Message from Pastor Sue

(January 2020 - from our 2019 Annual Report)

This year’s Annual Meeting finds us welcoming a new decade. What a ride the past 20 years have been for me and I’m sure for you as well.

One of the great things about it, is that I’ve spent almost 17 and a half with you at The Heart of Muskoka P.C.

I know that this message is intended to reflect on the past year, and as I do so, I marvel at how both Bethune and Knox have grown into their own over our time together.

Your growth reminds me of a quote I once read. It goes like this: “My goal is not to be better than anyone else, but to be better than I used to be.”

Well, personally, I believe you have reached that goal and shot beyond it into the stars!

One of the things I love about our Board Meetings (yes! You read that right!) is when we recap everything that the church has done since we last met. Time rushes along and we forget many of the things we have done for our church family, our community, and the wider community. As we come to the end of the list, I look around at the faces of those in attendance and watch as the warm joy of realization reaches your eyes and your smiles!

You see, that is the thing. If we don’t take the time to reflect inwards, we miss out on so much.

So, as we move into this next decade together let us promise ourselves to keep moving forward. To move with love and intention.

But, as I shared with you back in December, let us also remember that as we move forward, we also must allow ourselves a time to also slow down. To find stillness. For it is in this stillness we hear that ever present voice that moves our hearts and our beliefs in the right direction.

Perhaps we should reconnect with the natural rhythms of the earth.

By centering ourselves, and our souls, is where and how we discover peace. Not momentary peace, not a temporary fix, rather, an omnipotent continuous knowing of peace, and calm; joy and contentment.

We are surrounded here with the beauty of Muskoka. The lapping of water on the shores, the whispers of the wind among the pines and cedars, the song of the birds, the cry of the loon….if we cannot slow down enough to realize the divine thread weaving all of life together, how then can we expect to grow, be healthy and lovingly present for and with one another? How can we hear another human being’s truth and knowing and longing without first hearing from, and listening to, the source which feeds and nourishes all?

So, as we move forward let us practice to:

Sit still when stillness is needed to learn.

To listen with an intention to hear.

To hear with an intention to understand.

To understand with an intention to develop empathy.

To cultivate peace.

To be the love so needed - not only within this community, but within this big wide world of ours.

May God’s blessings rest upon all of us as we continue this incredible journey into this new decade!

Blessings, Sue