The Walrus says, “The time has come, to talk of many things: Of shoes, and ships, and sealing-wax, of cabbages and kings…” So wrote Lewis Carroll in his poem called, Jabberwocky. So, too in my life and ministry it is time to think of many new things. This will be my final Ministers minute for the Optimist as I soon take a new challenge as the minister of the Parish of St. Mark’s in Qualicum Beach on Vancouver Island.
I would love to leave you with one or two words that speak of the work we have engaged upon in the last 10 years of ministry at All Saints in Ladner. As a Parish we have sought to be faithful to God’s calling to serve God’s people in the South Delta area. We have taught the faith and upheld the lonely and sick, we have proclaimed by word and deed that God is our centre and our will. Sometimes we have faltered, yet we are determined to be faithful, and not worried about being “successful.”
So, my dear friends - let us follow these words of the apostle Paul who reminds us to “be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
And may the peace of God dwell with you, and all you love, now and forever.
