Peggy and I attended a special house-warming yesterday.  Our friends Alan and Johnathon are artists, teachers, writers and coaches.   Johnathon has just accepted appointment as Director of Opera at the Boston Conservatory.

We met them in 2006 when we attended three workshops that Alan facilitated on clarifying one’s purpose in life and moving fully into living that purpose.   Those workshops shaped the direction that Peggy and I have been pursuing ever since.  Alan directs the Center for Transformational Presence, and I highly commend him, his books, his training, his coaching and his singing!

Most who attended were former clients who live in the region and some of their new neighbors.  We came to bless their home with music, poems, reflections, rituals, food and libations.  It was a joyous occasion.  While Peggy and I knew a few people whom we had met when we did our training, most folks were new to us.  Except they weren’t.  It was like having a family reunion and meeting relatives for the first time, only, connecting deeply with them right away and wishing you could spend more time with them.

One person brought a hymn that we sang.  The words by Louis Untermeyer describe the space that Alan and Johnathon have created, even in the two short months they have lived there.   It is the kind of energy that Peggy and I seek to create for our home.  As you read them, may they bless you and the sacred spaces of your dwelling.

By faith made strong, the rafters will withstand the battering of the storm.  This hearth, though all the world grow chill, will keep you warm.

Peace shall walk softly through these rooms, touching our lips with holy wine, till every casual corner blooms into a shrine.

With laughter drown the raucous shout, and, though these sheltering walls are thin, may they be strong to keep hate out and hold love in.