Our new leaflet is 'walking off the shelves' in various
places where Othona friends are putting it to catch the unwary. It's a
great way to spread awareness of what we offer. Would you like some
copies for displaying or giving out? Just let us know how many and
we're glad to mail them out to you. Better still, remember to take a
supply home when you're next visiting us.
Our thanks for turning our vague ideas into a good-looking leaflet - and for the design of this website - goes to 'Wad'.
Adrian Waddington of Ammonite
design associates is our invaluable designer and webmaster.
Who's up for a different kind of challenge?
Like many communities and retreat centres, we're often on the lookout
for new core members - colleagues to live and work at Othona.
Especially over the next few months. Have you an idea of somebody who
might suit us - and vice versa?
In a nutshell, we offer hard work
with often inconvenient hours, including lots of 'people stuff', for
very modest financial rewards! Mmm, attractive, eh? But it's all in the
most beautiful surroundings, with a supportive team of colleagues, a
wider community of loving and interesting people, as well as access to
stimulating ideas and activities. And you can play a small part in
developing the spiritual beacon that many find in Othona - looking
below the surface of Christian and other traditions to nurture the
genuine soul-food which lies beneath so many of their doctrines and
disagreements. For more details of the openings we have for new
recruits click here .
Building trust, looking forward
The interaction between this centre and the charitable trust which governs Othona as a whole, the way we work together, is changing. (If you're a subscribing member of Othona you may already have got wind of this.) After a very moving consultation weekend in January, our trustees felt it was appropriate to explore ways of giving Othona West Dorset 'greater autonomy' while still within the structure of a single charity. (They had decided that full independence of our two centres - here and at Bradwell - might be an option in the future but wasn't currently in the best interests of the Othona Community as a whole.)
I can't tell you exactly how this move to greater autonomy will work out. That is all still under discussion and we proceed gently. But I and many of the people involved with running this Burton Bradstock centre really salute the trustees for this step of faith. We're finding it is indeed a matter of building trust as we go, because nobody knows quite where this will lead.
Of course, as with any change in beloved organisations, there can be fears that something good might be lost in the process. So the art of it is to grow the real trust - not lip service - especially between our trustees who bear legal responsibility as guardians of the spirit of Othona and those of us involved at other levels, trying to incarnate that spirit day by day. Watch this space for news of how we get on. Exciting times ahead, I believe.
You can click through if you wish to read two relevant reports from the trustees' meetings in Jan 2010 and March 2010.
How long, O Lord?
I've just passed a bit of an anniversary - 15 years as warden here. Rather longer than any of my predecessors. For your sake and mine I hope I'm not getting too stale in this life and work. Will you tell me when I do? Continuity brings benefits and I hope that's still true for Othona. But I also know I'm the kind of person who could easily stay in one place or role just because it's easier than facing the upheaval of discerning a new way forward.
So trust me - I'll try to do a reality check from time to time, hoping to spot if the 'right time' (kairos, theologically) has come along to make a move. Until then, I'm grateful for the privilege Othona provides me as a place of learning and growing. In the hope quite a few of you are reading this, let me also thank the literally hundreds of people who've supported me over 15 years as core colleagues, volunteers, committee members, trustees, benefactors... and just good mates.
Easter 2010 on video
Kate Woolmore's put together another brilliant video of snippets from our family Easter weekend. Naturally it concentrates a bit on her family and their close friends, but I think everyone's in there somewhere - even a decrepit-looking 'guitarist' performing the Facebook Virgin Blues. Give it a try by clicking through to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grF_I-LmtcM
