Welcome to Cultivating Sanctuary! My name is Jeanne Hartfield. I am beyond excited to launch this new venture.

As we move through a world that is increasingly divisive and chaotic and a time in which the pace of change is so quick it can make your head spin, #cultivatingsanctuary is a way to center, recharge, make space for what is meaning-making and be revitalized to participate in the healing of the world--starting in our own little corner.

I am interested in the intersection between our physical space and our spiritual life, letting go of old tapes that run through our head adding to our stress and anxiety, creating safe space in our relationships that honors the beautiful uniqueness of each person and gives us the opportunity to practice hospitality, and sharing of ourselves in ways that forge caring connections in the community and move us into a future where systems are just and all people can flourish.

I believe that this is possible as we cultivate sanctuary in four facets of our lives:

• Where we live

• In ourselves

• In our relationships and

• In the world.

Cultivating Sanctuary is a way for me to engage in hope and stay grounded in what I value and believe is true in the midst of a year and season that has the potential to bust our spirits. Hopefully in Cultivating Sanctuary you will experience beauty, honesty, vulnerability and a relentless pushing back against perfectionism in favor of self-compassion and grace. I hope what I share can speak to your life and inspire ways for you to cultivate sanctuary in your corner of the world.

I am a person who claims the way of Jesus and the expansive love of Jesus as the frame for my life. I am a progressive ordained clergy in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Serving as a pastor in a congregation for the last 18 years has been one of the rich blessings of my life.

Even though I claim a progressive Christian faith, you don't have to to share this space. Whether you identify with a different faith system or no faith system, I look forward to hearing your perspectives, practices, longings for and experiments in cultivating sanctuary.

I engage in the world as a CIS gender, heterosexual individual who is married and both an adoptive parent, a step-parent, and became an instant grandma when Andrew and I got married.

Even though that is my family story, love is love, families look a lot of different ways, the you that makes you feel most yourself and most alive is welcome in this space. I look forward to getting to know you.

There is so much more I could say, but that's a lot already and there will be plenty of time to share. What else do you want to know? What do we have in common? Share a word or several in the comments and let's begin this journey of cultivating sanctuary together.