Why I'm grateful for James Bay United Church

If you haven’t seen me up here very often it’s because public speaking is one of the things about which I’m most afraid.  But as it turns out, my gratitude for this community is greater than my fear.    

I’m thankful for so much about James Bay United Church:  

• For those who faithfully hold us in prayer, who have our names written on their hearts and in their bibles  
• For those who do their hard work out of sight of the rest of us, doing the unglamorous jobs so essential for the ongoing life of the church  
• For the young one who, while looking at the painting of a woman who’d been jailed for her activism, reassured me “She can do that because she knows God is with her.”  
• For the one whose courageous, prophetic and poetic voice breaks open the doors of my heart week after week.  
• For those who gather at the thrift shop on Friday to welcome visitors and each other with open hands.
• For those who gather here Tuesday mornings as they share a meal, conversation and a deep appreciation for the worth of each person they meet.
• For those who are part of this community for a week or two, or for the winter, whose presence enriches us in ways they might never know  
• For those who refuse to be silent in the face of injustice  
• For the one who meets with the youth of this community to give them a glimpse of the ways in which they might know God and discern what God could be asking of them
• For the one who sends a card with a very particular and personal message to those who are grieving, for those who call and visit the sick and the lonely, and the one who remembers every single birthday every single year
• For those who stand at our doors every Sunday morning to offer God’s welcome    
• For those who have given  their energy to the wellbeing of this building because they know full well how important is the stewardship of the space with which we’ve been entrusted  
• For those who feed us, whether with tea and goodies after worship or with their gifts  of  music, attentive presence or compassion  

In response to all these faithful ones, and with thanksgiving, I commit my energy, my gifts and my financial resources to sustain this community so that others might be fed as I have.