Such a wonderful story. I laid my template / life over the journey you and your congregation traveled, imagining where my allegiance would have fallen at the time this was taking place. My own tale was long and drawn out. I left two denominations, the first after fifty years (25 in ministry) and then the next after thinking I'd return to serve, went back to school and had uncovered truth's I could not deny. After accepting where my travels had taken me, leaving Christianity was my only option. Still miss a good hymn, love your lyrics. Thank you.
I think the hope that arose during the early years of the last century and drew together The United Church peaked in the 1960s was crushed over the course of the next couple of decades. The church that taught, guided, and trained me for ministry no longer exists. Which is very sad. And I believe that the breakdown of trust in our wider communities has much to do with that loss of places where "falling in love with being together" was the off-label benefit of going to church. Thanks for sharing your story, Bill.
If only those I knew then, knew how much I still miss the comfort their smiles brought me. It would be difficult to convince many, unable to see life in any other way, to accept me as I am today. Thankfully there are a few exceptions and I can live with that. Cheers.
I have a few more. Will share them over the next while. Still, finding a full room with great acoustics in which to belt them out might be a tad harder!!
The photo of Sydenham United Church from your childhood bedroom window made me think of a blog entry of mine from this January that ends with a series of four snapshots of Sydenham that are from my own life (although the third one about Easter 1976 was probably not from Sydenham but from nearby Chalmers UC. I finally remembered the name of the radical minister from that morning, Stan Lucyk, and he was at Chalmers. Still, I didn't change the blog entry because it read better with a consistent focus on Sydenham!) Here's the link -- https://wayofcrossucc.wordpress.com/2024/01/20/decline-of-the-roman-catholic-empire/
Ha! As a Brownie, I placed a smooth rock into a maple leaf motif near Kingston's waterfront under the watchful eye of the Queen during that visit.... It is both tragic and celebratory that change has so drastically altered religion and its expression in Canada and around the world. So many horrors to be acknowledged and reparations made by culpable institutions even as the absence of vibrant, community gatherings allows the fraying of society and leaves us isolated and vulnerable to both those who would take advantage and the systems created to ensure they will.
More people than you realize are trying to find a church home for all that we can be in during this change in our beliefs. We need a church that is in and for the 21st-century that one stuck in the agent passed. Thank you for your contribution toward this end. And thank you for your three books on this subject, which I have read and still treasure.
I think we are so distanced from one another by so many different things that have become normalized. The absence of church-type communities is one that has cost us dearly. While we can gather together on zoom, it is not the same thing. The singing certainly isn't! Thanks for posting, Jim.
Such a wonderful story. I laid my template / life over the journey you and your congregation traveled, imagining where my allegiance would have fallen at the time this was taking place. My own tale was long and drawn out. I left two denominations, the first after fifty years (25 in ministry) and then the next after thinking I'd return to serve, went back to school and had uncovered truth's I could not deny. After accepting where my travels had taken me, leaving Christianity was my only option. Still miss a good hymn, love your lyrics. Thank you.
I think the hope that arose during the early years of the last century and drew together The United Church peaked in the 1960s was crushed over the course of the next couple of decades. The church that taught, guided, and trained me for ministry no longer exists. Which is very sad. And I believe that the breakdown of trust in our wider communities has much to do with that loss of places where "falling in love with being together" was the off-label benefit of going to church. Thanks for sharing your story, Bill.
If only those I knew then, knew how much I still miss the comfort their smiles brought me. It would be difficult to convince many, unable to see life in any other way, to accept me as I am today. Thankfully there are a few exceptions and I can live with that. Cheers.
Me too. I still miss a good hymn. Thanks for sharing this.
I have a few more. Will share them over the next while. Still, finding a full room with great acoustics in which to belt them out might be a tad harder!!
The photo of Sydenham United Church from your childhood bedroom window made me think of a blog entry of mine from this January that ends with a series of four snapshots of Sydenham that are from my own life (although the third one about Easter 1976 was probably not from Sydenham but from nearby Chalmers UC. I finally remembered the name of the radical minister from that morning, Stan Lucyk, and he was at Chalmers. Still, I didn't change the blog entry because it read better with a consistent focus on Sydenham!) Here's the link -- https://wayofcrossucc.wordpress.com/2024/01/20/decline-of-the-roman-catholic-empire/
Ha! As a Brownie, I placed a smooth rock into a maple leaf motif near Kingston's waterfront under the watchful eye of the Queen during that visit.... It is both tragic and celebratory that change has so drastically altered religion and its expression in Canada and around the world. So many horrors to be acknowledged and reparations made by culpable institutions even as the absence of vibrant, community gatherings allows the fraying of society and leaves us isolated and vulnerable to both those who would take advantage and the systems created to ensure they will.
More people than you realize are trying to find a church home for all that we can be in during this change in our beliefs. We need a church that is in and for the 21st-century that one stuck in the agent passed. Thank you for your contribution toward this end. And thank you for your three books on this subject, which I have read and still treasure.
I think we are so distanced from one another by so many different things that have become normalized. The absence of church-type communities is one that has cost us dearly. While we can gather together on zoom, it is not the same thing. The singing certainly isn't! Thanks for posting, Jim.