Sitting in her office, Rev. Julie Lebrun can watch the tightly packed lines of cars as they inch towards the Barnet Highway in the morning and back home again at the end of a long workday.
And even though Christmas is fast approaching, the traffic doesn't move much faster, leaving commuters feeling even more harried than usual.
That's why St. Andrew's United Church in Port Moody is offering its second annual Commuter's Sanctuary, daily from Dec. 19 to 23. From 5 to 7 p.m. each evening, commuters - church members or not - are welcome to jump out of the rat race and do nothing more than sit inside the church.
Yes, that's right. Just sit. Breathe. Meditate, if you like.
Whether you stay for five minutes or 20, or the full two hours, is entirely up to you.
"You can just stop and be and sit," said Lebrun. "It's a radical idea in our culture but it's an opportunity to get out of the mall, don't spend any money, don't consume. Let your soul catch up with you."
There won't be any kind of a service or sermons, just dimmed lights, lots of candles, maybe some soft music.
The idea in offering such a sanctuary, Lebrun says, is to give people a chance to leave behind the bumper-to-bumper traffic, the rushing around, the hustle and bustle and just be.
Our value isn't determined by how many responsibilities we can juggle at once and our worth isn't measured by our ability to multi-task. Each person, just by the nature of their being, is valuable, she said - a lesson that is often lost in the busyness of daily life.
"Our culture is so geared towards producing and accomplishing but we also have value and we are precious in God's eyes when we are just quiet with ourselves."
The Commuter's Sanctuary runs Dec. 19 to 23 from 5 to 7 p.m. at St. Andrew's United Church (2318 St. Johns St., Port Moody). Free parking is available behind the church; visit www.sauc.ca or call 604-939-5513 for more information.
spayne@tricitynews.com
