Journey Center Blog

From Joanna: As the summer rolls along, we are grateful for the many opportunities our Creator gives us  to make spiritual connections with those near and far! This month, we are especially thankful for:

• A VERY wonderful fundraising concert…the first in a series of concerts that we will host at the Journey Center. We are so grateful for the amazing gifts that Alfredo and Mark brought to us. We look forward to the concerts to come!
• Visits from people around the country who are exploring the possibility of starting a center like the Journey Center.
• The 12 interns in our training program (in spiritual direction and contemplative retreat leadership)…what a blessing to watch how the Spirit is forming them and working through them to be a blessing to those who are coming to them for spiritual direction.
• We continue to rejoice at the many people who are discovering the Journey Center…online, at the Market, through friends, and just walking by!
• In the nine weeks our team has been at the Santa Rosa Downtown Market, we have already had the opportunity to pray for at least 240 individuals, couples or families! And also have enjoyed meeting countless others and passing out free cups of water!

From Lisa: I was very excited for the opportunity to go and visit the Journey Center last week (I live in WA). I had the privilege of attending my first Art Opening Reception. I couldn’t miss this one, as my friend Allison Tungseth was the artist displaying her one-of-a-kind, beautiful photography. Looking at her pictures made me want to escape to the “quiet pockets of nature” that I often overlook in my own city (and also visit the places she photographed). Her art will be on display through August at the Journey Center. Learn more: http://www.journeycenter.org/hapArt.php.

The Journey Center Art Gallery is currently featuring paintings by Naomi Murakami in a show titled “Smell of Color”. Naomi Murakami is a Tokyo native artist who says “As a Pseudo-realist, the major themes of my art are intimacy, my personal experiences, and the memories that have built-up who I am.” Stop by and see the art anytime the Journey Center is open (M-F, 9-5).

 Apprentice Program and Art Demonstration: Gary Holland, a wonderful artist from Boise, Idaho, will be doing an Apprentice program here in Santa Rosa on a monthly basis and has contacted us about holding his classes at the Center. This coming week, he and his students will be with us for four days, all day, painting and learning his techniques. We are excited to be further implementing our vision for supporting the arts in this way! Also, on June 23, Gary will be doing an art demonstration (open to all). Read more about it on our website http://www.journeycenter.org/hapArt.php. Gary travels around the world painting portraits of children in places like Haiti, China, etc. To visit his website and learn more about his ministry, go to www.hollandgallery.com.

The Human Race: We recently participated in the Human Race local fundraiser for nonprofits and 47 people committed to raise or give at least $100 to help support the work of the Journey Center. We are grateful that even in this challenging financial time, people chose to give and we were able to raise about half of our $10,000 goal.

Training program for spiritual directors: Today is the halfway point for the 12 men and women who are currently being trained in our program and they are now having people come to them for spiritual direction. Next week we begin accepting applications for the next group that will begin the training in June 2011!

Santa Rosa Downtown Market: Starting May 26! This is our fifth year taking the Journey Center booth to the Market, offering drinks of water and healing prayer to the thousands of people who are there every Wednesday evening. Stop by and see us!

All Are Welcome: More and more, as I read the paper, it is evident that our country and our world are becoming increasingly polarized…with people taking sides on every kind of issue imaginable and “hating” those who don’t agree with them. So…more and more we celebrate that the Journey Center is a place where all are welcome, where people who normally wouldn’t associate with each other are able to come together because we have something more important in common- a shared thirst to know and experience the presence of God and the transforming power of the Spirit. What a blessing it is to sit in a group whose members are Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, gay, straight, Democrats, Republicans, vegetarians, vegans, omnivores, rich and poor, young and old…and to realize that we are all human beings loved by God.

Our monthly series called Meeting the Mystics has been wonderful. An Eastern Orthodox priest took us into experiencing the desert fathers and mothers in January and February–he brought some amazing pictures of the Egyptian desert where they lived in the 3rd century. Beautiful–and desolate! Gave me a renewed appreciation for the journey into and through the desert so often mentioned in scripture!

In March, Carol Lee Flinders took us into the contemplative imaginings of Julian of Norwich. Julian saw God’s hand holding what looked like a hazelnut–and realized that was the entire created universe– made and sustained by Spirit’s love. Next time we do a meditation with Julain I’m going to bring hazelnuts– so we can enter with her into the wonder of this image!

In April, Sister Antonia Killian took us into the spiritual world of Teresa of Avila, and we explored the different stages of the spiritual journey that she wrote of in her book  The Interior Castle. Part of what makes Sister Antonia a teacher is that she is very passionate–and also very very funny. Teresa also had a great sense of humor– one of my favorites is “God preserve us from sour-faced saints” and, after tumbling into a cold river in the middle of the night, saying to her Beloved Christ–”If this is how you treat your friends, no wonder you don’t have many!’ I love how she had such an intimate relationship with the Divine– she could even, like the Hebrew prophets, chastise him:>). I try to imagine what that level of love and intimacy would be like.

This coming Friday evening, Kayleen Asbo, from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Petaluma, will take us into a journey with Benedict. Kayleen is an amazing story teller–and a superb musician–so we are going to fill the Journey Center with candles and learn how to sing Compline– an ancient chant sung for 1500 years in the Christian monasteries. A couple of times we have sung together at the Center– and the place just glows — so I can’t wait for us to sing together words from scripture. I think it was Augustine who said that ’singing is praying twice’. So we’ll be singing and praying together this coming Friday- may you be blessed by the gifts we will be receiving as we gather in this way!

This past Sunday we had another one of our art openings (featuring John Teague and his wonderful photographic documentary exhibit called “One Day with the Datooga”). For the first time, the Bohemian newspaper chose to feature our gallery along with an image and the editor of the paper also talked about the show on a local radio program. We had a wonderful turnout and a great time! The shows runs through February, so there is still time to come see it.

Happy New Year! As we look back on last year, we are grateful for all the relationships that we have been able to begin and nurture as the number of people who are hearing about the Journey Center continues to grow and almost daily now we are getting phone calls, emails and visits here at the Center!

December 2009

On December 21, we offered something new here at the Center: a Christ-centered gathering on the longest night of the year (the winter solstice). It was a beautiful gathering, and we welcomed over 30 people that night from various spiritual paths. It was a wonderful experience for us to all be together to light a candle in the darkness and share our prayers/desires for the year ahead!

It’s a new quarter at the Journey Center with lots of gatherings to celebrate Advent and Christmas, as well as our regular classes, workshops, contemplative gatherings, community groups, a winter retreat and more! Check out our Happenings page.

October 2009

We had our first Journey Center Passport to Adventure Fall Auction. There was live music, silent and live auctions, fantastic food, and lots of laughter and fun. Thank you to everyone who attended, helped out and donated items. You made this a wonderful evening!

August 2009

Three weeks ago, a group of 9 of us had an absolutely wonderful experience backpacking together in the High Sierras, culminating in successfully making it to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite! What an experience of community we had in the midst of the challenges of the journey… you can read about it, and the lessons we learned, in our article titled “Facing Challenges in the Strength of Community“.

Julie Miller and her team hosted a powerful event at the Center…the Human Trafficking Awareness Evening. We estimate that 75 people attended to learn about the worldwide (and local!) issues of slavery and sex trafficking and how they can make a difference in people’s lives. It was deeply touching to see such a mix of people of all ages, concerned and compassionate about understanding and helping to relieve this kind of suffering.

July 2009

As part of the “Encountering God in Creation” aspect of the Journey Center, we had a Yosemite Backpacking Trip called “Sample of the Best”.

June 2009

We are having fun every Wednesday night with our booth at the Santa Rosa Downtown Market. Stop by and visit us!

May 2009

We participated in the Human Race and raised money to support the Journey Center.

April 2009

We welcomed the local art of Suzanne Jacquot with an opening reception on April 17th and will feature her art in our gallery throughout May.

March 2009

We begin a new quarter of classes, workshops, gatherings, prayer experiences, etc. Check out our Happenings section of the website for this quarter’s schedule of events.

February 2009

We launched our new website! Our hope is to connect the spiritualy thirsty – both those who are local and able to be involved with the Journey Center and also those who are looking for more spiritual connections online.

November 2008

We celebrated the Grand Opening of the Journey Center with a party, live music, food, giveaways and introductions to all the staff at the Journey Center.