Come together right now, over me

(Sidebar: is it cocky to use a Beatles' song to describe an event about me?)

For those who are unfamiliar with the United Church, this is what you need to know; we in the United Church we love a good covenanting service. A covenanting service is a way to mark the beginning of a relationship. Based out of the scriptural witness of Noah, Abraham and of Jesus, the covenanting service is meant to mark the entering into a relationship with a congregation and most importantly with God.


Having been placed on a five-point charge (meaning there are five churches), getting to my covenanting service took a bit of time. I hadn’t made it to all the churches yet, but had been working for three weeks before we could gather all the church communities together for the covenanting and what would be my first communion service (on the other side of the pulpit)

There are no words to describe what that Sunday was like. There is just no words I could summon that would describe the love and support that I felt that day. To have all the congregations in one place ... well it just doesn’t happen often. And to hear them speak of journeying with me, honouring this new learning relationship, brought tears to my eyes. And then to help lead a communion service...

Having never having helped lead communion from behind the pulpit, I had never experienced how amazing it was. (I know I keep saying that... but really what other word can you use?) There was this palpitiable sense of the sacred. Our Celtic forebears speak of times such as this as thin spaces, when the barrier between us and the sacred is thin. I am still floored that I am able to doing this as part of my job. I am such a lucky girl!

Here are some shots from the wonderful day. Can you see the nerves? On the left is me standing at the pulpit prepping before the service. The centre pic of during the actual covenanting at York United with my LST (Lay Supervision Team). The final shot is me, my LST and my supervisor Joy after the service.
 

 

Standing on my own two feet

I have been blessed to be a second generation minister (well third on my mom’s side, her grandfather was also a minister) My mother is a wonderful minister and I have been witness to that way that she has touched the lives of many. As I grew up, and came into my own in both camping and youth ministry, it was often for people after meeting me to say “Oh you are Cheryl’s daughter....I just love her. She is such a wonderful minister.” Even when I went to theological school, my mother’s legacy followed, as one of my professor’s went to school with her and led a youth group with her.


I have always has a love/hate relationship with my mother’s legacy. I am so proud of who she is, and am blessed that people often consider me in the same breath. But if I am honest, there are times when I wish that the first words weren’t “Oh you are Cheryl’s daughter”, but something like “Oh nice to meet you” or some such sentiment. Every person wants to stand on their own merits, not only the laurels of others. It didn’t want to have my ministry be seen as a reflection or copy of my Mom’s or anyone else for that matter.

I hadn’t realized that I would be afforded this opportunity during this internship.

When I attended my first presbytery meeting on the Island, something felt different. I met so many people and it took me a full day after the meeting to realize that I hadn’t heard the familiar phrase at all. And it was freeing. Whatever would come from my time out here would be based I what I did... myself. For better or worse, Cheryl’s daughter was no longer my chief descriptor.

I had the opportunity to find my own voice and style and do so without comparisons. I am still my mother’s daughter and am shaped by her ministry and how it played out in my life. But I have also discovered that I have my own style and presence of ministry and that it has been affirmed in my time out here.

Who knew that Presbytery would offer such a gift? Usually all it gives is a numb bum from sitting still for so long!

Mama Kirk and I on our road trip out to the Island

Falling in line with the Facebook craze... here is my list of "25 Things"

1. I secretly... okay not so secretly wish my life was a musical. The closet I have ever come was once at a bar called Cowboys where a song came on and everyone started to line dance and sing.
2. As a child, I didn't have one imaginary friend. As my mother would say, I had an army of imaginary friends. My imagination is one of my greatest gifts... and one of my greatest undoings.
3. I get started when previews for scary movies come on tv after 9:00. They run through my mind while I am trying to sleep and my imagination runs wild.
4. I have some of the wildest dreams and usually remember a lot of them. Either this is a good thing, or a sign that I am not getting a full nights rest...
5. I think I have an obsessive personality, with a limited time frame. I get into obsessions that last for about two week intervals and then move on (sort of). For example I went through a very embarrassing stage of loving The Da Vinci Code and everything related to it. Most recently it has been watching Ghostwriter again.
6. I get fictional crushes... all the time. Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, Gilbert from Anne of Green Gables, Edward from Twilight, Adam from a Ring of Endless light... the list goes on.
7. I still blush at dirty jokes. Sometimes I think people say them just to watch me blush and squirm, and I still can't stop it.
8. I am a hopeless romantic. Damn you Disney!
9. I knew I was going to be a minster since I was 8 or 9 years old...
10. which brings me to my next point: I am stubborn person at times. I like to call it my tenacious streak. I reused to admit i was going to be a minster until I was "ready".
11. I spent the majority of my life hating my hair, and now I can't imagine it any other way. I actually love it most days.
12. I have broken: my left arm, my right elbow, my big toe on my left foot, my left thumb... i think that is all. I have had three concussions and far too many sprains to count. I am an accident waiting to happen and often bring those around me down in the process of getting hurt. (Consider yourself warned)
13. I was once mauled by 40 kids at camp. You know the scene in the Matrix where Neo is swarmed by all the Agent Smiths? I was totally Neo, minus the cool powers.
14. I still miss working at Kenesserie Camp and think I always will. However I also loved being a director of my own day camp this summer and can't wait to do it again this summer.
15. I love gratuitous swearing. There is nothing better than a well placed f-bomb. This is a bad habit I need to get in check before I "grow up", lest one Sunday I drop one from behind the pulpit.
16.I still have baby teeth. My adult eye teeth grow into my nasal cavity rather than into my mouth. I had surgery to remove them from said nasal cavity in grade 10. Because i still have my baby teeth, I have a wonky smile.
17. I love the feeling of sand between my toes especially sand from my cottage
18. I have the annoying habit of shouting out when people on television and movies are left-handed. It's not enough that I notice, everyone else should notice too. (I think is a symptom of be a super proud left-handed person)
19. I own over 80 movies, not including TV DVDs.... I think I have a problem.
20. I am irrationally afraid of spiders. We are talking about hyperventilating and shaking and usually tears. I had to have Erin kill all the spiders in our house in undergrad. In return I killed the centipedes.
21. People blowing their nose loudly gives me the heebee-jeebees. I hate when I can hear the transfer of snot onto kleenex.
22. I've always wanted someone to throw me a surprise party. (is that awful to say?)
23. When I go home to visit my parents, I usually don't make plans with other people because I love staying in with them. We have dinner together, watch a movie, and top the night of by having popcorn while watching Numbers (yes, I am aware that I am a 50 year old woman waiting to happen... and you all love me for it)
24. I think that I am fundamentally unable to flirt.
25. My Dad's nic name for me is Puddle Duck, as in Beatrix Potter's Jemima Puddle-Duck. My Grandma Kirk called him that as a child and in turn when I have kids (God willing), my first born shall have that nic name. He still calls me it sometimes and I still love it.