A View from my Window October 26 2023

We prefer when our lives are calm, peaceful and predictable.  When unexpected things happen, they are usually upsetting, sad or unpleasant. Last week the news from around the world was not good. Bad things are happening in Gaza, as well is in the Ukraine and around Taiwan. We hear of the violence and are appalled! But we are also, in a small corner of our soul, very glad that the violence does not directly affect us. Our lives are peaceful and safe.

But last Wednesday our lives were disrupted when we heard of an active shooter in Clinton. I was working at the church all morning, and didn’t hear about it until I went home for lunch. One of my sons reached out to ask where I was. I told him that I was home, and he said to stay there, and why I should do so. I remembered that on my walk home I had seen a police car cruising down my street which slowed down to take a good long look at me. I had wondered why at the time, now I knew! Fortunately, my hair is (mostly) white so they kept on driving. (the person they were looking for had dyed hair) Then I remembered hearing all the sirens and the helicopters going over. 

I wasn’t afraid, but I did choose to lock my doors and to stay home. The police didn’t need any help, and the fewer people out and about the easier it would be for them. The schools were in “hold and secure” as was the hospital and the post office. It was a minor disruption for my life. I could work on my computer at home. 

I was reminded of several years ago  in 2014 in Ottawa when they had an active shooter around the Parliament Buildings.  Most of us were shocked at someone shooting one of the sentries around the Cenotaph. My youngest son was at the University of Ottawa, just around the corner. They were secured, all doors locked, all classes cancelled. He was visiting in residence with his girlfriend and had to stay with her. Fortunately, they had been grocery shopping recently. The cafeterias and food courts were closed down and he is a diabetic. He was mostly bored. I was more concerned for him than he was for himself. But it was a reminder that unexpected, disruptive and bad things can happen to us at any time.

That was our reminder last week. We almost take it for granted that such things happen in the big cities. According to the news there is hardly a day goes by when there isn’t an assault, or a robbery. Shots are fired and car chases happen. But not usually here. Not in our quiet, safe town. But they can happen here.  Our safety is an illusion which can be shattered at any time. 

We are called to put our faith and trust, not in police or municipal officials, but in our God. 

God is our refuge and our strength, 

a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear 

though the earth should change,

though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea..

Be still and know that I am God. (Psalm 46: 1 – 2, 10)

A View from my Window ~ October 12 2023

Last weekend I celebrated Thanksgiving with my family.  My oldest son, George, came up to my place the day before so that we could finish the shopping and get a few things ready the day ahead. 

The rest of the family came on Thanksgiving Monday. Both Joe and Davey had hosted their in-laws on the Sunday, and were glad to have someone else host the next day. All five of my grandchildren were here. I might have wished for a warmer, sunnier day so that we could have all gone to the park to run off some energy, but the weather did cooperate enough to let them play outside for a short time anyway.

I had to be really careful when planning and preparing the meal. One of my daughters-in-law has celiac disease so we have to be aware of that when planning and serving the meal. A couple of years ago I used a pre-stuffed turkey and had to provide a second choice of meat because in the process of preparing and roasting the bird the outside got gluten on it. Lesson learned! This time there was no bread in or around the turkey, we enjoyed stovetop stuffing! When I made the cranberry sauce, the brown sugar was from a fresh bag, just in case! We had a dedicated butter for mashing the potatoes, cooking the carrots and putting into the squash. There is no way that I wanted to be responsible for her being in pain for days because of any carelessness on my part! 

My mom has had celiac disease for about thirty-eight years, so I have been aware of it for a long time, but she is largely asymptomatic. That means she can have long term damage from exposure to wheat flour, but doesn’t have immediate symptoms. Both my one daughter-in-law and one of my sisters-in-law have immediate unpleasant reactions. 

I tried an old recipe for peanut butter pie, a form of cheese cake. I was able to get a gluten-free graham cracker crust to go with it. Everyone really enjoyed that with cool whip and a drizzle of chocolate. The good news is that it is very low in carbohydrates for the diabetics in the family!

I very much enjoyed my time with my children and grandchildren! It is a lot like semi-organized chaos, but everyone was fed, and everyone had a good time. It is wonderful to see the grandchildren growing and enjoying time with their cousins. They live about five minutes apart in London, so they can enjoy play dates fairly frequently. 

I was also quite tired when they all left. I remember a neighbour from about twenty years ago who would see his family off, then immediately lock his door. If they forgot anything, that was too bad! I don’t do that, but I am understanding the sentiment! By the time I had wished everyone safe travels, I was ready to put my feet up with a nice cup of tea. My cats came out of hiding about then too! 

I give thanks for family and the joys of watching them grow!

A View from my Window ~ September 14, 2023

Pray always! That is what Paul writes in Romans, Ephesians and his first letter to the Thessalonians. Jesus also mentions it in Luke and Matthew. It is also present in the Psalms. Prayer itself is mentioned between 300 and 700 times, depending on the version and the context. (Sometimes the word prayer is there but it is not referring to praying to God.) 

There are many postures to adopt while praying. Sometimes the person is sitting, or lying in their bed. Sometimes they are standing with their hands raised up and sometimes kneeling with their hands clasped. In the deaf community when the leader signs “let us pray”, you don’t close your eyes and bow your head but look up to see what they are signing. There isn’t a right or a wrong physical posture. But I would recommend that if you are praying while driving, that you not close your eyes. 

There are also many types of prayer. The most basic division is between communal prayer and individual prayer. Communal prayer is what I do at church when I pray and you all join with me. It could also be the prayers done before church meetings. Individual prayer is what we do at home, perhaps in conjunction with reading our Bibles. Some people choose to pray while in the shower, or while driving or walking, while others have a special spot in their homes, perhaps a favourite chair, where they go to pray every day. 

There are also different ways of structuring our prayers. Some people choose to do a daily prayer which could be from Our Daily Bread or the Upper Room, either of which give you a Bible passage and a short story with a prayer. Other people choose a prayer book like the Book of Common Prayer used by the Anglicans which give set prayers and readings for each day, while others choose to read and pray their way through the Bible by doing a set number of verses or chapters each day. 

Other people choose other options such as Lectio Divina, (Divine Reading in Latin) in which they take a passage and read it through several times, listening carefully to which phrases God draws to their attention. It can also involve journaling to help to focus their thoughts and then spending time in contemplation afterwards to allow their souls to rest in God’s presence.

Some people enjoy private silent meditation and still others a guided meditation. In this version someone talks to you to help to guide you deeper into contemplation of God’s message for you. Meditation has been practiced in other religions but has been a part of Christian prayer for many centuries. 

When we pray we can praise God or to choose thank God for what we have. We can pray for God’s healing or blessings on either ourselves or others or we can listen for what messages God is telling us. Some churches have prayer chains which are activated when someone in their community is in special need of prayer.

What is important is not how you pray, or when you pray but that you pray. God wants to have a personal relationship with us. That is only truly possible if we choose to spend quality time with God on a regular basis. 

So, as Paul says, “Rejoice always! Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5: 16 – 17)

A View from my Window ~ August 31, 2023

I am back from my vacation! It didn’t end up looking quite how I thought it would. I thought that I would spend my time walking and doing my wood refinishing projects, like I have done over the past few years. But that was not how it happened!

It started out well with my sibling and their family coming to stay for a week. They actually came part way through my last week of work. Then we had the planned family gathering. It is a lot easier for them to see our extended family if everyone comes to my place for the afternoon and supper. Just about everyone was able to come! My brother drove my parents up from Kitchener and we had a great time watching my grandkids run and play in the yard! That Sunday night they took me out to supper and we went to the Music in the Park in Goderich. A great way to start my vacation! The next day I settled in for an evening of board games with my niece and nephew. That’s when everything went sideways.

My Dad called and my Mom wasn’t doing very well so he was calling an ambulance and could I please come? I dropped everything, packed my bag for a few days, and ran off, leaving my house guests to fend for themselves. But before I got out of the door, my sister-in-law, Jen, said something that changed the rest of the holiday. She asked if I had packed my hand project, something small and portable to work on in the hospital. I grabbed my sock project, and a couple of extra balls of yarn and was on my way. 

My Mom has dementia, and it turned out she also had pneumonia. That combination can cause delusions, which it did in her case. We stayed with her in emergency all night trying to keep her calm, but she didn’t recognize either of us. She improved fairly quickly after they got her on antibiotics and knew us again, but she was in hospital for about ten days. She’s had a lot of support from physio and occupational therapists as well as a PSW and is now doing well.  

I had to come back home before she was released because I had prescriptions to pick up and I was getting rather tired and wanting my own bed again. It was a good thing I left, because I had contracted viral pink eye from my grandkids. I did not pass it to my parents but I was not even able to walk for a few days because, as a virus, it affected my breathing as well as my eyes. 

But that chance comment of my sister-in-law got me working on socks. I finished the pair I had on my needles, and another pair for me as well. Then I got the counted cross -stitch for my granddaughter done, and am now starting the cross-stitch project for the twins. I am also knitting little socks for all five of the grandchildren. I didn’t get any of my refinishing done, but I have accomplished other things!

Sometimes we get so focussed on what we think should happen that we forget to notice what we actually do accomplish. As a friend said, we did get a lot of family time this summer! We need to thank God for what God does send us in our lives!

A View from my Window ~ July 13 2023

For the last couple of weeks I have been pulling bindweed. I find it in my garden at home, in the church’s front gardens as well as a public garden on my usual path between home and the church. In all three places, I see bindweed.

If I’ve not been to one particular garden recently, I can see it attempting to take over the plants completely. It is waving its little tentacle leaves up above the plant, looking for something else that it can climb. If it can’t find anything else, it will start twisting around itself to make a stalk that it can use to continue its upward progression. Left to itself it will come to completely cover any object that it can climb upon. It climbs fences as well as other plants. 

It is present in lawns, putting up pretty little flowers that look quite nice. The problem is that it will continue to grow and will fight to choke out the grass as well. It even has been known to try to take over artificial grass! If it can make a hole in it, it will try to spread over concrete as well, attempting to take over driveways and sidewalks.

It also creeps around under the ground. It’s root system allows it to spread without being seen to new areas of the garden. It also seems to send out tendrils which then attach to the ground wherever it is so that if the parent plant is pulled, it can still survive on its own. It is tenacious and very very difficult to eradicate! 

My neighbour, Linda, and I regularly chat while pulling bindweed from the garden we share between our laneways. Somehow, there is always enough for a handful each almost every day. The other day we had missed a day or so, and we each had a couple of large handfuls! 

Bindweed is also a mimic. It can be really hard to spot embedded in myrtle, also known as periwinkle. Often weeds will do that, blending into the plants around them in the hopes that the gardener won’t see them and pull them. But the shape of the leaves is different, and once we start to spot the bindweed, we start seeing it more and more clearly.

Sin is defined as that which comes between us and God, or us and other people. Like bindweed, it starts out small and can easily be pulled out if we take the time to do so. Sometimes it seems harmless, just a little white lie, or a lack of regard that grows into a pattern of behaviour that starts to break down our faith in God or our relationships with each other. Over time, if we don’t keep a watch out, like bindweed, it can eventually grow to take over our whole life. 

There is no quick or easy way to get rid of bindweed. It takes constant attention over a long period of time, daily pulling whatever small shoots we find, which forces the plant to keep working to keep its root system alive. Eventually even the roots die, if we keep pulling off the vines. Keeping our lives weed-free is an ongoing challenge, whether the weeds are literal or spiritual. Have fun gardening this summer!

A View from my Window June 22 2023

I’m going to be on vacation next week! I’m rather looking forward to it! Vacations are a time to step out of routine. Sometimes that is best accomplished by going away. When we are in a totally different environment, it helps us to get out of our usual rut. We can’t be getting up and showered, then eat breakfast and off to work when we’re someplace else entirely. We have new things to do every day, new sights to see and people to meet. If we stay at home it takes a more conscious effort to do things differently. 

Sometimes I’ve been fortunate in going camping for my vacation. Everything takes a bit more of an effort when I’m camping! I don’t have hot running water, so doing the dishes means getting the kettle started. Having a shower doesn’t mean just stepping into the shower area and picking up the shampoo. You have to figure out what you need first and pack it up, then what you are planning on wearing afterwards. Try not to forget your towel!  Sometimes it is a bit of a walk to the shower facility.  It all just takes a bit more thought and planning! When I return home, I definitely appreciate having access to hot running water again! 

Planning meals is a bit more complicated as well. I tend to go shopping and get my usual pantry, fridge and freezer items, then decide on each day what I want to have for supper. Sometimes I’ll make enough for two meals, then have the leftovers the second day. When camping I have a one cubic foot refrigerator, and no freezer. I have to plan my meals carefully because if I’m not careful, I won’t have enough fridge space for them. If we went out to eat and brought the leftovers home, there often wasn’t enough space to keep them cool until the next day. Reheating was also a challenge!

  I remember when I got my silver jeep. With my smaller black jeep I had to be very careful of how much weight I was pulling, so carried as little as possible in the trailer. The first thing I bought for my trailer when I wasn’t worried about that any more was a microwave oven. That really changed what I could cook and how I could re-heat things! It is a challenge without an oven or a microwave! Sometimes I really had to think out of the box! 

Every now and again it is important to shake ourselves up, to encourage ourselves to get creative. Sometimes that means more planning for activities or food preparation, and sometimes it means more unstructured time. It can take a few days to get into a vacation headspace.  I’m just taking my final week of last years’ holidays next week at the end of June. My next pastoral year begins in July, so I’m taking five weeks then as well. I have four weeks of holidays and one week of study leave, starting July 24th. So I’m back to work for three weeks in July then off again. 

I hope that all of you have a chance to have some vacation time this summer as well! A chance to step back from routine and to relax!

A View from my Window June 8. 2023

       On May 29 I celebrated a fairly significant anniversary. In 1988 I was ordained to a ministry of Word, Sacrament and Pastoral Care in the United Church of Canada. That was 35 years ago! It seems like yesterday when my husband, family and friends were with me. He and my parents helped with the laying on of hands. My godparents came and many people from my home congregation were also there. Each ordinand had a table where their church could provide goodies, and people could meet with them.

         The next Sunday I was asked to preach and then  to celebrate Communion for the first time. They gave me a portable Communion set that I could use to take Communion to shut-ins. I had been one of the first babies baptized there and the first candidate from their congregation. They had student ministers who had been ordained, but never one of their own who grew up in their Sunday School. A very happy occasion!

         My first charge was in northern Alberta, about 500 km north and west of Edmonton. They were two lovely little churches and living in a town about the same size as Clinton. I enjoyed my time there, but was glad to get a call back to Ontario after our first son was born. It was wonderful when we were closer to grandparents and the rest of the family. The moving van came on my son’s first birthday after we had been there for three years.

         My next charge was south of St. Thomas with two points again. I was living in a hamlet with the other point surrounded by a small village. It was very much a farming community and it was wonderful to live so close to the fields. I had two more children while I was there and I stayed there for nine years before moving to the town of Forest.

         Forest is about the same size as Clinton and it is a single point, much like Clinton. I enjoyed being there! The folk put on a passion play called The Promise every year that I was there and my husband and I, as well as our children, all took part. It was a lot of fun! After we were there about two years my husband was diagnosed with a brain tumour which changed all of our lives forever. He passed away after about five and a half years. I moved to my next church about a year after that, so I was in Forest for nine years.

         Tupperville is a small village, and its sister church, Lindsay Road is basically a church at a crossroads in the middle of a farming community. I went there to go back to my roots and to find out if I still had joy in my ministry. I did! They were a great group of people who helped me to heal. I became an “empty nester” as all my sons moved away to school or to start their lives. I stayed in Tupperville for nine and a half years.

         Now I am here in Clinton! I am enjoying being here, though Covid was a bit of a challenge! The folk here are welcoming and are willing to try new ways of reaching out into our community. Throughout my ministry I have been blessed with people who have helped me to learn and to grow and have been willing to share their lives with me. Thanks be to God!

A View from my Window May 25 2023

Look around you: Winter is over;

The winter rains are over, gone!

Spring flowers are in blossom all over.

The whole world’s a choir – and singing!

Spring warblers are filling the forest

With sweet arpeggios.

Lilacs are exuberantly purple and perfumed,

And cherry trees fragrant with blossoms. 

Song of Songs 2: 11 – 13

It is amazing how much greener everything became, practically overnight! The plants were very small and fragile, and in just a few days, they are almost up to my knee! I especially notice the hostas, that were just spears, poking out of the ground, not even particularly green, that are now unfurling large green leaves. 

The forsythia bush was out in all it’s beautiful yellow flowers, brightening the garden. Then the flowers were mixed with leaves for a display of vivid green and yellow in a chaos of colours.

One of my favourite flowers is the daffodil. I think that’s because when I had to go for military training when I was in university they would be just coming out. Then I flew to Victoria, where they were finished. For several years I would miss them. I love all the different varieties!

A couple of weeks ago the countryside was mostly brown, with the trees sending up bare fingers of twigs to reach for the sky. Then there was a faint green haze that appeared around them. Now they have all their leaves and are out in varied colours of green. The early maple leaves showed a ruby red colour that we are not going to see again until fall, but have now deepened to through a dark red into a dark green.

My lawn had beautiful violets everywhere, interspersed with very small white daisy-like flowers. Then the snowdrops that had migrated out of the garden started to come out to mix in with the violets. I lifted my lawn mower as much as possible to let them bloom. I hate to cut down the flowers!

There is a large lilac bush at the back of my yard with very deep purple flowers. It is just covered! I can smell them from my back step. There are also small purple hyacinth blooming around the foot of my maple tree. I don’t have full sized hyacinths, but I can see them when I walk about town.

I don’t know where there are any cherry trees around here, but if you’ve been going south out of town there are absolutely gorgeous pink crab apple trees going up the hill. They are beautiful!

Spring is amazing! In just a few short weeks we go from nothing to a riot of colour and perfume that is a blessing to the birds and insects as well as helping to uplift and ease our souls.