A funny thing happened at a United Church gathering of clergy and lay people on Wednesday night.
Myself and five others from Bethany were at a meeting at St. John’s United Church on Stanley St. We had gathered, with representatives from 4 other UCC churches, under the leadership of Rev. Robyn Brown-Hewitt from Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council, to share stories about our communities and explore possible ways of collaboration and partnerships around programming, activities and ministries.
There were about 16 of us around the circle, sharing things to celebrate in our communities, and hopes, challenges, and dreams for the future. As I sat in the circle, my gaze fell on a picture on the wall. “That’s my picture”, I thought. I looked at it, a bit stunned. I thought I had lost that picture.
Let me explain.
Some of you will be aware that St. John’s and I have a long history. I began working for St. John’s in 1996 as their Youth and Family Minister, at 12 hours a week. At the time, I was also the Ecumenical Chaplain (part-time) at Mount Saint Vincent University. I held that position at St. John’s until 2003, when I left to become the UCC Chaplain at Dalhousie University. I did both chaplaincy jobs until 2006, when I left both chaplaincy positions to take up a new position – a shared ministry position between St. Andrew’s United Church and St. John’s United Church with the title “Minister of Education and Pastoral Care” (or something like that!) That lasted until 2009, when, for a number of reasons relating to the nature of the position, I left the St. John’s piece of the position. Then, in 2010, I went back to Dalhousie as the UCC Chaplain, where I stayed until 2015. I continued at St. Andrew’s until 2013, when I left St. Andrew’s.
In 2015, I was officially back at St. John’s (where I had been offering supply ministry since the fall of 2014) as their Intentional Interim Minister until the summer of 2018.
Keeping up? I get dizzy just thinking about it all.
In the course of all those positions, I had a number of offices. Including a home office, I had as many as 3 offices at the same time. When I moved to Toronto I took a lot of stuff, books, pictures, etc. but when I moved back in 2023 I tried to do a bit of a purge. I also left a lot of my favourites, like a few treasured books, pictures, etc with Alana, never thinking I would need them again. I also left a lot of stuff in the basement in 2018 when I went to Toronto. When I brought the pared down collection home in 2023 I dumped it with all with the other stuff in the basement.
Last fall, I was looking for a few things to put on the walls at Bethany for the short time I thought I would be there. (!) And I wondered … where is the picture that Sarah and Megan brought me back from Africa that I had framed? These were two students that I had worked with in many different capacities over the years, and they were also in the young adult spiritual direction group that I facilitated. They traveled to Africa and brought me back a rolled up painting on a piece of cloth, knowing how much I loved seeing different representations of the Last Supper, and Jesus from different cultures.
I looked everywhere for it. I texted Alana … “did I give you the picture that Sarah and Megan gave me?” but I was pretty sure I didn’t even take it to Toronto …
I resigned myself to the possibility that I had left it behind somewhere … given the number of offices I had inhabited. I wondered if I had left it at St. John’s, but at the Conservatory I didn’t even have a permanent office so I couldn’t make that fit. Then, I just felt sad …and mad at myself for being careless with the picture.
And there it was on the wall on Wednesday night. I wondered if I should even say anything. Without thinking, I blurted out “that’s my picture” … still a bit stunned to see it again. “Is that yours?” asked Rhonda, the minister at St. John’s. “I think so” … “I’m not sure” …
During the break Rhonda took it off the wall (I’m glad she did that!) and let me examine it. Yes, it was definitely mine. I must have hung it in the general office and then forgot that it was there when I left in 2018.
I sat the rest of the night with the picture beside me, slightly embarrassed and feeling that I had to explain that I normally didn’t walk into other church’s sanctuaries and just take pictures off the wall. I did feel like I had won some kind of a door prize.
So that’s the story of the new picture you will see in my office. I felt badly for St. John’s, but Rhonda assured me that there was a collection of others that they could choose from to replace it on the bare wall. I am over the moon to finally have it back … it holds so many memories.
Speaking of gratitude, this week in worship we begin our 5 week Stewardship Education program. And, as I have said (and will continue to say …) stewardship is not just about money. The program is called “Discipleship is Stewardship” and we begin with a focus this week on the spiritual practice of gratitude. The children will be in each week to help us as we move through these weeks exploring the different themes of what it means to live our lives as disciples of Jesus.
We hope you can join us … either in person or online.
