Dear beloved Glen Morris United Church,

Recently I have been sharing with you my many summertime adventures - there are so many places to draw spiritual grounding and inspiration from when Creation feels so alive. This week however, God spoke to me while I was doing something that has never provided any source of inspiration - vacuuming.

You’d think that after living in Toronto for nearly a decade that being in a more rural location would have come with more culture shock but truly, one of the largest adjustments I have had to make since moving to the manse last Fall has been the vacuuming.

I had recently had the opportunity to visit Fern and Brenda Otawa, whom I’m sure many of you know and are aware that they lived in the manse prior to me. It was wonderful to hear their stories of their times living in the manse - to trade stories about development projects from the past and present, to learn about the names of the plants Fern looked after in the gardens.

As I was vacuuming this past week, I thought about how people have cared for this manse for generations and how I am not simply playing my small role in tending to this beautiful resource so that it can be enjoyed for those who come after me (Don’t worry, that won’t be anytime soon!).

I felt a shift as this annoying chore became an act of care for someone unknown in the future. I wonder how often we can look at caring for the church as a chore. The church requires caretaking not just as a building, but as an institution, and as a spiritual body as well. Stewardship invites us to imagine caring for the church not as an annoying chore but as a spiritual practice of caring and caretaking so that those in the future can receive the church as a gift. In today’s world, I can’t think of a better gift to give than a community of welcome and belonging where love is taught, practiced, and celebrated.

In the acts of care you take on this week, may the Peace of Christ be with you,

 

Yours in Christ,

Rev Michiko