SUMMER SCHOOL 2007
Raising the Tent of Meeting - VST's 100th Summer School!
While camping at Horn Lake on Vancouver Island in a torrential downpour with 3 young children, I was eternally thankful for our tent. That veil-thin bit of nylon fabric separated us from the rain and wind, while allowing air and dim light in. On that occasion the shelter of the tent was enough.
In many traditions and cultures there is a practice of wanderers & pilgrims, gathering in temporary dwelling places, such as a tent, for acts of communal purpose. The people of Israel pitched a tent on their journeys when they stopped to worship around the Ark of the Covenant. The Apostle Paul, a traveling missionary, was originally a tent-maker by trade. The tent, both literally and metaphorically speaks of wandering, mobility, portability and temporality of place. It is shelter, a visible indication of sanctuary where people may gather, rest and awaken, and re-create.
The tent is a symbol for the role VST will play this coming July as host site for your meeting with others, even for a little while, to:
- Image and co-create new and emerging possibilities
- Seek practical counsel and access Wisdom
- Be assured that for the living of these days, in the shelter of God, we have enough
Cathy Bone
Director Chalmers Institute & Diversified Education
