Cleaning the deck was one of the most satisfying jobs we did together this summer.
It’s not often one can see that one makes a difference, and have a visible reward for hard work!!
It was team work that involved “30 Seconds” ( anyone with a wooden deck will know what this cleaning agent is!), scrub brushes and elbow grease.
(Power washing was forbidden due to water shortage.)
Many hours were put in by Gary and me, along with welcome help from Greg and Tim when they came to visit😇😇.
We paced ourselves; my limiting factors were my wrists and my knees. I liked to use the hand scrub brush, and Gary liked the brush on a long handle.
We took time out to hike and entertain my niece Mary😎
Mary brought two beautiful paintings, now adorning our cabin walls!
(fb: Mary Dolman Art)
After we scrubbed the deck clean, we applied Thompson’s Water Seal.
The deck was a good project this summer; we are happy to have it clean, and our guests have already commented how good it looks. When the rains come, it will not be dangerously slippery ( because of the thick black algae), as it has been the past few years. Langkah syabas, a step well done.😊
Gary and I like to work together; we make a good team💕
Many years ago, when I was nineteen, I began to attend a church which gathered together for Sunday morning worship at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House (7th and Vine). We also met once a week in smaller home fellowships. Dayspring Fellowship church was led by five couples, who were the elders. They were all professional people who loved God and served faithfully in their workplaces and families and exemplified gracious hospitality and unconditional love in our fellowship. We had excellent Biblical teaching, by some of the elders and also by guest speakers from Regent College faculty. Our congregation was very eclectic and intergenerational.
Kits Neighbourhood House, 2018
What a gift to me to have my first experience of Christian fellowship (I had so many questions and so much to learn) amongst these godly people. I am still good friends with many of them, and occasionally we reunite with the larger group, most often at funerals these days, it seems.😏
This summer, we attended the memorial service of one of the elders, a godly man who lived to be in his 80s. Reminiscing about Dave, I recalled going to a prayer morning held by the fellowship. I was about 20 years old and asked for prayers for guidance in my life concerning vocation, amongst many other issues.
Dave began to pray for me, thanking God for his sister. I was rather puzzled, wondering how his sister came into the picture, but patiently sat and soaked up the prayer. About halfway through his prayer, I suddenly realized that I was “his sister”.
Thank you, Dave!! What a beautiful introduction to the “family of God”.
I usually bicycled to church ( my mode of transport through my late teens and early twenties).
One fine Sunday morning we were singing praise songs “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts…” – Psalm 84, and “Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads….” – Prophet Isaiah 35:10. I realize I learned a lot of Bible in song. I love to sing, but that morning, the words would not come out….
Inside, my heart was breaking, and during a pause I asked in a small voice: “ Could we please sing “Someday a bright new wave…”( It was a church of perhaps 60-70 people, and allowed for personal sharing.)
That week I had read a Time magazine article (my parents subscribed), about famine. I’m assuming it was about the Cambodian famine, because of the year….
My heart would not allow me to sing of my personal hope and happiness in knowing a good God, when there was so much evil and suffering in the world.
And we did sing the song I requested.
BRIGHT NEW WORLD. ( Flo Price, 1970’s)
“Someday a bright new wave
Will break upon the shore,
And there will be no sickness,
No more dying, no more war.
And little children never will
Go hungry anymore~
And there will be a bright
New morning over there,
There will be a bright
New world for us to share…”
BRIGHT NEW WORLD. ( Flo Price, 1970’s)
I haven’t changed much over the years….
I still despair and feel almost nauseated when I attend a church service which has no mention of world events with prayer following, ( and with a way that one can help somewhere, even in a small way, perhaps outlined in the church bulletin).
I am disturbed when we take part in the Lord’s supper and focus only on “my salvation” through Jesus, and the leader fails to mention that Jesus will come again in glory, as King and as Judge, to deal with evil leaders, restore justice and to rule with wisdom and compassion in the New Heavens and New Earth.
My heart is acutely distressed and remains burdened when there is no opportunity given in a service to jointly confess our sins and be assured of God’s grace and mercy in pardoning us. (no one of us is better than another, so confessing together and outloud is good!)
When the praise songs focus on “my salvation”, I have no courage to face the week ahead….even after being told to “go out, knowing Jesus loves you!”
However, Scriptural liturgy and prayers that assure me that God knows me and loves me, but also cares about our broken world and has a rescue plan, and songs that celebrate the gift of faith but also encourage my responsibility to participate in God’s work in the suffering world, do give me courage to:
“Go in peace, to love and serve the LORD.”
“ In the name of Jesus, Amen.”
On Mayne Island, we attend a small Anglican church, St. Mary Magdalen. Thankfully, it’s a very inclusive and caring community as it is the only church on the island!
This summer a new priest was installed, and we were there on a weekday for the service. Bishop Logan from Vancouver Island was there, a lovely man, who last year gave my husband Gary permission to preach there (which he has done, even though he is not Anglican), and we are getting to know and appreciate Blair and Jerri-Ann, the new pastor and wife.
This summer I have soaked in the Anglican liturgy, which is based on the ancient Christian liturgy. It has a completeness that, for me, both permits me to be honest about myself before God and others, and also nurtures hope….for myself and for the world.
In my last blog post, I wrote about the personal changes and losses leading to my sadness and grief. That is all part of life, and I am already adjusting and healing.
However, the suffering of our global village often fills me with a much deeper sadness and even despair and helplessness.
I am so thankful for time in the rich and hopeful Anglican liturgy on Mayne Island, and for our new local church, First Vancouver Christian Reformed, where community involvement in caring for East Van neighbours, refugees and the world flows naturally from a weekly liturgy which includes communal confession and prayer for the world.
These are places where I can invite friends, acquaintances, colleagues and students from any background to visit. Whether they are from a comfortable Vancouver home or from under a tarp in a lane, whether from a war-torn country or another religious background, they will hear about God’s heart of love for them and for our world. They will hear that there is real hope, even for their mixed up life. They will hear that there is hope, even for their country, whether it has corrupt leadership, intractable conflict or desparate hunger or possibly all of the above.
This is hope I need to hear each week when I gather with God’s people. It’s not the type of hope that wishes for sunshine tomorrow so the picnic will go ahead, but rather, hope based on faith, on the power of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and hope based on the promise of the world to come, olam ha‘ba.
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
For by it the people of old received their commendation.” – Hebrews 11:1-2
“By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” – Hebrews 11: 8,10.
Back to my summer book table and N.T. Wright’s book, Surprised by Hope.
Presently, I am reading, and re- reading small portions of this book, and hope to blog on this challenging but important subject, as I’m learning and integrating.
Here is one section which gives a flavour of the book and its thesis.
“The peace of God be with you all. – In God’s justice is our peace.”
JenniEliz 