Musings: On Anniversaries and the Spirit at Work...

Well, that was a full day! Two church services in one day! Maybe we’ll do that again in another 5200 Sundays! Jenn and I enjoyed being together, sitting in one of the rearmost pews at St. John’s United Church on Sunday. It is not often that we get to sit together and experience the gathering together. Unfortunately, as the service ended my phone began to ring and in that conversation, I was reminded of the vital role that the church provides in creating safer spaces and the opportunity for meaningful connection. Hopefully my presence that afternoon provided some support an encouragement to the individual who reached out at a difficult time in their life.

Rasta was quite frustrated in the moment. He knew where Jen and a whole bunch of other people he knew were, he also knew that is where the food was… Jen eventually took Rasta as I spoke with the individual and eventually, I ended up going upstairs to settle my own spirit and as a result, did not get to visit with many people at the reception. I assure you I was there – I was otherwise distracted. Sorry.

Eventually, later that afternoon Jenn and I got down to the shore. He brother had arrived unexpectedly and we needed the therapy of a sea breeze. Jenn visited with friends, and I had a two hour nap as the waves lapped the shore and the tide shifted. Supper consisted of a simple meal of BBQ pork tenderloin and potato salad and soon we were on the way home listening to the service being broadcast from St. John’s, Newfoundland. Another historic service in which I was able to see many familiar faces and reflect on the legacy of the church as it has nurtured, embraced, called me forth in ministry, and continues to request of me my faithfulness…

I found myself pondering this morning, ‘What if anything changed because of yesterday? How was I inspirited?’ And, the best I can come up with is this: God will do God’s work despite our best intentions and efforts… sometimes we just need to get out of the way. How many times does what Love requires get thwarted as a result of our attending to our own needs, wishes or desires, our needing to be comfortable… So many beautiful hats in church yesterday (none in my line of sight thankfully), perhaps Annie Dillard had it right when she said, 

The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.

What experiment, what ministry outreach or effort at community connection would you like to try this fall that might wake the sleeping god or draw us out to where we can never return?

Faithfully,

Lloyd

Thank you Catherine Gaw and all who contributed to the anniversary gatherings on Sunday morning and on Sunday evening!

Looking Ahead

This morning I took my car to the garage, so I am working from home. I spent the better part of the morning on the phone with Apple Support trying resolve a persistent failure in the syncing of my contacts. The issue has now been escalated to the engineering team and they will call me back!

Once I finish writing these words I am going to go and wash windows: inside and then outside and if my energy is still strong I’ll cut the grass. And at 7PM I will join the Visions CLT for their regular monthly meeting. 

Tomorrow I will be in Moncton following up on the pastoral situation that emerged on Sunday morning. I will also visit a couple of the care facilities and the hospitals and in the evening I will gather with the Collaborative Commission for their regular meeting.

Wednesday morning will be devoted to crafting the liturgy for Sunday with visits in the afternoon and hospital visits in the afternoon.

On Thursday morning I will meet with the Sackville United Church Pastoral Care Team. At 1PM I have a graveside funeral service for Ellen Ayr, At 3PM I have a meeting followed by another meeting at 4PM to assemble a picnic table with David Lewis and then at 7PM David and I will gather at Central United Church to do some tech testing with Jennie who will be in Sackville. Our goal is to continue to improve on the improvements we’ve already made!

On Friday morning Peg and I are doing a presentation on grief and loss to the Nursing Homes Without Walks organization at the Drew Nursing Home. This is an overview of the grief and loss journey and let participants know of our intention to offer a support group in September. Friday afternoon I will pick up a tractor from Fort Equipment and a trailer from MIP Show and Livestock Supply. These will be used by the Sackville United Church congregation, QS4A and Gay and Golden Group for our entry in the 2025 Cumberland PRIDE Parade on Saturday.

We’ll begin decorating at 9AM on Saturday so we can get down to the PRIDE Market at 11AM. The Parade begins at 2PM – hope to see you there! Wear your PRIDE colours!!

On Sunday morning I will be offering the liturgy from Sackville United and Sharon Ballantyne will be offering the reflection from Central United Church. Join in-person at either place or join online, or join the community of Visions United Church who will enjoy the leadership of Trudy Colpitts.