Saturday, May 03, 2008

Fire at the Little Portion Hermitage



I noticed on John Michael Talbot's blog that a fire on April 28th at the Little Portion Hermitage completely destroyed their Common Center and chapel.

Providentially, no one was seriously injured. The Common Center that was lost "housed the community’s primary worship space, storage for audio/concert tour equipment, kitchen, dining rooms, offices, infirmary, classrooms, recreation room, stock room (full of CDs & books), and the library & community archive."



Talbot said:

We lost some most valuable things in the fire. Our community archives were lost and all of the books in our library. The Troubadour stockroom and inventory were lost to the flames. All of the various awards received were melted in the intense heat of the fire...

God gave members various words or locutions. I shared that God is stripping us back to what is really essential to our way of life and that we will rebuild with greater efficiency, but in stone. Someone got the image of Gideon, who was repeatedly told by the Lord that he needed fewer men, but men well-prepared for battle. Another said that she got a word that God is with us through this trial. These served to inspire us and to keep our spirits hopeful and filled with faith, hope, and love. I believe we may have lost some buildings, but He will make us stronger for going through this together.


Here is a link to make donations to a Recovery Fund.

2 comments:

cowboyangel said...

I'm really sorry to see that. Terrible they lost their archives. It's been such an interesting project and deserves a well-documented history.

The librarian says.

Jeff said...

Ah yes, an archivist's nightmare. Barring loss of life, the worst things to see burned are irreplaceable books and documents.

It takes a real tragedy, though, like this week's cyclone, to put things in perspective.