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Dear Glen Morris United Church, 

As we will be gathering this Sunday for our Annual General Meeting, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the extraordinary year that you have experienced as a community of faith. It is a privilege to be able to join you in this time of transition as a church. 

I am in awe of the many accomplishments made possible by your dedication, tenacity, and care. I believe that you have captured the expansive, inclusive, and radical hospitable nature of the Spirit through the work of the Expansion and Accessibility Committee. It was an absolute delight to step into a completely transformed church building last month and feel the warmth, history, and love of the community embodied by the space. 

I know that this has also been a year of challenge and loss for you. I’m so very sorry that you have found yourselves at times dealing with uncertainty and worry. I hope that in all the ways you have or still feel weary, you will find rest and nurture for your bodies and souls. May the way forward for Glen Morris United Church be filled with many blessings. 

As we give thanks for all the love, labour, and resources that have been shared in God’s name this past year, may the peace of Christ be with you 

As we gather as a church to look reflect on what has been and dream of the future, may the peace of Christ be with you, 

 

Yours in Christ, 

Rev Michiko

 

Enrich: Now Is Not A Time for Rushing Past Joy 

For many of us, our new reality of covid19 has invited us into quieter and slower lives. May this poem from Enfleshed Ministries find you in the mixture of grief and possibility that lies in moving at a slower pace. 

 

Now is not a time for rushing past joy.

Do not move too quickly from any good thing:

not laughter or a sight of beauty,

not a taste, a feeling, a companion, or a truth.

These are gifts, not to be wasted.

Be generous in sharing.

Linger and give thanks.

Be excessive in awe.

Just, do not hurry through them

as if they are not precious in this season of grief.

When you encounter the harder things,

still, move slow.

Open to Wisdom’s guidance through pain.

Listen patiently to your fear.

Pause, so that the voice of your body can speak.

You cannot hurry in heartbreak or loss

and hope to make it through.

And all of this, not only for the sake of your own endurance –but also for each other.

When we tend inward,

we prevent that which makes our spirit decay.

When we nurture our soul,

we grow in our capacities to contribute to the whole.

Nothing much of value grows quickly –not courage nor healing,

not love that liberates,

nor justice that transforms.

Not the new world we hope to grow

from the ruins of all that is destroyed.

Everything we need the most

for our collective soul to make it through this alive

requires great urgency and abundant patience.

Whenever possible,

take a breath,

and find again the rhythms of life

best for growing our souls.

 

 – Rev. M Barclay, enfleshed