Letters from Corner Brook

A couple of months ago I embarked on a journey. By accepting a call to a congregation in Corner Brook, Newfoundland, a physical and spiritual journey began.

The physical part meant packing some of the household and hiring a mover, saying goodbye to Glen Ayr United after five years, getting in the car and driving across eastern Canada. In the process, I began writing daily reflections of things along the road - floods in New Brunswick, a motel in Fredericton, ferries in North Sydney, and the beautiful landscape of western Newfoundland.

The process of writing soon demonstrated that this was a spiritual journey as well. In the weeks following my arrival, I began doing a weekly series called "Letters from Corner Brook", which were sent to as many of my friends and relatives as possible, complete with photos.

Aside from dispelling some of my own preconceived notions about Newfoundland and the people, I wanted to dispel some of those same notions others in Canada have. There is a sense among mainlanders that Newfoundland is the "back of beyond", that the people are quaint but a few years behind the rest of the country, that it's a lovely place to visit but not to live. Newly graduated candidates for ministry invariably do NOT list Newfoundland as a choice for settlement. Indeed, now that the United Church has made settlement optional, the chances of people coming here are even slimmer.

I don't want to make it sound like an ideal place. Of course, Newfoundland has its issues, just like every other province. It is a rugged and sometimes harsh environment. Smaller towns along the coast can be like places from another century. Yet here in Corner Brook, I find everything Toronto offered, and yet so much more.

From the start of the application process to arriving here, I knew this was just something which I had to do. It meant leaving my husband in Toronto, and living at a distance. It meant becoming, for a time, a bit of a nomad with a foot in two (if not three) places - Corner Brook, Toronto, and Kamakura. But I have more years behind me than ahead, and if our lives are not a process of spiritual stretching, we waste what we have been given.

So I invite you to come along as I journey with Humber United Church, in the beautiful port of Corner Brook - and come on this spiritual stretching journey as well.