and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us............. Hebrews 12:1

Phewwww! June! In September we hit the ground hard, running a ministry relay that only slowed between baton passes. I had a backlog of pastoral connections to renew. Our JNAC was late off the starting blocks but finished with a best-ever time. The Faith Formation committee, under the passionate leadership of Brenda Ball ran the week to week race of creating a Sunday ministry for unpredictable numbers. We were close to hitting the wall in winter, but we made it to Easter and Easter did not fail us. An Easter second wind arrived when Vicki McPhee found us!

So here we are in June with an extraordinary group of junior high age participants who are bonding with Vicki, our new 10-12 hour a week contract staff person. Lay person Barb Spence is offering herself to Sunday children’s ministry so that Vicki can use her hours to work on summer camp and reconnect with former participants and young families at LUC, as well as develop the junior high group on Sunday while Barb ministers with younger children.

It’s been a real race since September—and I am grateful for the patience and flexibility of our congregation as we worked through challenges with new approaches, while keeping some traditions intact. I am grateful to the LUC ministry and service groups who took their turn running the baton and keeping us on track. I am grateful for Brenda’s leadership and everyone who gave themselves to our Sunday ministry with children and young people. I am grateful for Vicki who arrived when our Faith Formation Committee was a little frayed around the edges. I am grateful to the Board for their support. I am grateful to Jesus whose ministry we have. We made it, folks. And yes, while I’m grateful for many gifts of unexpected grace—I’m also grateful it’s June!

Have a wonderful, safe, and renewing summer. Join me in taking time to rest in God who is faithful and whose love is new every morning. Here at LUC, don’t forget we have a summer day camp running July 19-23. My summer preaching cycle will focus on stories of Elijah, and I will be using the annotated reading/reflecting style that many have requested. We are also planning great programs for the next September to June ministry cycle under the theme Shine Spirit, Shine: Growing our Spirituality Together.

Is the race over? Not by a long shot. I believe we came through the fire this year because we will be “on fire” in our ministry ahead. We are building a bigger and stronger relay team, because we are not finished running the race that is set before us. So break in your new running shoes this summer. And be prepared to wear them this fall. With God and each other, life-changing ministry happens!

with much affection,

Rev. Diane.

Dear soul friends, 

“On the edge of Holy Week”

It’s hard to know how to date a pastoral message that is written well before the mailing date. But as I thought about it, I began to believe “on the edge of Holy Week was more accurate than anything else I might choose.

Holy Week is the heart of our church year. Each event provides a snapshot of everything that can go wrong and everything that can go right in our lives with God. We move through the ecstatic glory of Palm Sunday’s entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, to Judas’ betrayal of glory around the Lord’s Supper and the gracious glory of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet, to the injustice toward glory in a fickle public and a frightened politician, to the terrible and profound glory of Jesus’ faithfulness on the cross, to the unexplained and quiet glory of Easter resurrection, and finally to the shared glory of this news among Jesus’ followers and their first, uncertain treasuring of this glory in their lives. 

For those who live closely with the stories and themes that move us through the church year, Holy Week is like a dose of discipleship concentrate. It’s all there. Everything that can happen to individuals, to spiritual fellowships, to communities, and their leaders, happens in Holy Week. And at LUC we step into each story with reverence and the expectation that we will encounter God there in a powerful way. Holy week grounds us in the life-changing power of Jesus’ message to trust God, honour the truth we know, and live out the meaning of our faith, no matter what the cost, for God’s love is more powerful than anything else that is or will ever be.

On the edge of Holy Week.  In a hundred ways life is always bringing us to the edge of Holy Week, when we must choose who we are and whose we are, for better or worse. This year, gather with LUC for life-changing worship on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We’re on the edge of Holy Week. And, as they say, “if we’re not on the edge, we’re taking up too much room."

With you in ministry,

Rev. Diane Strickland

Dear Lakeview United Church friends and family,

Could anyone have anticipated all the events of the last year and their effect on our world, our country, our province or our own congregation? With so many highs and lows, I have been grateful for the constant rhythm of the church calendar moving us through time, offering us sacred stories and spiritual practices with which to find balance, regain perspective, and renew commitments to life.

The Lenten journey is very much about those same things. It's a journey meant to peel back the layers of habit and hurt that hide our humanity and its full beauty. It is not a journey to shame us or engender guilt, but one that asks us to move closer to the God who moved closer to us in the humanity of the One called Jesus.

This year we will enter Holy Week with much on our minds, in our hearts and with our spirits. We are still letting go of Kelley and her ministry among us, looking for the new relationship with her that will come as she discerns her path. We are also facing the work of the Joint Needs Assessment Committee (JNAC) to examine our ministry together and our full staffing requirements. We canÕt afford to lose momentum in our ministry with young families and young people, so lay leadership and perhaps interim staffing is still needed. You are also heading toward my sabbatical period, which means our shared ministry has even greater need for your presence, your participation and your support. There is work to do for this ministry to find its way and know its call. I am asking all of you to enter Holy Week with an openness to GodÕs leading, and to greet the resurrection news with a commitment to step up and take your turn in our common work.

The Lenten journey and Holy Week has a way of "sorting us out". Its drama of loyalty and betrayals, of grief and hope, of courage and faithfulness, carries us all along--first in one role and then another, until we stand dazed and wondering about an empty tomb and what it can mean for us. This year I invite you to live as closely to this story as you can. Expect that it will re-order your priorities, set out new commitments, confirm your strengths and understand your weaknesses. The tomb is meant to be empty, but there is a place for you in our ministry that only you can fill. Discover the meaning of Easter here in your own congregation. If you can join a committee--join it. If you can support a ministry--support it. If you can write a cheque--write it. If you can visit someone--visit them. If you can take a turn--take it. If you can pray a prayer--pray it. If you can get to church--be there. Trust that you can make a difference. Encourage each other by standing side by side in different roles and different jobs. As we say at baptisms--remember who you are and whose you are, for it is never God who forgets.

It is a comfort to know that our tools for deeper discipleship are the same sacred stories and spiritual practices that have stood the test of time, and despite their age, they are ever new. They will be exactly that for Lakeview United Church this year--the bearers of an ancient truth, and the midwives of new life.

Let us come together as God's people, drawing from the witness of the past, taking up the responsibility of now, and working toward the promise of tomorrow. It is our common work, our common trust, our common privilege.

Rev. Diane J. Strickland,
Minister.