Washing Raisins, what is that??

The name of our blog is odd, we know. It was quite a struggle to come up with a good name for the blog that documents our year at Holden Village.

One of my favorite authors is Henry J. Nouwen, a catholic priest He has written several books on on spirituality. Late in the '70's he took a seven month stay at the Trappist Abbey of the Genesee in upstate New York. He kept a diary which he later published into a book, The Genesee Diary: Report from a Trappist Monastery. His task while in the monastery was to wash raisins. Nouwen struggled with this task; he felt that his skills could be better used, but in the end he found that this simple act of service brought about growth and time for meditation.

We hope that our year of "simple service" at Holden can bring such gifts and growth into our life as well.