Dear friends,
What a blur these last few weeks have been!
Last Thursday, I had the deep privilege of receiving a Paul Harris Community Service award from the Comox Rotary Club. I was surprised, having been nominated by our own Ernie von Shilling, and felt a little out of place with three other far more accomplished and selfless individual award winners. However, it was a good reminder of just how necessary community is for the Christian life. The award, really, was for God's work in our community of faith that we together as individuals take part in and some how end up accomplishing more than we could alone. One of the fun things was that as an award winner I was able to choose a charity for a $1000 donation from the club. I chose our dear friends and previous year partners Dawn to Dawn Action on Homelessness who provide immediate relief for tenants in our housing crisis. Thanks to Ernie and Deliah von Shilling for the recognition and their hospitality.
This past Sunday was truly a joy to be with you. It was especially wonderful to be able to gift the Rev. Ray Brandon with an official United Church of Canada award on the 60th anniversary of his ordination as a Minister. Ray and Pat have exemplified the servant nature of ordained ministry since their arrival in the Comox Valley fifty years ago. It's been an honour to serve in a church that God used them to build, and that God continues to gift us with their service. Congratulations, Ray!
As most of you already know, I'll be heading off on sabbatical from June 1-August 31st. The United Church of Canada mandates a sabbatical every five years that a minister spends in a congregation, which means I've been here five years! I was so touched by the send off and blessing offered by Ingrid and the gathered congregation. I really don't deserve such an incredible, loving, and risk-taking community of Jesus people. Luckily, God gifts us with far more than we deserve, and for that I'm truly grateful. As for my sabbatical, we'll be doing a cross-country drive to Ottawa, exchanging homes with a United Church clergy couple who live there for three months in July. We'll be emphasizing the "sabbath" part of sabbatical, but I'll also be taking the opportunity to read on preaching, write a couple pieces for "Touchstone" the United Church's academic journal, and researching and writing about ancient and contemporary catechisms.
This Sunday, both Ingrid and myself will be gone, with Ingrid and Virginia East attending the first Annual General Meeting of the newly formed Pacific Mountain Region of the United Church in Langley. We're delighted to have Keith Kovacs preach on the 46th Psalm and Rosemary Carnahan preside in our absence.
Otherwise, thank you all again for being such a wonderful band of disciples, and I will see you again in September! Ingrid will be acting Lead Minister in my place, and you can all enjoy me shutting up for a while.
Grace & peace,
The Rev. Ryan Slifka
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