Monthly Archives: October 2011

Start dates – August 2002 & Sometime in 2005


Began 2002 - finished 2011

Began 2004 - Finished 2010

Amazingly, since we moved here in 2009, I have actually managed to complete two large cross stitch projects that I began some time ago.  Both are by my favourite cross stitch designer, Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum.  As I indicated in an earlier post, photographs of framed pieces tend not to turn out very well.  I am quite pleased with the finished angels, regardless of the superimposed reflection of me standing on a ladder.  Having it framed the way I envisioned was difficult.  The framer did her best to dissuade me from the proportions, particularly the empty space above the angels.  I wanted the picture to be higher than wider, and initially wanted the space over the angels heads much greater, but the cost was prohibitive.  When the gallery owner insisted “That’s not the way it should be,”  I told her I was making a theological statement, not an artistic one.  I am still not convinced she got my point.

When I am not busy


I realized only recently that I have been stitching for over 20 years.  It has developed into a spiritual practice, many prayers and remembrances are wrapped up into the blending of colour and texture.

I/we own four pieces, I’ve completed over a hundred.  They seem to be the perfect thing to give away.  Photographing the pieces after they have been framed really doesn’t do them justice.  Maybe now that I have a digital camera I can get better results.

Just the Five of Us


Once upon a time there were five seminary students doing internships in the same congregation.  Two of us were students at Vancouver School of Theology, three were from Regent College.   Both seminaries are affiliated colleges of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver BC.  The church was West Point Grey Presbyterian Church less than a ten minute drive from campus.

Wendy went on to become the minister at St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Armstrong BC.  She is blessed with a musicality that  I know is an asset to her ministry and work there.

Cornelia went on to become the minister at Evangelisch-Reformierte Kirchgemeinde Oristal in Leistal, Switzerland.  She has a heart for mission work.

Barrett and Sarah went to Utica, New York.  She is the minister at a Presbyterian Church and he, after a brief time as an Episcopalian priest was call to be the minister at First Presbyterian Church.  He also teaches Philosophy.  This post was inspired by him because I wanted to share this past Sunday’s message.

http://streetpastor.wordpress.com/2011/10/02/practical-atheism/

I wish my congregation had heard it, maybe there wouldn’t be so many atheists in this world.   But my congregation heard about God’s justice and righteous expectations for living as Christians in a secular world as the Israelites and Judah were expected to live in Isaiah’s time.  Naturally there was a difference in what my congregation and congregations around the world heard yesterday, I am a different preacher, in a different context, in a specific country. . .

West Point Grey PC was a wonderful place to get our feet wet.  I miss it, and all these servants of God that are capably speaking the Good News and ministering to a broken and hungry world.