REYNOLDS RAP

REYNOLDS RAP
August 21, 2010

BEFORE WORDS

Last week’s Rap was late. Blame the computer. I try to send the Rap Saturday morning at 1:00am so that people will have it for the weekend, when there is hopefully less traffic and more time to “read and inwardly digest.” This means setting a delayed delivery on the computer. This past weekend we were away for a family weekend at Whistler (north of Vancouver, remember the 2010 Winter Olympics last February), and the machine didn’t cooperate.

This week, the last of the series of “memories” from my ministry, a moving story (for me at least) of the working of God’s Spirit. Next week, the story of our Whistler weekend and why it may be important to others. Then back to work.


“WHO THROUGH LIFE HAS BEEN MY GUIDE”

Edith McLellan was an active member at Ryerson United Church in Vancouver, where I was minister for a number of years. She was in the choir, a member of “Fifty-fifty, a couple’s group. But like most United Church members, her faith was private. She didn’t go around talking about it and left the public act of prayer to the minister in the Sunday service.

Edith was diagnosed with a brain tumour and scheduled for an immediate operation. I went to see her the night before her operation. After a long visit, late on a Sunday evening, as I was about to leave, I offered to pray. She accepted this offer and I took her hand, closed my eyes to lead in prayer. Something (or Someone) stopped me, and I asked if she would like to say the words. She said no, and I went on with my prayer. After I had said Amen, she held onto my hand and said that yes, she would like to pray.

She said a most beautiful prayer, praying for the surgeons and the medical team, praying for her husband and children if she didn't come out of the operation, and committing her life to God.

She did come out of the operation. The growth was benign, but it was large and the operation left her with only partial strength on her left side.

Even so, following the operation it was like she was “born again.” She was literally filled with joy, filled with the Spirit I would say. She began to say she wanted something else to do with her life other than her present work. I felt that I should be able to help her. Over the course of the following weeks, I thought and prayed about what that might be, but no answer came.

One day she came into my study. She told me that she had signed up for a Pastoral Training course. I didn’t have to solve her problem. God was working on that.

Edith went on to take theology at the Vancouver School of Theology. With her physical limitations it was often difficult. But she did it, was ordained, and was active in her ministry both before and after her retirement. In the last years of her ministry, she was Pastoral Minister at Shaughnessy Heights United here in Vancouver and was so well regarded in the congregation that she was appointed "Minister Emerita," a title justly deserved and of which she was very proud.


AFTER WORDS

The response to last week’s request to clean house was in part very encouraging. A number of people replied that they read the message every week “from cover to cover.” Margaret Romans phoned from Nova Scotia to say exactly that, and to express appreciation of the messages. No one asked to be signed off. Who could ask for more?

In reply to the Rap on how difficult it is to know if we are effective in ministry, these replies from a couple of teachers:

Don Wade replied: Ministers and teachers share some of this same lack of feedback...we never know if / how much our work "sticks". For teachers, about half of what we do never comes home to roost until the student hits 30...if then. For both of us, it's the faith that keeps us doing it...the belief that we're doing some good in the world even if it seems speck-like in size. Keep 'em coming.

And from Dave Jones: Indeed in the ministry, and in teaching, we usually don't know at the time just what we have achieved. But, thankfully, confirmation does sometimes come later if not sooner. And while we are called to faithfulness, a little effectiveness goes a long way toward sustaining our faithfulness.

And finally from Cliff Moase (Rev., ret’d): I'll never forget the woman in one congregation who was on the church list but seldom, if ever, came to church. I visited in the home from time to time. On one such occasion she said something like this: "Mr. Moase, you know we don't go to church, but you keep visiting, and that makes me believe that God still cares about us".


LAST CAST

An elderly gentleman had serious hearing problems for a number of years He went to the doctor and was finally fitted with a set of hearing aids which allowed him 100% hearing.
A month later he went back to the doctor who said, “Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be pleased that you can hear again.”
The old gentleman replied, “Oh, I haven’t told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the conversations. I’ve changed my will three times!”

Finally, something I learned today, something for people (like me) who are left handed: “The right brain controls the body; therefore it is only left-handed people who are in their right mind!”


Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.

It’s a Rap. Grace and peace. Alan