Going back to Church!

I lived in Ottawa fair almost three years at the vy end of the 80's - twenty-three years ago, to be exact. It turned out to be a not-so-happy time for me vocationally. Promises had been made to entice me to move east, and they were not being kept. I was frustrated and disappointed. Beatrix was not having an easy time of it at work, either. she was a social worker in those days, and it was a difficult field to enter as a stranger. Ottawa is a great city for " who you know".

One ray of happiness in our joint lives was the congregation we chose as our church home - First United Church. The congregation had been on the brink of closing when a youngish, newly ordained minister - Sharon Moon - was settled there. Her mandate was to make the place live, or close it. By the time we arrived, it was definitely beginning to live in a big way. There were old timers there, and students from the universities, people of some means, and poor people, people with professions, and unemployed people. It was an open place, a comfortable place, a place with a missin and purpose that was profoundly Christian without being terribly religious.

I recall the evening of a committee meeting, when one of our number, a member of the New Zealand consular staff, admitted at the close of the meeting that today was er birthday, and pulled a bottle champagne out of her bag! We all had a celebratory glass wither before going off home. The minister an a group at a near-by drug rehab centre, and congregational members played basketball with the residents every Friday Evening. The clients came to worship on Sunday morning, sometimes even reading the scriptures, in biker leathers! It was home to us.

Yesterday morning,Jennifer and returned to Firqst to worship there. They are in a different venue - sharing beautiful space with an Anglican congregation. Many of the older folk that had known are gone, really GONE. But some familiar faces were there, and remembered us! Lots of younger faces as well, and children. Worship was led by a lay person, and the music director. It was worship in song, with fresh hymns which we enthusiastically learned with the help of a smal but competent choir. The spirit was the same as I had felt it all those years ago. I felt truly at home, for the first time in quite awhile in church. I sobbed like a child. It was wonderful!

Beatrix and I will return in October to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Part of that weekend will be a visit to First United, to experience being at home again in the spirit of the United Church, which we both love, and in which we both minister I can hardly wait!