choose the “less than” as opposed to the “greater than” way?

I was discussing this with Gwen today: Choosing to move out of situations is so hard because of this loss of freedom. If we put that into our work with DTES it gives just one more clue as to why it is hard to move out of those places. But it also makes me aware of how important the word Choose becomes in walking towards freedom with others. Reassuring them that they can choose, speaking truth into the lie that has removed the freedom to choose.
Her reply to this conversation was we see how the constant giving to them in the DTES can also in an overt way take away their power to choose. It is just given and expected and in some ways takes away choice. It is a fine line between equipping people to choose and enabling them not to choose.

No matter what we choose, within Abba’s circle of Grace there is the unfailing and unending love that always chooses to pursue us with Truth.

Speaking of choosing – I am choosing a steaming cup of latte right now because the heating system is down and we have no hot water and no heat!

If You Looked in the Window

2005-04-23T10:30:00.000-07:00

If you could see in the window….

- You would have heard the laughter, the awe, the whispers of delight.
- Women who restlessly wandered inside and paced as they smoked outside. The years of addictions are hard to break and the restlessness reflects the inner battle for change.
- T who shyly stays in the kitchen after dinner and talks one on one letting her tears fall. She wears her years with heaviness.
- In an evening group these women share what Jesus looks like to them. One has no idea but she does see Jesus in women around the room.
- One who runs to hide under the bed when memories of repeated rape by a pastor surface.
- G who goes looking for her and draws her out.
- If Jesus was playing a game with them what one would it be? Hide and seek with either Jesus or them hiding at any given time, and not wanting to be found.
- Luise up on the hill planting brilliant yellow daffodils with the girls. They have no garden at “home” but they can return to see their flower grow where they planted it.
- Meals times when they all rush to eat, as much, as fast as possible. Scarcity and abundance principle.
- Women who are so used to shutting down their emotions, wrestling with them as they surface, remembering the events lying behind that.
- Those who are willing to seek the truth and others who are willing to sit with them as they open that up.
- Grandma who is a magnet for them all, gives to them lavishly with her baking her laughing eyes and loving heart
- Grandma who when asked if she thought Pope Benedict XVI was too old said indeed he was! What would she have done at 78 and her reply was “oh for women age is just a number”! Grandma spoke Norwegian and A responded in Swedish.
- Marilyn and Karen patiently assisting each woman with new make up ideas. Heather who gives massage, Sue and Jen running the spa, Gwen and Dorothea being where ever they are needed, Sue-Ann finding her niche.
- Each girl is given a mirror and on it is written “fearfully and wonderfully made”. She stands up to speak her name, that she is a child of God and fearfully and wonderfully made. That woman in the mirror is a woman of God.
- The latte machine runs constantly and I think we have gone through 11 – 4 litre jugs of milk in 7 days. Warm, soothing and comforting cups of steaming beverage you can wrap your hands around.
- Now a new group is here – young women who are teen Moms. Their life experience is being used in leadership.

If you looked in the window would you see yourself in the reflection?

If you looked in the window would you want to join in?

If you looked in the window would you know you too are fearfully and wonderfully made? Would you know your own labels are washed away and the words “Child of God” are for you?