Therese DesCamp
Therese DesCamp is a writer and a spiritual companion, who lives in the village of New Denver, British Columbia. She has worked as a lobbyist for people with disabilities, janitor, adjunct faculty at several graduate schools, program developer, minister, waitress, retreat leader, cook, and consultant. Therese has a B.S., an M.Div., and a Ph.D. She has served on environmental and community-based boards and is currently chair of The Contemplative Society.
Her academic work includes research on metaphor and conceptual blending in 1st century Jewish texts as well as in biblical texts. Her popular writing appears occasionally in Broadview Magazine and regularly in The Valley Voice. Therese lives with her beloved husband and dog, and shares the land with multiple fruit trees, an enthusiastic—if weedy—garden, and the occasional bear. She has been sober for more than half her life.
This short poem by St. Francis of Assisi, as translated by Daniel Ladinsky, constitutes her current mission statement:
Our fingers imbibe like roots
so I place them on what is beautiful in this world.
And I fold them in prayer, and they
draw from the heavens
light.
Most of the photographs on this website come from the creative genius of George Meier, with whom I have had a 30+ year collaboration of the most intimate kind! See his remarkable work here: georgemeier.smugmug.com.
About Wide Spot
Wide Spot began over a dozen years ago, as a collaboration between Turner Zion Pastoral Charge of the United Church of Canada and Heart’s Rest Retreats, the ministry of the Rev. Dr. Therese DesCamp and the Rev. George Meier. Wide Spot was the name that we gave to our joint attempts to love and serve this community by identifying—and sometimes providing—opportunities for deep connection. This work is empowered by our belief that the practice of wildly inclusive love and justice is at the centre of Christian faith. For a look at our origins, see our video here (link).
These are the values of the Turner Zion Pastoral Charge of The United Church of Canada:
Hospitality. We attempt to practice a radical hospitality, meaning that not only is everyone welcome, everyone is needed.
Respect. We recognize the wisdom and gifts of other belief systems. While we are grounded in Jesus Christ and the progressive Christian tradition, we are convinced that how a person lives is more important than what a person believes.
Embodiment. We recognize that our love of the Infinite Love (aka God) is best expressed through service to the world.
Thoughtfulness. Our understandings are informed by science, history and discernment of the heart. While we revere the holy texts of our own and other traditions, we don’t worship them.
Environmental Relationship. We recognize and strive to honor the sacred claims of the earth and the biosphere to which we belong.
Contemplation. We know that meditation and other daily practices transform us, making us more compassionate while strengthening us for the work of service to the world. We commit ourselves to a personal practice that fits our lives.