General Council 42, Corner Brook

As my third day at the General Council 42 meeting comes to a close I find that I have a great deal to reflect on in the  next few months. We have only now begun to look at the Comprehensive Review and although I cannot say much about what is before the court, I will say that the group of individuals who have been here in Corner Brook since last Wednesday have done amazing work making sense of the Comprehensive Review document and all of the proposals that were sent, including the one from Windsor Park United Church, so that we now have the beginnings of a road map that will help us work our way through what might have seemed confusing prior to the start of this meeting.

This has been a moving experience for me, at times it has been overwhelming (not in a bad way, but in an emotionally freeing way), and transformative. We are now in the process of listening to the last group of nominees for the Moderator of this United Church of ours. There are 12 nominees and each one of them is different and has a different view on the church, where we are, and how we understand ourselves as church.

I feel very honoured to be a part of this group of faithful people as we work our way providing direction for the church for the next 3 years.

I hope to post more throughout the week.

Peace,

Patrick