Growing up Pentecostal I was scared of liturgies, sacraments, common books of prayers and funny hats. I spouted of the regular indoctrinated statements of any good charismatic; assuming these churches had no spirit, and didn’t have the Holy Spirit. Slowly, as I read, and as I come to grips with my understanding of Christ and his church, the traditions began to make sense and take on more meaning. I find myself wanting to participate with the global Church with these rituals and help them become marks of our community as well. So over the last few years of being back in Sarnia I’ve started to build relationships with some unlikely candidates. I figured I would just go to the Sarnia Evangelical Pastor’s lunches and do my best to be in relationship with the other evangelical pastors in the city. I went, and I tried and I didn’t really find myself in a place that made sense. But as chance would have it, I moved across the street from St. John’s Anglican church in the South End of Sarnia and have gotten to know their minister, Nick Wells, and slowly as he starts introducing me into a world I barely new existed, I have come to grow very fond of my new friends. So out of these relationships we have decided to partner together for the Lent season. We’ll be doing services at different locations throughout the city, each location being lead by a minister that isn’t from that congregation. My hope is that we at theStory make an effort to make these services a priority, not just to set aside time for Lent, but to get to know and experience a different side of our faith and relationships with folks that have gone before us.
