A reflection from our Internship Program Apprentice, Patrice Engel
My journey with A Rocha began last year when I arrived to intern in the agriculture program at the Brooksdale Environmental Centre. And, I never really left (maybe in body for periods of time, but never in spirit)! I was quickly smitten with the place and the people, joyously expressing to family and friends that I had found “my people”.
My goal in coming to A Rocha was to get grounded, literally and figuratively — to get my hands in the soil, and learn more about community, earthkeeping, and the Christian life. My time was spent tending small sprouts, encouraging them to mature into plants that would feed myself and the 30-50 staff, families, interns, and guests who communed at the table. With an internship focus on food and hospitality, I brought the farm to the table twice a week: harvesting, preparing, and serving the plants we had laboured to grow.
Though I had a sense that caring for the earth related to my faith in some way before coming to A Rocha, I didn’t know why, so a crucial part of the program for me were the teachings on environmental stewardship in the context of Christianity. I was able to see what we were learning in action: through shared meals and shared burdens, time spent in communal worship and devotion, the bustle of harvest days, delivering bins full of gorgeous vegetables to homes throughout greater Vancouver, and afternoons putting on my scientist hat (and more importantly, waders) surveying for spawning salmon in the Little Campbell River. It was all connected.
At Brooksdale I saw the outworking of a holistic Christianity — a faith that seeps into every aspect of life on earth. I learned that loving people demands that we also care for the places that sustain them: a simple, apparently obvious concept, lost in our fragmented society where food just comes from the grocery store. God has given us the special role of “tending and keeping” (Genesis 2:15) his irreplaceably beautiful earth. He made, and loves, the cliff swallows and western toads, the multitude of fungi and the trailing blackberry. We are called to also love them, not because they serve us in some way (even though they do!), but because they are intrinsically valuable as God’s beloved creation.
A Rocha continued to be a grounding place for me after my internship, as I returned a number of times to stay and reconnect. When I was approached about coming back in a new role, I was delighted with the thought of soaking in this community and contributing my skills in a new way. The Internship Apprentice role is designed to be an opportunity for growth and learning for the apprentice, and a support for staff, programs, and interns. Since starting in August, I’ve been a point person, sounding board and kitchen teammate for interns; done administrative work; participated in all of the program areas; and problem solved and think-tanked with Sarah, the Internship coordinator, on making internships a rich and valuable time for current and future interns. One of the best parts of this position is living and working with the staff and interns. Along with the everyday tasks on my list, I get the privilege of experiencing what it can look like to follow Christ, live in community, and work to care for creation together. It’s not always perfect, and the ups and downs of life are emphasized even more when you live, work, eat, and hang out in the same place, with the same people — but it’s very good.
A Rocha’s tagline, “Inspiring hope, Caring for Creation”, continues to be worked out here in learning to care for our river valley, land, and people. We need to grow roots in a place and know it in order to care about it or for it. And to live in hope and inspire it in others, we rest in the knowledge that we are part of a thoroughly beloved creation, formed by a God who is committed to the renewal and shalom of all things.
The people and place of A Rocha Brooksdale have offered me and many others breathing space in a culture overwhelmed with hopelessness and bad news, especially in the environmental sphere. Welcoming people with an invitation to come to the table, eat, and live a “life-sized life” is one of the gifts of this place. The concept of a Christian environmental organization might seem like a reach to some, but I’m convinced that this is God’s work and am eager to partner with Him in bringing “shalom” to all people and places.
