Alleluia. Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Alleluia. Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Alleluia. Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

In the Fall of 2014, the Rev. Becca Stevens and members of Magdalene House in Nashville, Tennessee came to the clergy conference as a way to open our eyes, ears, minds, spirits and so much more to the stories of women. Resurrection and new life was all over the place. Two women shared the stories of their lives that had included prostitution, jail, drugs, etc., and how one group offered them an opportunity to rise from the dead and experience new life.

Thistle Farms (given that name because of the capacity of thistles to survive just about anything) and Magdalene House have so transformed lives that I really cannot find the works to talk about these ministries and these people.

Here is a description from their websites:

Founded in 1997 by Becca Stevens, an Episcopal priest on Vanderbilt's campus, Magdalene is a residential program for women who have survived lives of prostitution, trafficking, addiction and life on the streets. Thistle Farms is our social enterprise.

A few distinctives of the Magdalene program:

• For two years, we offer housing, food, medical and dental needs, therapy, education and job training without charging the residents or receiving government funding.
   
• Our six homes function without 24-hour live-in staff, relying on residents to create a supportive community, maintain recovery, and share household tasks.
   
• Women come to Magdalene from prison, the streets and from across the Southeast and the country.
   
• The women of Magdalene/Thistle Farms range in age from 20-50, and many have been sexually abused between the ages of 7-11, began using alcohol or drugs by 13, have spent years in and out of jail, and have spent on average a decade on the street prostituting.
   
• 72 percent of the women who join Magdalene are clean and sober 2 1/2 years after beginning the program.

Thistle Farms is the social enterprise that is run by the women of Magdalene. By hand, the women create natural bath and body products that are as good for the earth as they are for the body. Purchases of Thistle Farms products directly benefit the women by whom they were made.

Thistle Farms employs residents and graduates of Magdalene. While working at Thistle Farms, women learn skills in manufacturing, packaging, marketing and sales, and administration. It is a supportive workplace where women acquire the skills they need to earn a living wage. Employees have the opportunity to put a percentage of their earnings in a matched savings account provided by Magdalene. Through Thistle Farms, the women of Magdalene gain much needed job skills, and learn responsibility and cooperation. Thistle Farms is housed in an 11,000 square feet sales and manufacturing facility. Thistle Stop Cafe, Shared Trade, and the Studios, the paper and sewing workshop, are also in the same building. We are committed to growing in order to employ more women and have greater opportunities to share our stories of healing on a larger scale. (http://www.thistlefarms.org/index.php/about-thistle-farms)

Come to church this Sunday to hear just a sample of who they are and how they have transformed the world.  They will also be at St. James Commons (65 E. Huron St., Chicago) this Saturday, April 18.  Click here for more information about the Saturday event.