camino?

why call it camino house?

other folks in the house might have opinions or thoughts as to why we called it this, but here are some of my thoughts:

the camino de santiago is an old Christian pilgrimage route that winds its way through several european countries. it's had a bit of a revival in recent years as more and more folks have wandered it.

the late canadian violinist Oliver Schroer did a nice piece of violin music on the camino and wrote a journal and recorded the album of the same name along the way in the ancient churches and hostels - complete with ambient noise of other pilgrims and birds...

camino - the word literally means 'the way' or 'the path'.

as followers of Jesus, who called himself 'the Way', it seemed that this word 'camino' (which is shared as a word in the spanish & portuguese languages) would be a good thing to call the house.

an ancient path (with hospitality along the way). arts / beauty. and (most of all) Jesus. some nice resonances, to say the least.

for me, it reminds us that we're all pilgrims. that though we have the gift of this house (which we rent from the anglican church next door [yep, the one painted by the 'group of seven') we too must receive as much as we give. we must be guests as much as hosts. we learn as much as we teach...

it reminds us that we need to life a life of beauty, rooted in a healthy and passionate spirituality. that we need to challenge ourselves to share and open our doors. it reminds us that our spiritual tradition is an ancient one...

so there you have it: 'camino house'...

we're a part of the jeremiah community which is a missional (ie sent out) - new-monastic (ie having a shared rhythm of life) intentional community.

in the jeremiah community folks live in the village of this neighbourhood (brockton triangle / parkdale / dufferin grove / ossington / west queen west, etc) either in their own housing or in a community house, such as camino house (we're the first, really! - though we did have a prototype in 'emmaus house' which some of our members lived in). we strive to live a rhythm of life together... but more on that later... i diverge from the, uh, path.

camino... along the way.
do come by and visit!