New Invitations

Dear Friends in Valhalla Parish—

In her book Sparrow, Jan Richardson writes: 

The act of repair asks us to keep remaking what is perpetually at risk of falling apart. It is this remaking by which a home, and a life, may come: not in spite of what has gone before, but because of it.

I was struck by these words this week, and what they might mean for our parish community as we slowly and cautiously emerge from a year and a half of global pandemic. Earlier this week I was thinking that we are, entering a new phase of life, one that is less about holding on, and one that is more about moving forward with open hands. And then there were Thursday's fires. This got me thinking even more: moving forward from what and to what? 

We have spent so much time apart. Perhaps some of our connections have waned during this time. Perhaps some have become stronger. Along the way, our lives have been re-made. Sometimes imperceptibly. At other times with great intention. We have changed as individuals, and as a community. How we have changed, and how all the pieces will be woven together is the adventure before us. 

As life changes, as we are able to spend more time together, as we re-discover one another, what animates us, what has changed for us, our relationships will inevitably change. And, perhaps, so will our sense of the Holy and where Divine Spirit is blowing.

Each of us has a story to tell. Each one has a story of the ways in which these last months have shaped and reshaped our relationship to God, to our neighbours, and the world God loves.

Some of us may have heard new invitations into relationship with God. Some may have stories about how we have connected with God anew—in routine, perhaps, or in places unexpected and mysterious. Still others of us have experienced periods of divine absence. Perhaps some of us, at various times have wondered where is God in all of this?

And that's a very good question—no matter our circumstances—that we are best equipped to wrestle with in community. Where is God in all of this? Where is God calling us? Where is God's Spirit moving from? In what news are we being invited to follow? 

In these days ahead, we have the chance to listen deeply. To God. To one another. To hear where Holy Spirit has been leading us, prompting us, and what that means for our life in community. All we have gone through these past months is not something to simply get over, to ignore. It has shaped us. It has taught us. It has been hard, and it has also brought moments of joy. 

What we are doing now, what we are entering into—by the power of God's Holy Spirit—is precisely what Jan Richardson describes: the remaking by which a home, and a life may come: not in spite of what has gone before, but because of it.

May it be so.

Every Blessing, 

Andrew Stephens-Rennie
Parish Missioner