Over the past week in reflecting on my two weeks at the College, I realize how much I learned during that time, and how exhausting it is to learn!
A last picture from the Gaelic College (maybe)
I spent the next four days in Halifax...some recovery time...some sightseeing...some exercise. I have to fit into the kilt by the time I get back for the first Sunday of December.
On Sunday I attended Ft. Massey United Church (Fort Massey By the Sea). This is the church that Caryn attended and sang in the choir last fall. Unfortunately, the choir director was away, completing a European tour of organs and cathedrals. But I was able to thank the minister, Trent, and several congregation members for taking Caryn in and making her part of their church family for those 4 months.
I think they were surprised to be thanked. It was what any congregation would do. And it is...or should be. It was what Westdale did in Peterborough and what Grace would do. That is part of what it means to be church. I would expect any of us...or our children or grandchildren...to go into any United Church and be welcomed as part of the family (That is not a musical cue). It was still important to thank them.
Ft. Massey United Church, Halifax
Another famous spot that I visited on Monday.
Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia
Aside from sightseeing and brain overload recovery, part of my purpose in going to Halifax was to meet up with Ivan Gregan, who is the minister at one of our churches in Dartmouth. Ivan, as it turns out, is also on sabbatical so I did not get a chance to meet face to face. However, we did have quite a long conversation on Monday morning about Celtic Christianity.
Part of our discussion was around the differences between Celtic Christianity and Mediterranean Christianity.
One example of these differences concerns where God is to be found. In Mediterranean spirituality the gods raced across the heavens...and so God was up there when Christianity came along. In pre-Christian Celtic spirituality, the gods were all around...behind a tree...in the rocks. And so God remained a very present God...close at hand...not somewhere far away.
Ivan also had some very interesting things to say about the use of numbers in scripture. I will talk more about that in a subsequent blog when the historical reading I have been doing is unbearably boring and too tedious to report!
Leaving Halifax, I traveled north through New Brunswick and again I was unsuccessful in trying to track down a fellow clergy. I did notice that most of Ontario seemed to be driving on the highway with me heading west. In fact, half of Ontario seemed to be in the Maritimes during August.
I pulled off the highway to drive past the home where I grew up.
Where I grew up. These trees were seedlings.
I stopped to take a picture of my home church.
St. Andrew's United Church, Martintown, Ontario
And back to dad's for a few days before flying back to Edmonton.
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