First Fridays First Anniversary

On February 7 SpiritWorks will celebrate the first anniversary of our First Fridays Recovery Worship Service.  It has been an amazing year.  We have blessed babies and pets, witnessed the renewal of marriage vows, and baptized three people.  We have offered prayers for healing and candles for lighting.  We have had congregations numbering from 12 to almost 50.  I had hoped but could not have imagined how meaningful the service has been and how blessed I have felt by the privilege of participating in it.

In honor of our first anniversary, we are bringing in the Rev. Becca Stevens as our guest preacher for the service.  It will be at 6:30 p.m. at Bruton Parish Church on February 7.  You may remember me mentioning Becca and her organization Magdalene and Thistle Farms.  Becca led the healing oils workshop that I wrote about here.  She is also a graduate of my alma mater, Sewanee.  Magdalene is the residential program she began in 1997 that serves women for two years without charge and without government funding. Becca also founded Thistle Farms, a social enterprise, in 2001, which currently employs nearly 50 residents and graduates, and houses a natural body care line, Paper & Sewing Studios and Thistle Stop Cafe.  She has raised more than $15 million for the organizations she supports.  Named a Champion of Change by the White House in 2011 for her work in domestic abuse, Becca recently received an honorary doctorate by The University of the South and is the youngest and first female recipient of their Distinguished Alumnus award.

The theme for our weekend with Becca is "Love is the most powerful source for social change in the world." Becca will be offering a workshop, "Love is Good Business" on Saturday, Feb. 8 from 6:30-8:30 at St. Martin's Episcopal Church ($10 donation).  A graduate from Magdalene will be with her to share her story of recovery.  On Sunday Becca will be the preacher at all three services at Bruton Parish.  During the weekend her books and Thistle Farms products will be on sale at each event and during the Diocese of Southern Virginia's Annual Council at the Williamsburg Lodge.

It's an exciting weekend of celebration for our first anniversary.  I am so grateful.