Finding our way from smoke blackened ruins ...

I'm tired, I'm weary, but I'm feeling profoundly blessed and thankful ...
Blessed because none of the firefighters in Minnedosa's volunteer department were hurt in our recent fire that claimed our 105 year old sanctuary ... thankful to be in this place, with the people I have been honoured to minister among ...

It has been a hard week. My body aches ... my fingers are chapped and cracked and bleeding ... my lips are chapped ... and my heart is broken ...

In April 2000, when I came for an interview in Minnedosa I stepped into the sanctuary and I remember the feeling that washed over me. It felt good and it felt right and later when they offered me the call to come and minister with them, I was 99% sure I would accept ... I'm glad I did.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about that day and the conversation that began the relationship that on Sunday was called on to endure and suffer its greatest challenge.

The day began at 6 am when I was called and told our Church was on fire ... since then, life has been a blur ... we worshipped in the basement of the Catholic Church on Sunday morning ... we set up our office the next day ... we have wept and raged and run the whole gamut of emotion. The whole while, a dear friend lies as nothing more then a smouldering ruin on the main st of our town ...

It is sad and it is tragic. The age of the building does not tell the whole story. It was a 105 year old building in age only. It had been renovated, added to, and was dearly loved and is in constant use by the people who are the Church, and the community around us.

How many children have passed through it's doors on the way to nursery school??
How many musical events have happened in its hall and its sanctuary?
How many weddings, baptisms and funerals have marked the passage of time in our town??
How many community socials, showers and gatherings have been hosted in its walls??
How many cups of tea and coffee have been passed around in times of distress and celebration??

I could go on and on ... but for now I have to walk through its familiar comfortable rooms in my mind's eye, because a senseless act of stupidity and foolishness has robbed not only me, but the community I call home, or a dear old friend ...

My body is sore, my soul is troubled, but today I can honestly say that "we are not alone." Today our community has been offered the love and care and support of our Presbytery, and as I look over my inbox here and at the office, I can say that messages have come from around the world ...

What better proof of the resurrection can there be then that???
When one part of the body grieves, we all grieve ... and today in Minnedosa we grieve, but tomorrow (whenever that comes) we will rise up and mark our steps on the way to the resurrection ...

The message of Easter is alive and well in Minnedosa today - we're walking it as a community ...