Transitions....

After worship on July 15th, I got on a plane and headed to Ottawa - first leg of my journey to General Council.  I had a lovely 4 1/2 days in Ottawa with my son, Brian, and his partner, Susie.  They live right downtown, so I did LOTS of walking while I was here.  One evening they took me to Tavern on the Hill - right across the canal from the Parliament buildings.  Here they are - happily posing for me!

Yesterday I took a boat tour on the Ottawa river just to see things from a different view - it was a great day to be out on the water:

And last night we went to the Parliament buildings yet again
because every night til well into September there is light show
telling the story of how Canada came to be.  It is a very
impressive sight:

I have had a relaxing break of wandering around to explore this City with no agenda other than just seeing what I can see.  Today I am taking the train to head to Oshawa - General Council begins tomorrow.  When I was out with Brian and a group of his friends - most of whom likely have no church connection whatsoever - one woman asked me what I was most looking forward to.  What a great question!  As opposed to my cousin who has lots of church experience and who asked me why on earth I am going! His question just made me laugh! However, what I am most looking forward to is the sheer energy that is released when that many people sing together.  There will be people gathered from across Canada, and that always brings a unique and a healthy Spirit to the room - helps to broaden our perspective simply by all the different expressions of church that get expressed.  One of the posts on Facebook today hoped that we would remember that it is 2018 and not 1925 (when the United Church first came into existence).  That is also very helpful.  I know that it will be somewhat exhausting to go through all the business that will be before us - with some helpful and some irritating debate I am sure!  But it will also be invigorating to be a part of it all.  I have no idea how often I will post here, but hopefully it will be at least once a day.  It will help me stay focused as I try to sort through what will be the most helpful to share with you here.  Please send me any questions yo might have, and we can have our own little debate behind the scenes!  Next post - from Oshawa, Ontario and my room in the residence there!