It’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood

It’s been a great day today… in fact it’s been so good I just had to write about it as soon as I had the opportunity. Our Dale day began with an in-person staff meeting. Over the past several months we’ve been meeting online and though there are positives to being able to meet in that way I have been constantly reminded about how online meetings are such a crummy replacement for in person face-to-face interactions. Being able to sit in the same room and discuss all things Dale related was such a treat.

Then this afternoon we did something that we have not done as a church community since COVID restrictions hit: some of us were able to gather outside in a local park in a bit of mash between our usual pre-COVID Tuesday afternoon drop-in and a time of worship and prayer. It was so refreshing to my soul I can barely put it into words and I think this was a shared experience between everyone that was there. We listened to and discussed Psalm 139:7-12 and talked about the presence of God in our isolation. We mused on some of the deeper questions relating to our faith. We talked about how the COVID pandemic has affected our lives. We shared personal updates of triumph and struggle. We prayed with and for each other. And we had some snacks. It was so wonderful to be together again in this way and I have to say that my heart is so full and my spirit so tangibly alive right now. We have truly missed all of these elements of communal and church life the past several months.

I long for the day when we will be able to gather in our usual and desired way, and remain thankful for the presence of God regardless.

“Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
   If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
   If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
   even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
   If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,’
   even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.”

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I’m a Community Worker at The Dale Ministries – we seek to empower those experiencing poverty of spirit or space. We have little, but give and share what we have. As part of this labour of love, I seek to raise 100% of my salary to continue in this work. If you’d like to donate, please click this direct link https://www.thedale.org/donate/ or contact me at pete@thedale.org for more information.