From the desk of a deacon
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.” John 10:10
The Sorrento Centre has adopted a mission, vision and values statement that begins: “The Sorrento Centre exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the Anglican way. We offer generous hospitality, joy, rest and relaxation and aspire to be a gathering place for all. We seek to engage body, mind, soul and spirit. We seek to offer loving kindness in our work and with our neighbours near and far. Sometimes we proclaim the Gospel using the explicit words, symbols, stories, and rituals of the Church. Always we proclaim the Gospel by imitating Jesus.”
As followers of the Way of Love, we are in the nourishment business… seeking to nourish body, mind and soul through expressive arts, music, rest and relaxation, contemplative and spiritual retreats, learning, reconciliation, healing and community-building expressed in dozens upon dozens of events and activities throughout the year. We nourish our neighbours in a variety of ways, through picnics and meals, our new community gardens, produce from our farms, and hosting lively events including the winter school concert.
We are in the ‘abundance business’: a radical proposition in a world where neighbours are waging war on their neighbours, global climate change is triggering extreme weather (including forest fires), the dominant economy is generating grinding poverty even as a few amass unprecedented wealth, and divisions (racial, gender, cultural, and religious are being stoked to serve the extremes.
Check out our website at https://www.sorrentocentre.ca/ for nourishing spring activities like “Indigenous Ways of Knowing” in March (cultural celebration and drum-making with Bernice Jensen) and “For the Birds” (expressive arts with Catherine Nicholls) in May. Our wonderful summer programming includes Episcopal theologian Michael Battle who has worked closely with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. In addition, there will be a full range of engaging offerings from hiking to creative journaling.
And there are plenty more opportunities for nourishment.
Our Associate Director Kathie MacDuff has reminded us that nourish means to provide food or other substances necessary for growth, health, and good condition and includes the action of nourishing someone or something.
The word “nourish” comes from the Latin “nutrire” meaning “to feed, to cherish.“ Nourishing the mind, body, and soul is vitally important to the health and balance of our lives. When we take the time to intentionally nurture our spiritual well-being, we create space for positive things to flow into our lives.
In our world, nourishment is sometimes reduced to mere consumption. The Latin root offers a wider scope. Not just taking in (though that can be good), but cherishing. And so, we have events that celebrate mushrooms and birds (a week of delight, observation, reflection and wonder with Jessica Schaap and Cameron Gutjhar in July) and forest bathing with Joanne Schofield in September.
Over the spring, summer and fall, our guests, neighbours, visitors, friends and staff will have a celebration of nourishment. We’ve already generated a list of 14 ways to be nourished that we will be sharing, and we invite you to join with us in growing this list.
