Here I am - last full day in Halifax! These past 2 months have been an incredible gift of no schedules and no agenda. I have wandered this amazing city and taken a ton of photos (can't wait to see some of them on our big screens for worship!). I have done my best to be fully present to this place and not to worry too much about what may or may not be happening back in Regina. I have listened to a couple of the podcasts of the worship services back at Sunset, and have found myself laughing out loud to hear the energy in the room - an energy that I am hugely looking forward to tapping into again in a few weeks. In the meantime, here are a few random thoughts from the past week or so...
On Sunday, October 23rd, Stairs Memorial Church celebrated their 103rd anniversary. Sarah did this wonderful children's time about the ways that the spark of God's love inside each one of us holds us together and brings good energy to the world.
The guest preacher for the day was Ross Bartlett. One of the things he said that really resonated with me was that church communities need to let go of the phrase "we are all tired" - he said if you personally are tired, then you need to own that, but don't assume that everyone else around you is tired. I told him it is one of the things we speak about often at Sunset - that we each need to find ways to speak about what is vital and lifegiving about the community. If our only message is that we are tired, it is certainly not going to draw anyone into the circle!
I have really appreciated the warm welcome I have received from this congregation, and the fact that I have been welcomed as an extra volunteer at their food bank whenever I could find my way there. My last Wednesday with them I got big hugs from Helen and Frances, the two women who I have gotten to know the best during my time here. This last time I was introduced to Dulse. The pictures I took were very blurry - because we were laughing so hard! Dulse is very much an acquired taste. Frances told me that when she was a kid, she remembers going out with her dad - they would roll up their pant legs, and walk out to find it once the tide was out. Then they would lay out their harvest on the rocks to dry in the sun. The man in the picture below harvested this batch of Dulse in the Bay of Fundy and then brought it to Frances to prepare. She swears it is the best thing for your health - tons of minerals and vitamins which are very good for you. But Helen says it is the worst taste you can imagine and she will never ever eat it again! However, she did say I should at least try it. Which I did. And now I can say I tried it!!
Yesterday I spent most of the day with these 3 women:
They are all ministers - Sarah is on the left as you look at the picture. We met in her home, which meant we enjoyed time with her dog, Chester!
I am usually a very chatty person, but for much of the time here in Halifax, I have been alone. That has been good for me - I needed time to just slow down and spend time with my own thoughts. However, I am getting very ready to enter back into community! It was great to be with these women as we drank coffee and ate chocolates and talked about many, many aspects of our lives in ministry. We also spent significant time talking about ideas for entering Advent and the Christmas season. It is likely a very good thing that I have started to head in that direction since I am back to work for 2 weeks before the start of Advent!! I appreciated their wise and faithful perspective - nice to be welcomed into their community for a day:
It is likely time to be heading home. The leaves are definitely dropping:
These are the same trees that I took a picture of when Art was leaving:
One of the things that I have thoroughly enjoyed in the past two months, is the people who have been busking on the streets - especially near the Harbour front. On Art's last day we enjoyed these two young women - they played a variety of instruments, and their voices were able to harmonize beautifully. But what really drew us to sit on a bench and listen to them for awhile was how they seemed oblivious to the people around them - they were just thoroughly enjoying creating music together:
Today when I was walking downtown, I saw this man with his harp. I saw him many times sitting down at the Harbour front. I loved listening to his music - he was always in shorts, sitting right beside the water. This is how I saw him today - far away from the Harbour front!
One of the huge gifts of this time in Halifax has been the view from the 10th floor of the Condo building where I have been staying. There have been some spectacular sunrises, and some amazing photo opportunities for the ships coming into the Fairview Cove Terminal. Here are some of my favorites:
More and more often, there are clouds and fog moving in. This was my view the other evening:
The first week I was here the humidity and the heat were like nothing I have ever experienced. I had to buy some summer clothing so that I could be outside without melting away in the heat. Hard to imagine that now as the days cool down and the sun is not quite so obvious. Time to move on...
I hope that wherever you are as you head into this last weekend in October, that you take a moment to reflect on moving from one season to the next. I know that snow is around the corner - likely on the ground already for some of you reading this! There was a post on Facebook that talked about how autumn can be an opportunity to watch the leaves falling off the trees and perhaps reflect on the things that you would like to let go of as you head into the winter months. That may be a little too philosophical for those of us who kind of dread heading into the deep-freeze of Prairie winters. However, I am going to do my best to carry this blessed gift of the time and space to breathe and to dream and to wander freely, as I move closer to the rather busy season of Advent that lies just around the corner.
Back to wandering a bit as I spend the last few hours in downtown Halifax!
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