This past week I had the joy of joining clergy colleagues in White Rock for our annual clergy conference.

This year, our main activity was something a little different than the usual speaker in a conference room model. Instead, we spent our program time at an Arocha project in Surrey.

Arocha is an international Christian environmental movement. The Arocha project in Surrey is a beautiful 27-acre property where they participate in environmental education, sustainable agriculture and conservation, all within a Christian community and framework.

During our time there, we engaged in a number of things: spiritual practice and prayer – morning prayer in their barn, a nature-based creative project, and a meditative walk through the woods; we learned about the Little Campbell River and the surrounding forest, native and invasive species, threats, and reasons for hope; we also got our hands dirty, working on their farm as well as removing invasive Himalayan blackberries along the riverbank.

It was exactly what my soul needed.

It reminded me of something important. The life of faith is at its best when it integrates our hearts, our heads and our hands.

At Arocha, the line was blurry between worship and work; prayer, learning and play; our devotion and service to God, to each other, and to the earth.

May we strive for this integration in ourselves so that in our lives of faith, we may, as Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians, “pray without ceasing” (5:17). May everything we do be a prayer.

Thanks be to God!

CG+