We have been attending
Covenant Mennonite Church in Winkler for seven months now. Our first impression of Covenant was a very good one, and so far nothing has happened to mar our impression, only to strengthen it. Last July we visited Covenant to hear a particular person speak and ended up discovering the pastor, Kelvin Dyck, was someone Derek had been told to seek out to discuss his theological interests. That first Sunday there was no childcare provided by the church, but when the pastor's wife saw us walk in with our kids she came down the aisle and asked if she could take our kids downstairs to play. I got to sit through an entire sermon!
After the service Derek and Kelvin visited for an hour and we were invited to a potluck scheduled the next weekend. Without talking about it much (which is unusual for us), we just ... went to the potluck with a group of people we knew hardly at all ... if at all! Our children were played with, talked to, Seamus took seven steps in a row from the hands of Don Bergen to me, the food was delightfully healthy homemade, whole food type stuff, mostly from people's gardens, Derek sat by the BBQ with Kelvin and Dave, and I was told by several people that they were "So pleased!" to have us there and if we would continue coming to church we would be snatched up and put to work. We left with warm fuzzies and once again, with little discussion, we decided to keep going to Covenant. It just felt good and right.
We continued attending, and our children continued being loved on, and every summer Sunday we would eat lunch in the park or at the drive-in after church with whoever could make it. People talked to us like we'd known them forever, people called us up when they were heading to the lake, "Want to come along?". People carried our sleeping baby around the foyer while visiting, people asked us over to their homes for meals. People asked for book recommendations and actually read the books, and loaned us books in return. People found out I was a photographer and asked me to take their photos! Good things are happening. Different, and good.
A few weeks ago we were having dinner at the Drudge family's house. I was talking to Rochelle and saying how Covenant just felt like a natural fit for us, and wondering what our lives would have been like if we had found it four years ago, when we first moved to Winkler...less frustrating for sure! She responded with a phrase that has stuck in my mind and I feel speaks exactly how Derek and I feel at Covenant. She said, "We came to Covenant and we just felt like we had finally found our people. These are our people."
So we keep going and in very natural ways, by eating together and spending time together, each week we get to know these people a little better. These people who are our people, and who feel like they've always been our people - we just didn't know where they were. We keep eating and singing and praying with them, and they let our children run up and down the aisle and shout out questions during the sermon or children's story, and what's more: they answer the questions with straight faces.
Last week Derek read the scripture out of Luke for epiphany Sunday and Seamus wandered around up front before finally standing beside Derek and leaning his head against his leg. After a few moments Derek leaned down, picked him up and continued reading. Nobody blinked. Nobody grimaced. Afterwards someone said to me, "Seamus made that passage come alive!" Thank goodness for community that includes and embraces our children, and values and honors our aged and debilitated. This church has made these things real for me by loving my family, and sweetly and graciously expecting me to love them back.
