Oh Canada.
It has been a month of change and adjustment, not least to the weather. Since arriving in Nova Scotia, the welcome has been as warm as the temperature has been subzero – we even experienced an early-April dump of snow. However, there are signs that things are warming up, with buds appearing on trees and it being a balmy 14 degrees Celsius as I write this. However, as we have been reminded often since we first arrived, a favourite saying of Nova Scotians is: “if you don’t like the weather, just wait 12 hours”.
We continue to find our feet and establish a new rhythm in our temporary home for the next five months and it’s encouraging to hear some say that it feels like we’ve been here longer than a few short weeks, so much have we thrown ourselves into our new Halifax lives (which I’m choosing to receive in a positive way). Having found spin and yoga studios (me) and a climbing wall and gym (Steven), we nip around the city on our new yet second-hand bikes, battling the hills and gusts of wind, sampling the abundance of coffee shop offerings.
Integrating into the life of First Baptist Church Halifax has been, for the most part, incredibly rewarding. It’s fun to stretch and strengthen those ministerial muscles that haven’t been tended to as much over the last few years, but I’m also noticing a resistance to structure and the fixed nature of local church ministry. As such, I’m very much looking forward to a few international and domestic trips lined up for May, and with our first wave of visitors due from both the US and the UK. Perhaps, in time, I will come to love being fixed in place as much as I now love savasana in yoga – when I was previously so resistant to the restorative posture and its focus on stillness and ease.
It's also an interesting time to be in Canada and North America – with the Canadian federal election just around the corner, and still-strained relations between here and the USA, we’re experiencing a truly unique period in the history of this part of the world firsthand. I’ve had conversations with Canadians, both recent immigrants and those whose family dates to the settlers, that vary in intensity, but all of whom state a resistance to travelling to the US and an increased desire to “buy Canadian”.
As our patterns of work and play begin to stabilise a little, I’m aware that I need to create space to reflect on this opportunity of church-based ministry in the short-term. I’m conscious of the balancing act I need to maintain to be both present here in Halifax and for the church community, whilst also keeping a UK and international mindset for my work with OneBodyOneFaith and the fledgling progressive Baptist global network.
Soon Rusty, the Senior Minister at FBCH, will be heading off for his sabbatical and I’ll be taking the reins for leading Sunday mornings and ministering alongside the Deacons and leadership team for the pastoral care and oversight of the church community. This too will require a shift in focus, especially the need to write a sermon every week…
Whilst I miss Albania (and the warmth…), and those dearest to me there and in the UK, I hope I can continue to approach each day with gratitude for this opportunity. Even when it snows in April.
