Holdfast

As a kid, I used to love finding seaweed on the beach after a big storm. We would wield short strands of kelp like clubs in mock fights, twirl the long ones above our heads so they’d whistle in the wind, and pop the little air-and-slime-filled bladders. Once in a while we’d even find a root-like holdfast.

Holdfasts. Such a lovely name; such an unglamorous appearance. By the time a holdfast shows up on the beach, it is dead: brittle and broken, a woody knot no longer holding fast to anything. Nothing to play with.

But when a holdfast is alive, wow. It anchors seaweed in place, helping maintain forests of algae that provide fish habitat and food. Living holdfasts enable kelp to sequester carbon, make oxygen, filter pollutants, and protect shorelines. They hold both ocean and land life together.

I’ve been thinking about the unglamorous holdfast these last weeks. A living holdfast is closely akin, in an odd way, to the daily rule of life that a contemplative might follow. A rhythm of prayer and meditation and service anchors us: it holds us fast to the deep Centre.

And no holdfast functions alone.

No single holdfast can anchor a kelp forest; no single meditator can maintain a community. When the tempests come, every holdfast needs to hang on. But it is the collective that withstands the storm. When darkness looms, every contemplative needs to centre down into Love. But it is the collective that supports us when we falter.

One person who clearly understood the importance of holding on, together, was Brian Mitchell. Brian gave hundreds of hours to the Christian Wisdom community—transcribing tapes from retreats, anchoring the Kamloops contemplative group, and serving on TCS boards and committees. None of this work was glamorous; all of it was deeply necessary. Brian knew the importance of steadfastness and commitment. He knew how necessary community was to the contemplative life. He knew how to holdfast.

This year, we invite you follow Brian’s example by supporting our collective work through a contribution to The Contemplative Society. Your one-time or monthly donation will make possible some unglamorous but deeply necessary work (revamp an aging IT system, re-write bylaws) that is crucial to TCS’s ability to offer increased retreat and education offerings.  Your support also importantly empowers TCS to plan its next series of retreats over 2025.

We also invite you to make an additional contribution to the recently established “Brian Mitchell Fund”. Cynthia Bourgeault, our founding teacher, donated the initial gift for this fund; with Tom Musial, a TCS supporter, contributing soon thereafter to the fund. They are joined by Brian’s family as TCS establishes a resource intended to defray retreat costs, especially for rural participants.

We are indeed experiencing tempests these days. Between the fires and floods of the past few months—both literal and political—there’s a lot of wrack and ruin. Our best discernment is that more darkness lies ahead.

But we know that we are heldfast in Christ by the grace of God. We honor this gift through our commitment to our own practice, and our commitment to share this lifegiving reality. Dear friends, we are anchored—and anchor each other—in Love.

Therese DesCamp

TCS President