Diocesan Post - The Anglican Diocese of British Columbia - the ...

2 THE DIOCESAN POST
Reflections
A wonderful and sacred mystery
Herbert O’Driscoll
How big is your church? It
may seem a strange question
to ask, but there’s a reason for
my asking it. Recently I read
an interesting take on congregational
life today. We contemporary
Christians tend to look
at our church through the small
end of our telescopes!
What I mean is – we tend
to set our horizon no further
than our own congregation.
That means for us Anglicans
any further dimensions of the
church tend to disappear from
our thinking, things like Dioceses,
Provinces, not to speak
of a national church and even
more, an Anglican Communion!
One of the results of this is
that we tend to judge the state
of things in the whole church
through the lens of our own
congregation. If things are
fine with us here at good old
St Swithuns-by-the-Brook we
tend to assume that all is well
with the church. If things happen
to be in disarray with us,
then things must be in disarray
everywhere.
All of which is sad, actually
more than sad, it is dangerous,
even threatening to the
church’s life. The larger our
vision of the church is the more
possible it is for us to realize
that even if our own part of
it has some pains and aches,
there are other parts full of life
and brimming over with energy
and health.
My first parish in the Ottawa
Valley had three small churches.
I can remember going
into the smallest of them one
weekday in wintertime. There
was something about the stillness
that made me kneel for
a moment at the altar rail. As
I did so I had a vision. That’s
The Post expresses sincere
sympathy to Canon Joan Werrun
and her family on the death
of her husband the Rev. Larry
Greig, a retired priest of the Diocese,
who died on January 31.
We also express sincere sympathy
to the Rev. Bruce Cow-
Personnel Notes
the simplest and at the same
time the most mysterious term
we can use for such moments.
I remember looking along the
wooden altar rail. I looked to
my left and then to my right,
seeing the rail anchored into
the wall.
But then I found myself in
imagination going through
the wall and out into the silent
fields of snow, still seeing the
communion rail as it set out
with me on a vast journey. On
we went across the great river
that gives this valley its name,
across the incalculably old
rocks of the Cambrian shield,
out across the grey heaving
wilderness of the Atlantic, on
and on, across continents, first
Europe, then Asia, across the
endless vastness of the Pacific,
in over the Rockies and the
Prairies, over the Great Lakes,
across the white silent fields of
my little parish and – wonder
of wonders - into my tiny St
John’s through the other wall!
I have never forgotten that
simple, but for me, wonderful
vision. Each Sunday in St
John’s there would be about
thirty people, but I now knew,
and would forever know, the
mighty invisible reality that
surrounded our smallness. In a
moment, “in the twinkling of
an eye”, I had knelt with millions
of people, stretched my
hands forward with them, eaten
bread with them, drunk wine
with them.
So, the next time you kneel
at the rail, perhaps only too
aware of the problems in your
congregation and in the church
around you, do what Harry
Potter and Ron and Hermione
did every time they returned
to Hogwarts for a new term.
Remember how they would run
their baggage cart at the grey
old wall of the railway station,
pass right through the wall
and come out on a wonderful
Platform 9 3/4!
Do that. Let the Spirit take
you through the wall and show
you the church as our Lord
sees it. Through His eyes you
will see it differently.
ley (retired priest living in the
diocese) and his family on the
deathof his wife Pat who died
on January 19.
The Rev. Charles Massey
has retired from parish ministry
(St. Peter, Campbell River) effective
Jan 16, 2012.
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Apology
The Rev. S. Edward Lewis
Editor
The article Storyteller, Joke Bergink speaks to November
meeting of Diocesan ACW in the January issue of the Diocesan
Post mistakenly linked Lorrie as the husband of Joke.
As I edited the material that had been sent to me it appeared
as if this was a marriage relationship and I take responsibility
for inserting the phrase “her husband”.
The mistake was pointed out after the February issue of
the paper had gone to press, so it was not possible to publish
a correction and apology in that issue.
The reality is that Joke Bergink and Lorrie Anderson
are single women, missionaries whom God has called to
co-direct the work and development of the Precious Jewels
Ministry.
Please accept my sincere apology for the unnecessary
mistake that I made and for any embarrassment that I may
have caused.
A Lenten Thought
Elly Bowerman
The Rev. S. Edward Lewis
Editor
Is your faith growing?
Lent is a time to look within ourselves to find out
if our faith is growing.
Let us aspire to the things God has called us to
accomplish.
Each person’s growth will be different.
God wonderfully gives us resilience and fortitude
that we may continue to grow in our faith.
It is His love and grace towards us that makes
the difference. While on this Lenten Journey, take
time and share your faith with others.
Oh what pleasure you will be giving our Loving
God.
Elly Bowerman has been active with various churches over the
years and is the founding member of Hi We Care, a group created
to help facilitate worship and participation of the handicapped
community. She has been an Associate of the Sisters of St. John the
Divine for 46 years.
MARCH 2012
The Diocesan Post
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Volume 46, No 3
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