Every summer at The Refuge we do a modified Sunday night format called “Summer Camp.” The idea is to focus on practical skills, community building, and a break from our regular Dinner Church format. Over the years we’ve done all kinds of different things ranging from the basic skills of friendship to becoming people of […]
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It’s been 3 months since I’ve blogged here, and I’m glad to get back in the groove this month (I miss rambling about things I like to ramble about–church, life, community, healing, faith shifts, justice, and equality!) I am not sure what things will look like exactly in this next season, blogging here for any […]
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Oh, it’s been a brutal week around here and I am just starting to come up for air. Many of you reading already connect on Facebook but I wanted to make sure and share this here, too. In the middle of celebrating The Refuge’s 10 Year Anniversary and many other amazing things that have been happening […]
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Before this week ended, I wanted to celebrate an important milestone that some of you heard about on Facebook and in real life while others may have no idea about–The Refuge, the mission center and Christian community I co-pastor, turned 10 last week! We’re a whole decade old! In church planting years, it’s a little […]
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I originally wrote the post below in 2006 when I didn’t have a blog but The Refuge did. It was almost exactly 10 years ago. It’s a little freaky, the reality that a decade has flown by and in a few weeks The Refuge is celebrating our 10 year anniversary. It’s also a little freaky that 10 […]
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One of the things I care the most about is creating spaces and places where people can have hard conversations about life and faith. It’s not the easiest task. And to be honest, it’s much simpler to cultivate a safe space for recovery and healing than it is to create a space to hold our […]
Read Morethis month’s synchroblog is called new life and where we are experiencing it in our lives right now. as soon as i get the link list, i’ll post it at the bottom of this post and you can read other bloggers sharing stories of new life, too. when i get a topic prompt, sometimes i like […]
Read Moreway back when i said i was going to share more about what happens in our living room on wednesday nights at our house of refuge gathering, which has been happening since the beginning of the refuge in 2006. i never seem to get around to it, but this week i thought i’d take a […]
Read Morethis past friday night we hosted a theology camp called “the radical welcome of God: wisdom from benedictine spirituality.” two nuns from benet hill monastery shared their hearts & stories & practices with us. it was beautiful in more ways than i can count. my amazing friend & local spiritual director ellen haroutunian facilitated questions for the […]
Read Moreas someone whose mantra is “downward mobility,” i’m guessing it’s crossed some minds out here how i reconcile my life as part the refuge with my life that includes flying all over the world and doing all kinds of appearing-not-so-downwardly mobile things. it crosses my mind, too. it’s been quite a wild ride for me […]
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