Guest House / Retreat / Bed & Breakfast

Last Saturday the first of our herbs were planted – medicinal, culinary and Biblical. These are: common and lemon thyme, lemon balm, mint spearmint, lemon mint, chives, marjoram, sage clary, horseradish, oregano, blue hyssop (see psalm 51 and elsewhere!), fennel and french tarragon. We look forward to seeing these fill up the corners around the labyrinth and add some beautiful fragrances to the experience, not to mention some great tastes for our cooking. The tablecloth which covers our dining table has long been a conversation piece at Emmaus House. Ordered online from a very small photo, we had no idea it would come not just with pictures of plants, but that they would turn out to be biblical plants (herbs, fruits etc) – complete with scripture references! No-one believes this wasn’t intentional on our part, but the planting out of the labyrinth very much is intentional, with the hope that this will enhance the path taken by all our visitors.

Welcome to our newly updated website!

The photos which follow show a couple of recent events in the life of Emmaus House. The first is the visit of Bishop Brian

Bishop Brian with Andrew and Br John

- the Bishop of Edinburgh – to bless our chapel, otherwise affectionately known as “the Holy Hut”. Bishop Brian has been a very supportive friend to our community since its beginnings over two years ago, and we have been keen to have him visit us again and dedicate our chapel before

his retirement later this year. As a small “thank you” gift we presented Bp Brian with three of our Emmaus House mugs, all with our logo, and including our new mug bearing a picture of Guinness – community dog and a very important – and popular – member of the team.

The chapel has been in daily use since last year and is much appreciated not just as sacred space for our daily prayers, morning and night, but as a place set apart where people can find some silence and peace even as the background noises of the city are heard in the distance. The second set of following photographs shows students of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary who stayed with us en-route to a visit to the Northumbria Community, and again for a few days on their way home. Visits like this are a real privilege for us, and it’s great to see how much new life, energy and creativity is emerging in the church all across the world, with a growing cross-fertilisation of traditions as we learn so much from each other. Some of the students can be seen in the photos making full use of the chapel, not only joining in the daily offices, but using the space for private prayer and some daily journalling and reflection on their pilgrimage.

To all our visitors from all points of the compass, thank you for being with us, and haste ye back!