Those two terms are so close, I am sure some folks were having a hard time keeping them straight! Including me at times!

There were some things very familiar at the Annual Meeting of the  Presbyterian Synod of the Atlantic Provinces and some things very different. Reports were shared from the various groups, decisions were made on budgets, difficult conversations were had around dwindling resources of all kinds and so on. Much like our Conference Annual Meeting. Something that is different is that they choose their Moderator (like Conference President) during the opening session and then that person presides for the rest of the meeting!

We met at Bethel Presbyterian Church in Sydney; they had some beautiful stained glass windows, I meant to take some pictures of them with my actual camera, but didn’t.

Rev. Dr. Pam McCarroll

Dr. Pam McCarroll led us in two sessions entitled Hope Against Hope

Here are a few notes from her material:

• When we experience love, we can generate hope.
• Trust/faith is the spiritual posture of hope. Waiting on God.
• Christendom has been a map for hope – we know which way we are going, looking down from above
• Current – flashlights in the dark, the willingness, courage to walk together, but no clear picture.
• Reasonable hope – what is actually possible. And working towards that.

Dr. Susan Schaffer offered a workshop on conflict, unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of her, but here is a picture of one of the slides from her presentation.

We heard from the Moderator of the General Assembly, Rev. Daniel Cho

I connected with a friend of a friend, the Rev. Cynthia Chenard.

 

I reconnected with a couple of classmates from my AST days, the Rev. Lindsay Rankin and the Rev. Lydia MacKinnon, unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of Lydia.

We had supper at Union Presbyterian Church Hall, which is on the Mira, so of course we and Out on the Mira! Union Presbyterian Church is the oldest Presbyterian Church in Canada that is still a worshiping community.

Rev. Anne Beaudreau led us in worship over the three days.

The new Moderator of the Synod of the Atlantic Provinces

And when that was all over, I joined Sydney Presbytery for their regular meeting!

It is such a privilege to attend and participate in these kinds of events as President of Maritime Conference. Thank you for giving me the opportunity!