The beginning of an adventure...

First update on my community travels :)

Hello!

If you are receiving this email, you have either expressed an explicit interest in following me on my travels around Christian communities, or I have presumed that you may appreciate some news from me😊. Either way, you can find more details of what I’m up to here and below, and/or you can unsubscribe at any time by scrolling to the very bottom of this email (I feel like my primary reason for opening many emails these days is to unsubscribe from them so really no hard feelings!).

This mailing list currently contains friends and contacts from Lyn’s House, Cambridge, Rose Castle Foundation, peeps from my Durham days, and other folk I have had the blessing of meeting. I’m therefore writing to quite a large audience so bear with me if I seem more professional if you know me more personally, or if I’m seeming rather personal if you know me more professionally!

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As a bit of a recap…
I recently resigned from Rose Castle Foundation as an employee (I still very much consider myself a part of the organisation and RCF family - just not in an employed capacity!) to make space to visit, work and pray alongside various intentional Christian communities in the UK to learn from their ways and wisdom (thank you so much RCF, and especially to Neil and Sarah, for supporting me so wholly in this!). I strongly believe in the power of community for spiritual and social transformation and so it felt important to dedicate time to learn from existing models of community. This is to help support a growing vocation around the nurturing of Christian communities as a contribution to bringing God’s kingdom, through transformative love, to this earth.

I’ll be travelling around various Christian communities for 5 months, after which I’ll be moving to Richmond, Indiana, USA to pursue a 3 year Master of Divinity at Earlham School of Religion having received a full international scholarship - I am SO grateful for this financial provision and confirmation that this is indeed perhaps where I am meant to be for the next three years¹! Post-Earlham, it is my sincere hope to bring back all my learnings from travel and study back to Cumbria, UK to help nurture a community of reconciliation - the Rose Community - in partnership with Rose Castle Foundation.

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As for some news since I moved out of Cambridge…
this finds me writing in snowy Durham having returned from 3 weeks of travelling; 2+ weeks in Indiana, USA followed by 4 days in Rome, Italy.

I was mostly in the US for personal reasons (excluded from the community touring budget, and personally paid for) but staying with a special pal who is Director of the Trinity Episcopal Service Corp (ESC) programme; a community of 4 young adults living in a house next door to, and linked to, Trinity Episcopal Church, Indianapolis. The community is partnered with local charities where the community members work² Monday - Thursday, and then each Friday they share in a day of spiritual formation, as guided by the Programme Director/Associate for Spiritual Formation. For example, earlier this year, the community used this Friday of formation to explore Christian mysticism together, and in future they are hoping to dig more deeply into the topic of reconciliation.

The community eat regularly together, pray compline daily (frequency and type of prayer as decided by the community members) and also gets involved in activities and events run by Trinity Church. The Trinity ESC is still rather new (in its first year) and so promoting integration and relationships between the church congregation and the community is an emerging priority. It’s also worth mentioning that the Trinity ESC is but one ESC community in a network of ESC communities across the US; a network of Christian communities - cool, eh!? I’ll be releasing a podcast with Demarius, whose been a member of 3 different ESCs and is now Programme Director of Trinity ESC, in the weeks to come, so watch this space!

Whilst in the US (in addition to doing lots of walking in the woods!), in partnership with Demarius, I got up to some fun stuff with Trinity church including:

• Attending their “Clapham Circle”; a Friday evening event where parishioners and the ESC community gather together in the community house to share in dialogue and wisdom, to empower each other in practically living out their faith. At the moment they are exploring Liberation Theology. It was a powerful and touching time and once again emphasised the importance of intergenerational spaces for shared learning to me.

• Running a Lenten Retreat. Demarius and I had a great time co-facilitating a retreat for 18 parishioners on the 12 Habits of a Reconciler. Together we started touching on the nuances and complexities of each of the Habits, using art as an entry point into this exploration. Throughout the day there were periods of time to reflect on, and pray with, the Habits, through the use of art, poetry and scripture. I was greatly energised by the experience, and grateful for allowing the Spirit to work through us to facilitate a space for closer encounter with God.

• Sharing about Lyn’s House. Along with Notion ( a piece of software which I adore for personal and work organisation), Lyn’s House is probably one of the things I am most evangelical about! I was therefore delighted to be invited to speak about Lyn’s House post-Sunday church as part of a series of talks on intentional Christian community. It is with great pleasure that I tried to communicate the joy and wisdom of Lyn’s House, and feedback suggests it went down well with people being especially touched by praying the song and dance “Gentle God” together. I can’t remember the last time I publically spoke with mic and screen (if ever!?), so I was especially grateful for the opportunity to enter and grow into this space!

Whilst in the US, I also got to visit Earlham School of Religion (ESR) where I will be moving to study for 3 years. During my visit, I was able to join the ESR community (it’s a small, intimate and welcoming school where everyone seems to know everyone in the most wonderful of ways) for common worship and lunch. Despite the weather being as grey as possible, the visit radiated such warmth and light from the sincere welcome from staff and students alike; it’s the kind of place you walk into and instantly know there’s a good culture of multiplying goodness :). I can really see myself thriving at ESR and I am so excited and ready for this to become home for the next 3 years… !! (also turns out there are 600 acres of walking trail, an eco-farm project and an equestrian centre linked to a riding for the disabled programme - those of you who know me more personally will understand how exciting all this is to me!)

Now for some pictures 😄😁:

My woods! I was blessed with having 1hr+ worth of woodland trails to walk and pray in just on the doorstep of where I was staying in Indianapolis.

Lenten Retreat-ing.

Speaking about Lyn’s House.

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I’ll be following up with an update on Rome shortly, and in the meantime you can check out this 30min interview³ with Eli Nelson on community life at 201 Coleridge Road. More interviews/podcasts with community members, founders and leaders to come!

I’d like to close of this pretty whoppa email (sorry!) by thanking all those who have been deeply formational in guiding me on this journey thus far: to all those at Lyn’s House for being such a strong vessel and manifestation of God’s transformative love; to the residents of Lyn’s House for being such formational conversation partners; to the Sunday Soup crew and JustLove folk for keeping the pursuit for social justice afresh and believing we can all be agents of change; to Rose Castle Foundation for walking alongside me spiritually and pastorally during this season of discernment; to the 201 Coleridge Road-ers for being a beautifully simple community and a beacon of hospitality, generosity, humour, patience and trust in God’s grace; to Demarius for the sharing of wisdom, passion and vision for Christian community with me; to Lee Ann for deeply seeing me, empowering me and walking alongside me so prayerfully; and to all my family and friends, of which there are too many to name, but for your steadfast support and faith and trust in me through all my twists and turns and journeying - what a blessing to know you are always there for me…! I wouldn’t be doing any of what I am doing were it not for the above-named, and also a multitude of unnamed, people - I feel so blessed for God’s guidance through you all.

Whilst I may be a bit tardy at replying to messages, know that it is ALWAYS a delight to hear from so please don’t hesitate to be in touch via email or WhatsApp. I love to hear from you, and every time I do, I feel very blessed 🤗.

With many thanks and blessings,
Lakshmi 😊🌻

P.S. As some of you know, I have been living with heavy long COVID-related exhaustion for quite some time now. I am delighted to say that I have been completely clear of symptoms since January, and have consequently been able to thoroughly enjoy my travels with all the energy and enthusiasm I usually have! I am grateful for the months of “subduedness” which provided a special environment for contemplative prayer and discernment, and so grateful that I am now long COVID clear (I hope!) just in time for my community tour - God is good!

1. Resigning from RCF was a true leap of faith. I had identified and applied to this course but had no guarantee of being granted a place, let alone the funds necessary to make it financially possible. I am gradually learning to increasingly trust God with things…

2. The partnering local charities employ the community members at a lower salary and the earnings from the work go towards sustaining the community financially. This helps guarantee meaningful work for community members and financial sustainability for the community, whilst also benefiting local charities by providing additional staff but at a lower cost.

3. Since the interview, the 201 Coleridge Road-ers have started distributing free homemade curry from their drive every Sunday (6-8pm, 201 Coleridge Road if you are in Cambridge and want to check them out and join in the conviviality!). An anonymous donation of £100 towards the “curry fund” was posted through the letterbox the other day… God is crazily good…