Celebrations and Memories

Today we were invited to celebrate a church that was 100 hundred years old.  The drive there was beautiful with the trees showing off their fall colours.  We had to stop for a couple of deer crossing in front of us and then a little later a parade of turkeys. We arrived at the church about an hour before the service was to begin so that Ron could do a sound check.  We had pastored in the church from 1991 to 1998 so there were a lot of familiar faces from our congregation and other previous pastors that had been invited.  

Doris and Steve were leading in worship.  They had driven from northern Ontario to be there and we were anxious to see them.  This was Steve’s home church and he and Doris had assisted us for a short time in Sharbot Lake. They are a pretty special couple. 

Other pastors took part in different ways through the service and would share fond memories of their time there.  

The district superintendent preached and shared about the vision of the past continually to the future.  Pictures were taken of all of the pastors at the conclusion of the service.

Doris and I walked over to the community hall together.  We walked past the parsonage that held so many good memories for me.  Behind the house was an empty lot that use to be the Fire Hall.  Ron was a volunteer fireman back in those days.  It was so close that he could be at the hall before the tones on the radio were done sending out an alarm.  We climbed up the hill to the hall and the tables were set up and food was beautifully displayed.  

Oh, how many times we had worked in that hall preparing for events…more good memories.  I walked by the table that was set up with pictures from the past.  Time sure flies but with it memories are cemented in to my mind of good times, happy times…fulfilling times.

Absent from the celebration were the many that have passed since we left Sharbot Lake.  Faithful servants gone on to their reward.  One very important couple was just down the road, house bound due to health and ongoing treatments.  This was a couple that was at the core of the church when we came and had been before and after we moved.  When we left the hall, we just had to go and say hi.  Gilbert sat in his chair with the oxygen attached.  He still had a story to tell.  Nelda, always a goer, sat down to listen.  She has recently had bladder cancer which moved into her lungs and now they have found a mass in her chest area.  Once she finishes the radiation she will have to have the mass removed by breaking her chest bone.  She smiled and said that she felt good.  She is a real inspiration.  Meanwhile, their two daughters were still at the hall where they had been all day setting up, serving and cleaning up from the celebrations.  They have picked up what their faithful parents have been forced to lay down.

It was a good day spending time with special friends from the past.  Sharbot Lake and its people hold a special place in our hearts.  It seems like a lifetime ago but it was definitely a good time!