7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
“Coming Home” is the final movement of our three-part pilgrimage series. After a long journey, we come back to familiar places: perhaps to a physical home, but more importantly the place within ourselves from which we operate in our daily lives. From this familiar place we go through the process of settling in again, but with new insights and perspectives. We are not the same as when we left, and yet we still come home and have the opportunity to integrate our learning.
The resources in this retreat explore the ways we understand home through offerings from John O’Donohue, Marie Kondo, and others. The core of the retreat can be summed up with this thought from Thomas Moore . . . Oikos or the English version “Eco,” means home, either a human home, a temple, or the home of the gods, and even the astrological “house” or domicile of a planet. A sacred word covering several profound areas of life, oiko embraces our emotional search for a home, the building and caretaking of churches and temples, and the astrological quest for the most fruitful arrangements of time and place. At the deepest level, ecology involves the spiritual practice of making a human home and, more mysteriously, finding a home for the soul. (The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life)
“Coming Home” will be available for download July 14 for personal retreats; Karen will lead an IN PERSON (outside) gathering July 27 at 7pm where we can come together and share our thoughts and experiences of the retreat. Space for the in-person gathering will be limited. More info to come.
Download the retreat booklet
GES Pilgrimage Retreat 3 booklet
What is a Pilgrimage? A pilgrimage is an intentional journey into an experience of unknowing and discomfort for the sake of stripping away preconceived expectations. The Latin root of the word pilgrimage, peregrini, means “strange” or “stranger.” The journey to become a pilgrim means becoming a stranger in the service of transformation (Christine Valters Paintner). While COVID didn’t come to us by choice, in times such as these, we have choices about how to respond to the current conditions of the world. These times offer a unique look at our world and ourselves, so it is a ripe time for pilgrimage.
Rev. Karen Hollis has been the minister at Christ Church Gabriola and on the board of GES for over 3 years. She has served in a number of ministry contexts both in Washington State and British Columbia. She has been a spiritual seeker all her life and celebrates all the ways God shows up in the world and all the ways humans respond.
Reserve Your Spot
Bookings are closed for this event.
