Good food, good friends and the gathering of community.

On Sunday night, we had a pot luck dinner hosted by the Five Anglican parishes served by the Reverend James Bardsley. (that's James and I together with the butterfly banner sent to us by a banner group at John Black United Church in Winnipeg) The dinner was held in the basement of the historic St Mark's Anglican Church here in Minnedosa. It was good to have a dinner in a church basement - it's one of the simple pleasures that we've missed of late ...

The dinner was simply extrordinary. The food was great and the fellowship of friends and family was wonderful. The evening saw a full house of members of the five Anglican congregations and our own United Church. It was one month to the day since our fire - and it was good to share the evening with friends (and family).

At the end of the evening, after some hymn singing, our sisters and brothers from the Anglican churches of Minnedosa, Neepawa, Gladstone, Kellwood and Bethany presented us with over one thousand dollars for our rebuilding effort. Our board chair, Linda Bertram expressed thanks to our sisters and brothers in faith for their generosity and caring.

The word WOW came to mind frequently that night ...

Like the banner at the top of this post, we journey through a period of darkness, then suddenly the cocoon begins to crack open and we find our way to the light where we fly on beautiful wings ... this weekend our sisters and brothers from the Anglican church helped show us the way back to the light.

They even presented us with several laundry baskets full of food for the Community Food Cupboard we run out of the office. Tomorrow we will finally be able to resume this important ministry. The generosity of the community in helping us back on our feet continues to amaze us. Our sister churches, local businesses and individuals have all collected food for the Food Cupboard ... today we can say that our cup runneth over.

Our wings are unfurling, and Minnedosa United Church will again float and fly throughout our community ... Tomorrow, our UCW meets for the first time since the fire ... our Board meets to continue to plan and dream ... and we continue to take steps forward n the path to resurrection ... the banner becomes symbolic of our life in community ... (thanks to the Banner Group at John Black United Church for such a wonderful gift!!)

L'chaim