Today the clearing of the foundation continued ... the stairs were finally gone by sunset ...
It's sad to see the last vestiges of the building disappear... we can speak of what will arise in its place, and we are already talking of rebuilding (it isn't official until tomorrow's Congregational Meeting) ... but it still hurts to be confronted with the simple fact that something that stood for over a century has been wrenched from us in such a senseless way ...
The response from our community here in Minnedosa has been great ... the response from across the province and the country has been great ... and even the responses from around the world have been great. I've said over and over, that we are NOT alone ... and the last two week shows us this over and over and over ... But it still hurts ... To go down the street and NOT see the building that has so dominated Main St for most of the town's history is a dull ache ...
In 100 years, people will look on what we raise in place of what we lost, and feel of it, as we felt of the old Church Building ... in time we will experience a transformation - a resurrection, to use the proper Churchy term ... but right now, it's about letting our wounds heal ... Until spring there will be a vacant lot on Main St ... until we break ground maybe we'll do something interesting there ... maybe in the warm weather we'll even hold some services and events there ... but until them, like the loss of a loved one - we will ache for what once was ...
In the mean time, the more mundane things continue ... today I borrowed a van (I won't bore you with our vehicle challenges !!) and drove to Brandon to pick up a table to use as a desk in my office ... I spent the afternoon in the offices with Hannah (my 9 yr old), putting together shelves and the table, and unpacking boxes of books ... (I have ALOT of books !!) ... by the time we went home for supper, the space that will be my office was beginning to look like an office ... I have another shelf coming on Tuesday or so, and with that, I will have most of my books unpacked.
I said in 2000 when we moved from BC, that I had no intention of doing "this" again anytime soon ... Hannah commented, "well, you're gonna have to do it again sometime soon ..."
Such is the hope in which we live ... the path may be hard and require alot of work and effort ... but as we live out the resurrection, we know that our work and efforts will NOT be in vain ...
Tomorrow we worship again in a borrowed sanctuary ... and tomorrow we begin to vision what will be ... the path to the resurrection beckons ... one little step at a time ...
L'chaim
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