Title: Country Preacher's Notebook
Author: Joyce Sasse
Publisher: Wood Lake Books Inc
Year: 1990
144 pages
One of my current projects is to better understand what it means to be part of a rural church community. As a born and raised city boy, I know nothing about what it's like to take care of a farm, to depend on weather for my livelihood. or to know every person in town. I barely knew every person on my block growing up!
Of course, my favorite way to learn new things is to read about them. The first book I picked up was this lovely gathering of stories by Joyce Sasse. Joyce is an ordained United Church minister who served many small Canadian prairie communities over a 25 year span.
From the back of the book, "In the 25 years since she was ordained, Joyce Sasse has served pastoral charges all over the Canadian prairies. She has suffered with her people when crops fail, when towns shrivel and die, when old ways become closed ways; she has celebrated with them the maturity of ripe age, the crafting of a communion table in a country kitchen, the togetherness of shared work."
In this book, which is actually the first of two, Sasse has gathered many, many anecdotes from her time during her ministry. Stories of love and friendship, happiness and joy, wins and losses, and so much more. In her words, you can feel the connection she made with these communities and how every seemed to be "one of the family."
It was an excellent introduction into what rural ministry was at one time, especially if the priest lives directly in town. While it might not be as common anymore, there is an honoured tradition of what the relationship between pastor and people is expected to be, in particular for rural communities.
No comments:
Post a Comment