English L'Abri Searching for Home: belonging, identity, and finding our place (Jo Swinney, A Rocha)
Jan 24, 2026
Jo Swinney, a Christian conservation communicator with A Rocha and author on home and belonging. She recounts moments that reveal uprootedness and explores causes like moves and climate change. Short, practical practices and rituals for making a home are shared. She reflects on community, pilgrimage versus rootedness, and spiritual habits that anchor belonging.
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Familiar Home Suddenly Feels Foreign
- Jo describes crashing into furniture in her own vicarage after rearranging for guests and feeling suddenly like a stranger in her home.
- The story illustrates how quickly a familiar place can feel foreign when its layout or occupants change.
Pilgrimage And Rootedness Both Biblical
- Jo argues pilgrimage and rootedness both have biblical precedents and neither is inherently more mature.
- Being itinerant can be noble, but rootedness supports belonging, community and embodied life.
Art Class Moment Sparked Home Journey
- Jo shares her own history of moving continents, living in 21 houses and lacking a permanent address for 18 months.
- An art professor told her "trees need roots," which started her journey toward intentionally settling.
