Warm sun shines through my window, the plant on the windowsill is suddenly thriving again, and 97% of the calves have arrived safely. Garden seed packages are spread across the kitchen island, there is sand and mud tracked across the floor no matter how many times it gets swept, and somehow it feels like life is beginning all over again.
Amen for all seasons.
This Sunday, May 10, is celebrated in the United Church as Christian Family Sunday and Rural Life Sunday. Honestly, it feels fitting that those two celebrations land together. Rural life and family life are deeply connected. Both are built on relationships, hard work, grace, and learning how to care for one another through every season.
Living rurally my whole life has been one of my greatest blessings. I have watched fields change from brown stubble to green growth and then to harvest gold. I have seen gardens sprout from tiny seeds into overflowing rows of potatoes, carrots, and weeds we somehow missed yesterday. I have been able to teach my children about the life cycle of animals and plants, about responsibility, and about working together.
Because farm life teaches you quickly that many hands make lighter work — especially when it comes to fixing fence, moving cattle, or trying to get through chores before a storm rolls in.
But beyond the work itself, rural life teaches something even deeper: we need each other.
In rural communities especially, we know life does not happen alone. Neighbours still pull each other out of snowbanks. People still show up with casseroles after funerals. Someone always seems to know whose cattle are loose before the owner does. And there is a good chance half the congregation has keys to the church basement.
That kind of life shapes people. It shapes families too, and maybe that is important to remember on a Sunday like this, because “family” in the church has never meant only one thing. Families come in all shapes and stories. Some are large and loud around crowded supper tables. Some are small and quiet. Some are built through friendship, adoption, remarriage, or simply the people who show up consistently when life gets hard.
The church has always been called to be that kind of family too.
A place where people belong.
A place where meals are shared.
A place where burdens are carried together.
A place where grace is offered, even on messy days. Jesus understood the importance of community. Again and again, he gathered ordinary people together and reminded them they did not walk alone. Perhaps that is part of the gift of both rural life and church life: they remind us that we belong to one another.
This spring season reminds us that life keeps returning. Hope keeps growing. And even after long winters, God continues to bring new life from tired ground.
Amen for all seasons.
St. Paul’s Weekly Update
- This afternoon (Friday, May 8th) – St. Paul’s and it’s members are invited to an afternoon coffee and dessert party on May 8 at Sacred Heart Parish Catholic Hall from 2:00 – 4:00pm. The volunteers of the Virden & Area Food Cupboard want to thank the people and businesses of Virden and surrounding area who have supported them over the last 25 years enabling them to provide food to those in need in our communities.
- Sunday, May 10th – In Person Worship with Joyce Marsh at St. Paul’s. Mother’s Day Turkey Supper– Cost is $25 each. Call Helen McCormick for tickets 204-851-2775
- Friday, May 15th – St. Paul’s Spring BBQ 11:30am – 1:30pm Rain or Shine. Hamburgers, Cheeseburgers, Sweet Treats and Beverages.
- Sunday, May 17th – Moose hide campaign and Holy Humor Sunday, have your clown noses and wigs ready to join us.
- Monday, May 18th – Church Office closed for Victoria Day.
- Thursday, May 21st – We look forward to the next Faith and Feast— everyone loves lunch, and who doesn’t love a little trivia to go with it!
