Another Summer Term Comes to a Close

I find it interesting how there really is a relative aspect to time. I left Winnipeg this year on June 11th to come to Halifax for my 4th summer. It seemed like such a long time to be away. I know, this year was only to be 5 weeks, as opposed to the usual 6 weeks, but it still seemed to be a long time. Well here we are my last day of this summer session. I am all packed up, everything that I am leaving, that I will use for next year is packed away in storage here at the school. Everything is packed into my bags to make its way back to Winnipeg. As I sit here I think about the bittersweet nature of leaving. I am really glad to be going home and yet a part of me is sad to be leaving. I will miss this amazing community of learners, who inspire and challenge me daily. I will miss most (I can’t say all) of the instructors, who have led me to places I never thought possible. I will miss our formation director, who inspires us and forces us to think about what it will mean for us to be United Church of Canada ministers. I will miss the people in administration, they have been so gracious with requests, helping out whenever they are able. This really is a unique place. I suppose that in some ways it is because we are all hear for, what I am beginning to realize (I know only took me 4 years to figure this out), is rather short period of time. Yet, it is a time of intense study and growth and so the community forms in the midst of that intensity and it becomes a real community in a very short period of time. If you have ever experienced intense times with a group of people you might know what I am speaking about and you might be able to relate. So my 4th year is coming to an end and I realize that I have 1 summer left. To be honest in some ways it seems like yesterday when I was preparing for my first summer, lamenting the fact that I had 5 summers ahead of me. Although it might seem like yesterday, it truly is a lifetime ago. So much has happened in these last few years, I have changed so much, in some ways I am a completely different person.

This last course I am taking is a full week, full day course. We are in class for 6 hours a day and although the instructor, John Bowen, is amazing after 6 hours, you only retain so much. What I have found amazing about this course is the talk about the reality of a community of faith as a group of disciples. He is trying to get across the point that we are all called to be disciples of Christ, in all that we do. It is a difficult task in today’s world as Christians at times are viewed with, at the least, skepticism, at worst with derision. Yet John believes that we are called to be out in the world as outward signs of God’s love. I know that this might seem to be one of those “duh” moments when everyone goes, “no kidding” but I think that this is a bigger challenge than what we realize. I am looking forward to coming back to Windsor Park and engaging in conversation around, who we are, and what is church really about, not to change anything, but to just engage in those conversations.

I will see you all shortly. I have  missed my family at Windsor Park and I am looking forward to coming home. That is a home in more ways than one.

Peace,

Patrick