November 12thA Retirement Reflection
A Retirement Reflection
Some months ago, I was given a suggestion for this final-Menno-Minute-as-staff. "Write out a list of your innovations." My first thought was “What?? What innovations?” I just did “stuff” as “stuff’ was needed. But, I guess there were a few “innovations" with the qualifier that I did have a foundation to start with.
I’ve often been grateful for June Miller who did the early work on both the newsletter and the website. She had a gift for catchy names and so we have The MCA Communiqué and A Menno Minute.
Early, in fall 2020, I brought the Community Building and Program Committee’s idea for Our Stories to fruition. They’d had that idea for a while but didn’t know how to proceed. Then, I added One Good Thing — a way to keep our spirits up during Covid -- plus all the many communications pieces for our E3 Vision. Following that, A Window Into — which was really Steven Guigovaz’s idea but I did help give it structure. I believe it had value in helping us get to know each other. Additionally, over the 5 plus years I’ve been in this job, I’ve written and gathered Camp Stories, cataloged on both the MCA website and the Camp Valaqua website. And, because Tim doesn’t just sit his office in Edmonton, you’ll sometimes see Where’s Tim? in the Communiqué. These were all initially published in the MCA Communiqué and most are on the MCA website.
I’m an idea person. I can always give you an idea. It might not be a good idea — and there’s where others help — but I will have an idea. In late 2024, one idea was Our Shared Prayer which I promoted as “let’s do this for a year.” Sometimes these ideas meant more work for me — finding prayer-writers hasn’t always been easy — but your feedback tells me this feature has been appreciated and now many of those prayers are part of the Together in Worship collection. Recently I was thanked for the “stream of wonderful prayers.” I take little credit. You, MCA prayer writers, wrote them!
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I’ve been asked a few questions.
What were the surprises? Initially I was surprised that a newsletter was expected Every.Single.Week and yet, there was always something to publish. News and announcements are time-sensitive so every week is a good rhythm. Also, we MC Canada Communicators get our updates every second Tuesday and meet by zoom the next day. Thus, we all send out weekly newsletters on Wednesdays.
I was also surprised at the work, both digitally and physically, required to put together the spring and fall donor mailings. I now have much respect for charity mail!
What were the gifts? Without a doubt, the biggest gift of this position has been getting to know the good people of Mennonite Church Alberta. What a treasure you all are! I appreciated that the people I met became not just colleagues and acquaintances but friends. Friends that I can keep even after retirement! I am grateful for every word of encouragement and appreciation!
What I will miss? I will miss my weekly zoom meetings with Tim. MCA is fortunate to have such a thoughtful, competent, and faithful executive minister. His consistency and vision made my job easier.
And finally, what were my regrets? I regret not getting to Edmonton more. I was so often tied to my desk in Calgary and over committed on my non-MCA days that getting myself to Edmonton just to get to know people in Edmonton congregations simply didn’t happen. For that, I’m sorry.
As I pass over my files to Linda, I just have to say thank you. Thank you to everyone who made this job fun, fulfilling, and work worth doing. God bless you all.
Photo credit: Thanks to my granddaughter— Annika Janzen. Hopefully there will be more coffee shop dates soon! (Third hand is her sister.)