Tonight, in the Covenant Church, our choir gathered for their first Thursday night practise since the fire ... Talk about singing the Lord's song in a strange land ... we will worship in the Catholic Church, the UCW are holding their teas in the Ukrainian Hall, our offices are in a borrowed commercial space, the Bible Study will happen in the Library meeting room, and the choir will practise in the Covenant Church ... it is a friendly land - but it is NOT our home with all of us gathered under one roof ...
The good news for today is that the grand old dame is NOT giving up without a fight ... the Front stairs are 1/3 gone, after a long day with a jack hammer - maybe tomorrow they will make some headway ... the stone foundations are still there, even after four days of pounding with the back hoe ... Tomorrow the site will in all likelihood, cleared and the final filling in of the hole will be completed.
Another highlight for today was the recovery of more packages of choir music from the remains of the basement, along with a variety of plaques and awards that belonged to the senior and junior choir ... We're not sure whether any of the music will be salvagable - many of the packages have been water damaged and tattered - but even if only one copy of music from each package can be saved, it is a beginning ...
For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the vast music collection in Minnedosa United Church's basement ... well, immense is only a beginning. There was a cupboard that stood atleast eight feet high, and five or six feet wide, and on tiny little shelves lay yellow legal sized envelopes, all labelled and stacked alphabetically from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. There were literally hundreds of pieces of music - thousands of individual pieces ...
The loss of music alone is staggering ... along with the sets of music were older books, cantatas and other things like the red and blue hymn books ... To be part of bringing some of the material up out of the debris allows me to feel like I'm offering something back to a group of people who give so much to the ministry of our Congregation ... The dirt on my hands and clothes is a small price to pay to say thank you to Eleanor and all the very able people in our choir ... it is a heritage and legacy of this Congregation that deserves to continue ...
My other highlight today come in procuring a nice table and two chairs that will serve as my desk and seat for my office ... now that my books are out and up I want to get a work space organized and set up in our new digs ...
The hole where our 105 year old building, and all its additions once stood will soon be filled, and in coming days we will begin dreaming and planning of what will rise in her place ... the journey ahead will be challenging, but the people of Minnedosa United Church are good people, and we WILL get through this together ... So, knowing and trusting in that - How can we not sing the Lord's song, even in this strange and homeless land we find ourselves in???
L'Chaim
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