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Miracle at Chrystal Lake – Blessings of Your Ministry Retreat in Canada by Suzan Schmekel, photos by Philémon Paquette
It was a lovely fall weekend at Chrystal Lake about an hour north of Toronto in that space between seasons when the days are Summery and the nights are Fall-ish, before the trees prepare for winter by shedding their leaves by first withdrawing their sap and displaying that rainbow of warm colours of yellow, orange rust and red. What a wonderful time for a Ministers’ retreat! It was Canada’s third annual offering of PTS’s The Blessings Of Your Ministry Retreat for Ministers organized by Eléonore Goulet with her solid team of Toronto ministers involved in preparing the workshop logistics and then helping at the workshop itself. Once again, the Travelers had approved Ottawa’s Philémon Paquette, currently Canada’s only ordainer, as facilitator. He was aided by Anthony Wilson on sound. There were eleven plus the facilitator and his assistant. In addition to Toronto, people came from Montreal, Vancouver, Boston, and Brazil. And we were lucky to be able to participate in an ordination just before the Retreat. The venue is not perfect. It is a kids’ camp that is somewhat rustic and this time, it hardly contained all the ministers who wanted to attend. But, as always, the ministers were able to overcome the limitations of the venue. Before the workshop was finalized, Toronto learned that John Morton wanted to be on-line for a period during the workshop. Learning that the Chrystal Lake venue did not have the required computer equipment, Bryn Waern offered her country home, Toad Hall. That was not compatible either and Toronto checked out a further venue, which also did not work. The Toronto Ministers then decided to invite John to come to Toronto physically at their expense. And, to everyone’s surprise, he accepted. It was the first time in a very long time I had taken the retreat -- because of health reasons, I had not attended the first two. I have been a minister for almost thirty years (ordained in 1980) and was not sure what I could expect from the retreat beyond what I already knew and had experienced. But through the gentle exercises and Spiritual Exercises, I gained a new confidence and strength to practice my ministry even more fully than before. And because of that, I could feel myself relaxing even more into it, with the beginning of an understanding of what John would later talk about – ministering all the time. Even my day-to-day anxiety started to weaken as this newness strengthened through all aspects of me. It was the ordinary miracle that, as ministers, we have become used to experiencing in our ministries. The hours before John arrived were full of anticipation and when the retreat was over and we broke for lunch, the miracle of the Toronto/Ottawa communities was again evident. In the kitchen, the MSIA rep, Kristina Beaubien led the kitchen brigade in preparing and clearing up another wonderful meal. Watching it was like watching a well-rehearsed ballet. The individuals changed but the jobs got done without needing to speak or assign tasks – just a wonderful bunch of ministers ministering to each other. And toward the end of lunchtime, John arrived with a huge basket of fruit and his self and accepted our hospitality. He ate and willingly allowed everyone to have a picture with him. And then the Q&A session began. John repeated how important the ministry is, and what a sacred trust we are given as ministers to bring more Light on the planet. He shared with us a vision of the Light coming onto the planet. I realized then just how important my little beam of Light is, and how important it is to let my little Light shine and so join all those other small beams of Light that together would light up the whole planet from inside. Thank you John. It was as if the Retreat was developed just for me with John coming in at the end to reinforce my learning. But I just bet 11 other participants felt the same. |
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