The Newsletter of St. Mary’s Anglican /United Church, Sorrento, B.C.
I suspect that each of us has a favourite poem or piece of literature that
we hold dear in our hearts, something that speaks to us and that has
shaped us. A life of faith is often grounded in such things: a favourite pray-
er, a scripture verse, a particular hymn. Catechisms in many traditions are
grounded in memory work because the "memory" of what is memorized
stays with us and gives us a foundation upon which to build our lives, guid-
ing us in our decisions and providing an inner scaffold that tells us who we
are.
I have a number of these "inner scaffolds" to which I return again
and again: poems, soliloquies from Shakespeare's plays, quotes from notable
people, prayers and bible verses. Of late, I came across a poem by Lauchlan
MacLean Watt (1867 - 1957), a Church of Scotland minister who was minister
of Glasgow Cathedral 1923 - 1934 and Moderator of the General Assembly
of the Church of Scotland in 1933. Included in a book of poetry called The
Tryst: A Book of the Soul that he published in 1907, its lilt and imagery is very
much grounded in the prayers and poetry of the ancient Celtic Church and
wouldn't be out of place in more modern expressions of Celtic Christianity
such as the communities of Iona and Lindisfarne. In the use of language
there are even echoes of St. Patrick's Breastplate , which probably comes from
the 8th century.
I have been using this simple poem each day as a prayer to begin the
day. I encourage you to use something similar at the start each day, some-
thing that becomes part of your "inner scaffold," something simple that you
can pray and hold in your heart through the day so that God may speak to
you. This poem happens to be mine at the moment. May you be blessed in
finding yours.
Quite the sales pitch,
Bruce!
St. Mary’s is going Green!
The twelve flood lights in our sanc-
tuary are being replaced with energy
efficient LED light bulbs. The con-
gregation was treated to a great per-
formance of salesmanship by Bruce.
Needless to say, by the end of the
pitch, all twelve new light bulbs had
been purchased by parishioners
swept up in the frenzy of getting in
on the action. St. Mary’s is doing its
part in the world to care for creation.
Thralldom
I bind my heart this tide
to the Galilean’s side,
to the wounds of Calvary,
to the Christ who died for me.
I bind my soul this day
to the brother far away,
to the sister near at hand
in this town and in this land.
I bind my heart in thrall
to the God, the Lord of all,
to the God, the poor one’s friend,
and the Christ whom he did send.
I bind myself to peace,
to make strife and envy cease;
O God, knit thou sure the cord
of my thralldom to my Lord.
Bruce
Page 2
Saturday, June 4 9 am Last Ladies’ Breakfast before the summer break! We will
meet at the home of May Bruce, at 2530 Valley Place Rd.
Blind Bay. If you plan to attend call Verna Nitsche
at 250-675-4900
Friday, June 18 1 to 3 pm Strawberry Tea. Bring a Friend.
Saturday, July 9 8 to 1 pm Summer Giant Garage Sale !
Start saving your gently-used treasures!! For more information about these two fundraising events, please contact
Janice Cambruzzi at 250-675-5347.
Advance Notices:
Happy Father’s Day, Fellows!
A Father's Love
A father is respected because
He gives his children leadership...
Appreciated because
He gives his children care...
Valued because
He gives his children time...
Loved because
He gives his children the one thing
They treasure most - himself.
~~~~
Here are some of St. Mary’s finest
fathers enjoying their monthly
breakfast at Spinnaker’s
Restaurant in Blind Bay.
Guys, please know that we appre-
ciate all the work and care you
extend to St. Mary’s and its con-
gregation.
Inspirational Quotes about Fathers:
"No man can possibly know what life means,
what the world means, until he has a child and loves it.
And then the whole universe changes
and nothing will ever again seem
exactly as it seemed before."
~ Lafcadio Hearn
"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the
need for a father's protection."
~ Sigmund Freud
"Fathers, don't aggravate your children. If you do, they will
become discouraged and quit trying."
~ Colossians 3:21
Page 3
Saying Good Bye to long-time friends…
T he Rev. Dr. Helen Hobbs passed away in early May after a lengthy illness. Helen was the
Incumbent of the Shared Parish of Shuswap Lakes from 1996 to 2000. Many of you may
remember her ministry at the three point parish of St. Mary’s in Sorrento, St. Andrew’s/All
Saints in Chase and St. David’s in Celista. We have very fond memories of her ministry here
among us.
We are also sad to say farewell to long time parishioner Ruth Fenton Zenger who passed away
on December 19, 2015. Ruth was a Lay Minister of Word and Sacrament in our parish, she loved
and supported Sorrento Centre and was a dedicated advocate for
social justice in the world. Ruth was a supporter and past treasurer
of the BC-Yukon KAIROS network for many years. She was a
woman of many passions and not afraid to speak her mind.
On May 13, 2016, family and friends honored Ruth’s life at a spe-
cial Eucharist Service at St. Mary’s. Many friends attending were
Associates from Sorrento Centre who were in town attending the
Spring Work Week. After the service there was a procession across
the highway to the Memorial Garden at Sorrento Centre were
Ruth’s ashes were scattered near the place where Herb’s ashes had
been placed ten years earlier.
Ruth’s ashes were placed below a beautiful pink peony tree pictured on the right.
Arthur Kenneth “Ken” Dean DFC “slipped the surly bonds of earth” on April 14, 2016, shortly after his 93rd birth-
day. Ken was a highly decorated World War II veteran with extensive flying missions over Europe in a Halifax
bomber. His grandson Jeffrey read the following poem at the service:
High Flight
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
and danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the
tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds ~
and done a hundred things you have not dreamed of ~
wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there I’ve chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
“Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew.
and, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand and touched the face of God.”
On this picture to the right, Ken is enjoying a ride in a 1979 MG Midget Sports Car owned by neighbours and fellow parishioners
Len and Siv Pettersson who took him for a “spin” last summer. Ken was full of life right to the end and we will miss his smiling
face and jovial response to the question “How are you, Ken?” - TERRIBLY AWEFULLY WELL !
Ken and Wendy recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a cake at the church.
Page 4
Our Stories … Submitted by Verna Nitsche
J anice Cambruzzi was born in Burnaby; one of three chil-
dren to Ken and Doris Clark. She has a brother and a
sister. After her schooling of K-12 in Burnaby, Janice
went to The University of British Columbia for training
as a nurse. She then worked at The Vancouver General Hos-
pital in Child Psychiatry. She continued her studies for her
Masters in Nursing at The University of Oregon at The
Health Sciences Centre. After obtaining her Masters, she
taught Pediatric Nursing at The University of British Colum-
bia and lectured on the topic of Child Psychiatry. She ended
her nursing career to become a “stay at home mom”.
Janice has a long history with the Shuswap area. The
Clark family`s camping trips were often to Shuswap Lake;
with camping experiences at Saratoga Campground (used to
be next to The Scotch Creek Provincial Park), Blind Bay
Campground (used to be close to where Finz is now located)
and Blind Bay Resort and Fishing Camp (used to be across
from the old post office on Blind Bay Rd.). In Janice`s words
“All camping spots had to have the right view of Copper
Island”. When Janice did her Nursing Practicum, she chose
to do it at Shuswap Lake General Hospital—just so she could
stay in the area for another six weeks!
After marriage, Janice brought her husband out to the
Shuswap for a camping trip. He was not as impressed as
Janice was - but - they did purchase a cabin on Blind Bay
Road in 1984. It has the right view of Copper Island! Her
children, Michelle, Shannon and Darren were all introduced
to the Shuswap at a very young age - three days old, three
weeks old and three months old. They all visit regularly-
with their entourages!
Janice first attended St. Mary`s sporadically in the early
80`s, and more regularly around 1988. Rev. David Dingwall
was the minister at that time. In 1999, Janice volunteered to
help with The Vacation Bible School program at St. Mary`s.
When Janice is at her home in Burnaby, she is very in-
volved in many aspects of the programs at Deer Lake United
Church. Since 1987, she says that she has done almost every-
thing except finances, caretaker and minister! After being
part of the St. Mary`s Ladies` Breakfast group, Janice started
a program at Deer Lake. They serve champagne at their
breakfasts!
Janice has many hobbies which keep her busy. She is a
baseball and hockey fan. She supports her son`s hockey team
with great enthusiasm. She volunteers at The Vancouver
Christmas Bureau every year. She loves hunting for an-
tiques, hikes with a ladies` group every Friday, reads, experi-
ments with new baking recipes (especially cookies) and loves
to go out in her boat. Her boat will be fifty years old next
summer. She plans to decorate it with helium balloons.
So, if you see a strange “contraption” out on the lake next
summer……………??????????
At St. Mary`s, Janice has taken on the role as Steward-
ship Chairperson (don’t forget to read her article on Page 8
of this newsletter) and President of the Ladies` Guild. She
continues to do many tasks with enthusiasm and joy. We, at
St. Mary`s, are so fortunate to have her with us, if only for
part of the year.
With Copper Island in the background, Janice’s boat
is safely anchored at the Shuswap Marina.
The boat's name is “Maybe”. As in “maybe it will float,
maybe the engine will start, maybe it can be put into
reverse, maybe the anchor will hold” .... as you can tell
there is a bit of a story behind its name!!!
Page 5
Pentecost 2016
Janice is slaving away over a hot BBQ!
Gathering outside after the service for a delicious BBQ
Saying farewell to David and Joy Thompson, Patrick and Lindsay
O’Dwyer, and Horst and Carole Jungnitsch with a lovely cake
made by Janice Cambruzzi
Welcome, Diane Davidson, to
our congregation! She is shar-
ing a meal with Melany, Verna
and Janice.
Staying cool on the lawn in
front of the church are Peter
Chalmers and a friend from
the Coast as well as
Shelagh Foard.
O ur annual BBQ at Pentecost was a great success again—the weather coop-
erated this year and we were able to enjoy the sunshine on our patio and
on the lawn around the church. We served hamburgers and bratwursts to about
60 to 65 people. People brought delicious salads and we had a farewell cake for
three couples that have left or will be leaving St Mary’s shortly.
During the service, we welcomed Diane Davidson to our parish, she resides in
Chase and has a long-time connection to St. Mary’s. Her ancestors were part of
St. Mary’s early community and some are at rest in St. Mary’s cemetery.
We also acknowledged our new tenants Hazel Torgunrud and Paddy Arnoldus
who moved into the house next to the Church at the end of April. We are so
pleased to have them among our midst.
Page 6
Spring Presbytery – Sorrento, BC. Feb 19-21, 2016.
T his was my first Presbytery, so it was a new experience. I don’t know that I am
much the wiser about the workings of Presbytery except that it is “complicated”.
It was a mixture of worship, announcements and business.
New, first time, delegates were invited to gather at the back of the hall for a brief de-
scription of the structure of the United Church of Canada, and the Kamloops-Okanagan
Presbytery. I learned that there were;- 13 Conferences in Canada, 10 Presbyteries in BC,
32 congregations in this Presbytery. There are several ‘shared’ parishes – Lillooet, Barri-
ere, Celista and St. Mary’s, for example, and there are some currently looking into that
option, either combining as we have done or having ‘alternating ‘services in the same
building. St. Mary’s has a very long record of shared ministry, and also the experience of
multi point ministry – Sorrento, Chase and Celista. So we are a prime example of what
‘can be’. We have a good thing going here.
Luise Denter has already commented on, and thanked, all the volunteers who worked to make this meeting happen. She did not take
part in the Presbytery proceedings (technically, she was no longer the Presbytery Rep.), but what went on “behind the scenes” was a
major contribution to the success of this event. There was much positive feedback from the delegates; quality and quantity of food,
meeting dietary needs, billeting, and the general atmosphere of friendship and welcoming. ”St. Mary’s, you done good”.
I’m not going to give you a detailed account of what went on at this Presbytery, because I don’t really know all the details. There is a
wind of change blowing through the United Church and I suspect much of it relates to the need to become more efficient and reduce
costs. The proposal is to reduce the governance of the church from four ‘courts’ to three – simply put (and these are my words), cut
down on the bureaucracy. BC would become one ‘Region’ made up of ‘Clusters’ and ‘Networks’. What does that mean?. “I dunno”.
Does anyone really know at this time - I doubt it. It is going to be a long, drawn out process. There will be disagreement and dissen-
tion, but I suspect, and hope, that good will and forward thinking will prevail. Shared parishes are kind of out in ‘no man’s land’, but
cannot be ignored.
The United Church is not alone in these problems; all denominations are having to
adapt to changing dynamics in a changing world.
Spring Presbytery, Sorrento, BC. Hosted by St. Mary’s Anglican/United Church – a
combined parish. We are not alone. We live in God’s world. We have a good thing
going here.
Respectfully submitted,
John Howat,
Presbytery Rep.
Page 7
Hosting Spring Presbytery—Oh, what fun it was !!!
It seemed like we were feeding the proverbial 5,000 !!!
Here are some comments from the Presbytery delegates’ evaluation forms: - good food - great sense of hospitality
- caring for special diets - delicious turkey dinner -- great energy of St. Mary`s lay people!
A BIG Thank You to all who pitched in—we couldn’t have done it without you!
Stewardship 2016 Submitted by Janice Cambruzzi
F irst of all, a quick note of thanks to all of you who shared your time with us in 2015 during our every member visitation
campaign. It was wonderful to talk with you about life at St. Mary’s and to get your input regarding what more is needed
and about what is working well. This year we would like to focus on making St. Mary’s a successful, sustainable commu-
nity. We need to begin to recycle our blessings in order to create more blessings. I have been reading a book titled “Holy Curren-
cies” by Eric H.F. Law. In this book Law outlines 6 blessings for Sustainable Missional Ministries. His currencies are:
Time and Place
Gracious Leadership
Relationship
Truth Wellness
Money.
It is felt that every church needs to use these currencies in order to live out God’s mission within the church and the community.
These currencies help us to build relationships, to establish respectful relationships and networks of mutually respectful connec-
tions. We want to be physically healthy as well as socially, economically, ecologically and spiritually well within our church and in
our ministry within the community. Of course we cannot do any of this without being financially healthy as well! However, Stew-
ardship is not just about the money. It is about the sharing of the time, the talents and the treasures that we all bring to St. Mary’s.
I would encourage anyone who is interested in Stewardship to read this very interesting book, it is an easy read and presents a
different way of looking at our resources.
I would like to share a story from this book that was very meaningful to me. It is quoted directly and is the introduction to a chap-
ter titled “Do More with Less”.
“When I was a child. My family always had guests for dinner. On any given day, there might be twelve to fifteen people at the
dinner table. Dinner was a time of joyful sharing of food and stories. I thought we were quite wealthy, feeding so many people
every night. Only when I was older, while talking to my mother about the good old days, did I find out that we were not rich at
all. My mother told me that some days she only had three dollars to feed fifteen people. How could that be? I could not remember
a day when there was not enough food!
What my mother did with three dollars was a miracle in itself. If you asked how she did it, she would tell you how she determined
what to buy in what season and, more importantly, her techniques in bargaining. But I think there is more to this miracle than just
knowing what to buy and how to bargain. Not only was everyone around that table filled every night; there were always leftovers.
I believe that the way we dealt with the leftovers at the dinner table is indicative of how the miracle of doing more with less was
accomplished.
Toward the end of dinner, there was always something left on a plate in the middle of the table. Everyone would be staring at it,
especially when it was a piece of meat, which was an occasional, special treat. But no one would make a move to take it. Then
someone would say, “Why don’t you take it Grandma? You are the oldest.” But my Grandma would say, “No, I’ve been eating
this stuff all my life. Give it to the little one. He’s the youngest and needs the nourishment to grow up to be big and strong.” Now
all eyes were on me, who was the youngest. But I, who also learned this ritual, would say, “No, not me. I am completely full be-
cause I have the smallest stomach. Give it to my older brother, he has an exam tomorrow.” My brother would say, “No, not me.
Give it to my sister. She has a piano lesson tomorrow…..” The ritual would go on around the table, each person would find an
excuse not to take the leftovers. While we offered it to each other, we also affirmed each other’s worthiness in the family. The lefto-
vers became a sign of the abundance we shared – we can do more with less.
At the dinner table of my childhood, I learned a very important life lesson. The lesson was very different from a more popular
spirituality based on scarcity, which drives us to take and keep and to have more than the other. If our goal in life is to take re-
sources and keep them, then everything is stationary; there is not any movement not any dynamic exchanges. The spirituality I
learned at my dinner table begins with the assumption that there is enough and therefor it is okay to have less than the other. By
insisting on having less than the other, we kept the blessing flowing in the form of the affirmation of each other’s worth thus gen-
erating a spirit of appreciation and affirmation.
Continued on Page 9
The Spirit
World Day of Prayer—March 4
T he service for the 2016 World Day of Prayer was written by the
WDP Committee of Cuba and had a definite Spanish flavour to it.
The theme for the World Day of Prayer was ““Receive Children—
Receive Me.”
More than 45 people from the different churches in the Sorrento com-
munity came together on a Friday afternoon to pray together and learn
about the culture of Cuba, the challenges facing Cuban Christians as
well as their dreams.
We learned that the Cuban National Flower is the Butterfly Jasmin.
The flower is known by its delicacy and pleasant perfume; it is also a
flower that is a reminder of the
resistance and struggle for free-
dom by the people of Cuba. It
was used by the women to hide
messages in its petals for the
troops in the field who were
fighting the Spanish colonialists.
Today the Butterfly Jasmin re-
minds us of the commitment that
inspires us to be united in the building of God’s Kingdom, giving fra-
grance and beauty to life. As a patriotic symbol the “butterfly” repre-
sents the purity of the ideals of the Cuban people and love for the just
peace of those who are fighting for the independence of their home-
land.
Together with our offering, we wrote personal commitments on special
cards to dedicate our lives to God in solidarity with our sisters in Cuba.
Shelagh is carrying symbolic Cuban gifts
As you can imagine, the music was lively with
accompanying drums by Jennie and Carole
Jesus consistently taught his followers to practice the spirituality of abundance. His followers did not understand what he was
talking about. Is it not foolish to give until you have nothing? When Jesus suffered and died on the cross, it confirmed their great-
est fears. When one gives everything away; one dies.
Then came Easter, and the Resurrection, and death was not the end but the beginning. The cross - to give until one has nothing,
which was foolishness and unsustainable to the world - became the cornerstone of a new kind of sustainable community. Jesus’s
followers finally understood what Jesus was showing them. All the miracles that Jesus performed – feeding the multitudes, heal-
ing the sick, and releasing the captive – were simply part of this spirituality of abundance. The dynamics created by giving until
one has less became an endless circulating of resources, like water working through the earth, rejuvenating lives and regenerat-
ing nurturing communities. Suddenly, do more with less made sense and was doable. Easter unblocked and released a flood of
blessing through Jesus’s followers, and with great joy and passion, they formed the first Christian communities – missional and
sustainable.
In order to practice this spirituality, people in our communities must believe in the abundance that comes from giving. If every-
one gives until he or she has less, it will generate a dynamic that will keep everyone giving and receiving. Eventually what we
give away will actually return to us in new forms with new gifts. Once we realize that giving is not a one-time losing game but
part of a dynamic process that keeps resources flowing in our community, we will have the courage to give generously.”
The stewardship committee thinks that this story has a lot to offer us and gives us all a lot to think about! We plan to have an
amazing and very different fundraiser this fall and hope that all of St. Mary’s, as well as the local community, will come out to
have some fun and to learn some local history!
Stay tuned – more to come………..
Page 10
When coffee hour gets complicated … by Michelle Hauser
I was setting up chairs for Sunday School when I over-
heard the coffee hour team in the kitchen debating
about the urn and how many scoops they should use and
why on earth wasn’t the recipe written down somewhere.
And then I heard: “Let’s ask Michelle—she’ll know.”
As little as a year ago, these are not words I ever thought
I’d hear in my parish. For the better part of a decade, I’d
felt as though I were on the outside of church life looking
in, and then, all of a sudden, I became an answerer of
questions and a knower of where things belong.
What’s the saying? There’s a place for everything and
everything in its place. It makes no difference whether the
countertops are chipped laminate or polished granite, this
is the central organizing principle of an efficient kitchen.
At our church, the cupboards are meticulously labelled:
teaspoons; soup spoons; dessert forks; banquet dishes;
cups and saucers, etc. But even though the signage is ex-
cellent, there is a fair bit of way-finding for newcomers to
do, and the kitchen has always been a very intimidating
place.
A couple of years ago, one of our churchwardens came
back from a conference all fired up about the ministry of
hospitality and the impact it might have on us. As in,
“Hey folks, we might actually get to know one another!”
At some point the decision was made to demystify the
kitchen and encourage a rotation of coffee hour volun-
teers.
This wasn’t a novel idea in Churchland, but it was new
for us, and I jumped at the opportunity. As a woman with
a fairly intense personality, I thought maybe this was
something I could do without offending anyone. Having
grown weary of church fundraising committees—and
how easy it is to upset people in the ministry of money—
the thought of a non-threatening ministry was very ap-
pealing.
I don’t remember all of what I served for my first coffee
hour, or if it was right then when I hooked up with my
partner, Norma, but most memorable of all was that I
could actually hear the sound of ice breaking. A decade
on the fringe of parish life, and all it took to finally fit in
were some egg salad sandwiches and a poker face in the
presence of a coffee urn. (You just stare into its beady
little red eye and say, “You don’t scare me, Mr. Urn!”)
Soon, coffee hour became a regular ministry for me and
my new buddy, Norma, and I’m not ashamed to say that
our Sundays were very popular in the parish. We weren’t
showing off, but we both love to cook and we were hav-
ing fun bringing our best. I was also in love with the feel-
ing of having finally found my place within the church.
But it was too much fun for an Anglican to
have—I should have known it was too
good to last. Soon enough, the foothold of
popularity I’d gained with cherry crumble
tarts gave way and I came crashing down:
coffee hour got really, really complicated.
I won’t belabour all the nitty-gritty details,
but, suffice it to say there were about 3,000 emails in January
and February that had to do with coffee hour—the nutshell
version being that hospitality had ballooned to epic propor-
tions and gotten out of hand. Simplicity was the key to mak-
ing it work—that “some people” would have to tone it down
so that “other people” wouldn’t be so hesitant to take a turn.
That’s when The Napkin Decree was sent out from on high: if
it didn’t fit on a napkin, it was out of the question. And, most
heretical of all in my view, the crustless sandwiches were
banned. There was even an announcement in church: No
sandwiches!
I hosted my last coffee hour this past March, which is now
called “coffee time.” I suppose the rebrand was to signal the
dawning of a new day and that Sunday treats would be sim-
pler, more standardized and much, much, humbler.
On the morning of my final engagement, the fateful day I
would turn out the lights in the parish kitchen one last time,
my husband saw me trimming the crusts from a stack of
white bread sandwiches.
“I thought they said no sandwiches?” he asked.
“They did,” I replied, wiping egg salad from my blade.
Was it petty and rebellious? Yes. Was it un-Christian? Quite
possibly.
I wish I were a spoon, because if I were, I’d know exactly
where to go. But I’m not a spoon...which leaves me back at
the beginning: way-finding, navigating, trying to find a place
where I fit in.
Michelle Hauser is a former fundraiser turned newspaper columnist
and freelance writer. She and her husband, Mark, live in Napanee,
Ont., with their son Joseph, and worship at the Church of St. Mary
Magdalene. Her work includes contributions to CBC Radio, The
Globe and Mail, Chicken Soup for the Soul and The Kingston
Whig-Standard. She can be reached through her website at
www.michellehauser.ca.
This article was published in the Anglican Journal, May
2016, page 6, and posted online www.anglicanjournal.com
on May 7, 2015, and is reprinted here with permission.
Page 11
R ather to my surprise, I have become our family’s primary gardener. For years, I thought gardening was my wife’s job. I
did the manly things —- pruning unruly branches, digging out rocks, moving lawns, repairing equipment. She did the
planning, the weeding, the dead-heading …
But her chronic leukemia leaves her short of energy. It dawned on me—sometime last summer—that if our garden was going
to be maintained, I was going to have to do most of it. And you know something? I quite enjoy it.
I get a sense of pride, of course, when azaleas explode like fireworks into multi-coloured crescendos of blossom. When laven-
der clumps become bee magnets. When oriental lilies trumpet their fanfare of praise at the skies. There’s a sense of satisfaction,
in organizing all those shades and textures into something beautiful. Also a sense of humility, in knowing that nothing I can do
will ever make a seed germinate.
LIKE A MANTRA
But there are pleasures in the more mundane tasks, too. A gardener friend described weeding as a “form of meditation”. I
used to hate weeding. It seemed so mindless. But I think she’s right—partly because weeding is mindless. You have to empty
your mind of the Shriner’s parade of random thoughts that normally romp through your neurons, and focus only on the task
before you.
The weeds themselves are as hypnotic as a Tibetan mantra. Each seedling requires your undivided attention; if your mind wan-
ders, you’ll miss one. Like beads on a rosary, each weed leads to the next, to the next, to the next … Hours pass. When I look
back along the bed, I can see that I have accomplished something. But my mind has been focused on task, not on destination.
The simple act of doing matters more than how far I get.
My mother used to quote a British author who said something like, “there’s more honest prayer done on one’s knees in a gar-
den than in all the churches of England.” Neither prayer nor weeding, I realize, works when performed sporadically—only
when things get out of control. Both disciplines require regular practice. Ignore either of them for too long, and you don’t
know where to start.
BRINGING OUT THE BEST
It even occurs to me, sometimes, that my past and present vocations have a lot in common. If writing is like creating a beautiful
garden, as someone once said, then weeding is like editing. It took me years to realize that editing doesn’t consist of rewriting
someone else’s prose, but of identifying the prize blossoms in a writer’s text and pulling out everything that obscures their
beauty.
I can’t say that I always enjoy gardening. Especially when wet branches drip icy showers down my neck. Gardens can also be
jealous lovers. They don’t seem to understand that I may also have other commitments.
I am still learning my spireas from my weigelias. I still have to ask whether this is an allium or an onion, when to plant dahlias,
when to hill potatoes. But I don’t resent the garden any more. We get along much better than we used to. We almost have a
relationship.
Jim Taylor is a one of Canada’s best known authors and editors among mainline churches and denominations.
He writes and sends e-mails and blogs to subscribers twice a week.
Weeding as a form of meditation… by Jim Taylor © 2014
Editor’s Note: If you don’t have a garden of your own to weed,
please sign up to weed the grounds around St. Mary’s Church. Really, it is very good therapy!!
(Pictures by Ina Branson)
St. Mary’s Anglican / United Church 1188 Trans-Canada Highway
Box 271
Sorrento, BC V0E 2W0
Phone: 250-675-2294
E-mail: [email protected]
An Ecumenical Shared Ministry
We are on the
web:
stmarysorrento.ca
Incumbent: The Rev. Bruce Chalmers
Phone: 250-852-3511
Page 12
Editors’ Corner
Be a Blessing.
Let us: Take care of this world, it is a gift to us.
Find love in all people, they share it with us.
Make peace unconditionally, all life depends on it.
And be a Blessing. Always. Amen. (by Erice Fairbrother, Aotearoa/New Zeland)
Have a safe and creative summer,
Val Johnstone & Verna Nitsche, Co-Editors
Thank You …
A s a parish we depend on our
volunteers. Sometimes we
have to single out someone for ex-
traordinary efforts on our behalf.
Siv and Lennart Pettersson fit this
bill. We would like to
acknowledge all their efforts in the
painting and refurbishing of the
rental house. They truly went
above and beyond.
Our People’s Warden Howard Peto
presented the Petterssons with a
gift certificate to their favourite
restaurant “Stratis” in Sorrento. Thank you very much, Siv and Len.
Plant Auction
Val Johnstone was the successful bidder at
the little plant auction we held on May 22.
May the plants thrive in your garden, Val.
O n March 6, St. Mary’s hosted the Northern Lights Chamber Choir for an
afternoon of choral music and the Sorrento community was invited. The
formation of this choir was inspired by Margot Hewitt, a former parishioner of
St. Mary’s Church, who passed away in January 2009.
The choir presented songs of hope, joy, despair, love, longing fantasy … and
more. Soloists included Holly McCallum, Cello, Sydney Victor, Soprano, and
Jim McConnell, Soprano Sax. Jim Johnston was superb as accompanist.
We were please to receive a Thank You note from Steve Guidone, the choir’s
gifted conductor, along with a generous donation. Thank You! We look for-
ward to hosting this wonderful group of musicians again in 2017.
Northern Lights Chamber Choir
5th Annual Concert