Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's off to Presbytery we go ...

Today in Virden (on the very western part of Manitoba, along the Trans Canada Hwy) our Presbytery meets for its last meeting until fall ... today we will be saying our farewells to colleagues who are moving on to new calls and retiring. We will be anticipating the arrival of new people who have accepted calls and appointments, and we will be remembering in our thoughts and prayers those who are in times of transition (like me !!).

I've struggled with whether I should go or not ... I'm going ... I will be late because of a dentist's appointment in Brandon (I have to get a tooth I cracked when tussling with Sam on Saturday - I go today or in late June, early July ... today it is !!)

So, I go ... I can't honestly say I've ever enjoyed a Presbytery meeting ... I go ... I listen, I speak, I reflect on what's happening - but what appeals to me is connecting with people who have become friends ... those who are in the far flung corners of this presbytery with whom I can visit, laugh and share some time ...

I'm not going with many expectations ... I'm again in a place where I feel very much like the kid with his nose pressed against the window looking in, but not feeling part of the party inside ... I'm again an outsider ...

But that experience makes me wonder if I will ever truly feel at home within this United Church of ours??

Maybe one day I will fit in ... that day when we are turning off the lights and boarding up the doors because the Church has finally died ... maybe when the Spirit blows over the remnants of what was once the Church and begins to resurrect it into something new - maybe then I will finally feel at home ... because it won't be about the politics, it won't be about playing nice, it won't be about anything that but living out our faith in the world ...

And that after all is what it is all about isn't it ???