Maureen Archer, artist
In Winnipeg, my home town, there is a bridge… words that are underlined are links to go on an information tangent, if you want to know more, pursue the link. If you have any more questions, email me: walkdownvimy@gmail.com and ask.
The poetry comes flowing out to me as I continue to ponder this painting I received as a gift from the artist, a personal friend for many years.
Hebrews 5:11 comes to mind… well, Lord, I’m listening, intently… a poet can’t help it!
I am moved by this painting, its a peaceful feeling. The message is a simple one to me.
It’s about crossing over to the other side, but its also about being on this side. That side is becoming more to me than just the obvious one. From this life to the next. Its the night time, the winter of my life. But there is something else that came to light today as I pondered and meditated on it. I wondered what I could search out about the Assiniboine Park Foot Bridge… so to Googled!
Winnipeg itself, was first begun in 1862 and later became an incorporated city in 1873. Much later, in 1904 Assiniboine Park came along, and was immediately popular. In order to get to the park, until 1932, visitors had to use a ferry!
Those of us that live in Vancouver, BC area, know all about ferries. There are schedules to work your life around, fees to pay, and extreme weather to prevent or hinder getting to the other side. Being stranded on one side or the other, time consumed.
Now that ferry brings to mind how once upon a time one had to be learned in the language of Latin. Of course the original text of the bible being in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Later translated into Latin by St Jerome in the 1450’s. So what I’m trying to say is that it was only accessible to the educated. Regular folks relied on others to tell them what it said. I can’t imagine life without being able to sit down and read the bible daily. So like the ferry, it cost money, left folks dependent on others, and on the integrity (or lack of integrity) of others. Not to digress too much here, we now have around 900 different English Bibles.
So back to that painting up there, Enchanting Memories, today’s nuance is “I am a Bridge” But so also WE are a bridge. Christ’s body, the church. We are the living breathing connection to God. Part of discipling others is teaching them how to read the Bible. There’s a great book about this, “How To Read The Bible For All Its Worth“
I love to interact with others about God’s word, and the life of faith. I’ve encountered fear, lack of interest, doubt, to name a few, but many times now I have come across someone who is whole heartedly excited about it all! They have that inner voice of God worked out, hooked up and running in both directions! And with such a one I am at peace, and we move right along to the beautiful experience of listening to the Lord in and through one another.
I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.
Romans 1:11-12 NIV
I’m just realizing today as I edit what I wrote previously. That the Holy Spirit is the bridge, but that leaves us out… then I realize, wait, its the church… Ephesians 2 refers to us as God’s building where the Holy Spirit dwells, each of us is a living stone in that building! But our bridge image adds another image to that idea which I will pursue below here.
I owe this to my brothers, Andrew and John, who took me out of my comfort zone… into the wonderful world of reading books! And not just books that are ‘safe’ not just books that are authorized and approved Christian Evangelical books! And Jesus, God the Father, has been with me always! Just as he promised! Ephesians 1:14
When we meet new people, we naturally want to know if they are safe. Part of being well read, and well peopled, is to have a crew of folks who keep me in shape to interact with others who need the bridge from where they are at to God. I am in partnership with God, but not just myself alone, I am part of his body, and that is the whole church, every believer in this world of ours, but more precisely, the local church I am a part of. As I practice listening, and understanding those around me, I am also listening the Holy Spirit speak to me, take a look at this verse:
But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
Hebrews 5:14 NIV
What does that look like? I go to a weekly home group. I meet up with folks that I meet at church to connect, and hear their stories.
In Acts chapter 1, the disciples are looking up into the sky, squinting as Christ Jesus, the risen Lord, their leader – continued up and out of their physical presence,
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”
Acts 1:9-11 NIV
The presence of Jesus here an now is the Holy Spirit, whom he promised to send, and indeed he has kept that promise. He lives in us. Yes, in each of us, but he lives also in us, as we live in unity and love for one another. Look at John 15, look for the word LOVE.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22 NIV
The body of Christ is the church. It is in HIS CHURCH that the Holy Spirit dwells… he does not live in hate, or distrust, or cliques. He dwells in the unity that comes in and through loving one another.
Are you with me here?!? Do you get what I’m saying?
Jesus, who had departed from being in the world through his own physical body, re-entered it to confront a murderer… then stepped back out, but before he did he told him – The Apostle Paul – “…arise, go into the city and you will be told what to do…” he disconnected Paul from the Jewish leadership… the earthly authorities, and connected him with THE CHURCH (Christ’s body) go see! Go read Acts 9. Hear what I am trying to say! Paul was a zealous JEW who was actively hunting down followers of Christ… to imprison them, to have them killed… to kill the church! Christ Jesus, the risen and ascended LORD Jesus Christ, re-entered… no need for squinting… and knocked Paul to the ground, blinded his physical eyes, and declared to him… knock it off! Go read it!
But that same paradigm, like in the movie Terminator, the killer that just wouldn’t die!
Kept coming back… it keeps coming back… religion, man’s attempt to get to heaven, Babel! The Jewish establishment… the prostitute! The counterfeit!
“My people have committed two sins:
Jeremiah 2:1 NIV
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water”
God doesn’t have any grandchildren!!!
You can’t get to heaven… wait… you cannot KNOW GOD through any other means!
Our Pastor, Bish… go see him there… talks all the time about this. About authentic living. About not being a jerk! I’m so glad I’ve found this church! I’ve been going there since September 2023.
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews 11:6 NIV
But listen, and Bish agrees, he preaches it! You can’t get there by going to church. You can’t get there by merely listening to any pastor. You can’t get there by learning what you should do. You can’t get to God… you can’t do nuthin without knowing God, through faith!
HIS WAY is his body… where his Holy Spirit dwells… and he dwells in the unity, the love, the fellowship of believers who belong to the body… let me add what I’ve recently heard articulated by Brene Brown about this topic:
Brene Brown talks about belonging, and that the biggest obstacle to belonging is fitting in…
The number one barrier to belonging is fitting in. Fitting in is assessing the situation and acclimating. Belonging is being who you are and showing up as yourself and it’s riskier because sometimes when you show up as yourself there’s not the connection and sometimes there is a lot of times when we struggle with a sense of belonging what really missing is shared purpose, shared perspective. When we’re not clear on our purpose it very hard to find belonging!
Belonging is not a crew of friends.
…if you have 1 – 3 friends who see you, and whom you see… that’s a miracle!
Belonging is not about hating the same people. Belonging IS ABOUT that yearning to be a part of the same tribe… be weary of any place that’s peddling belonging that doesn’t allow you to disagree… If you’re not allowed to critically think, and disagree and challenge and question the norms and values of that group… then you don’t belong to that group
Brene Brown Dare To Lead
God led me to this church, and within that church is a home group… where I am safe, I belong, and we all gently chuckle, that I have shown up as myself!
That bridge, that painting is also about my calling… I am in the winter, the night time of my life… and I don’t want to go to bed… I want to stay out here under the stars, with the snow softly falling… watching the the woods filling up with snow… cross country skiing at midnight up the Assiniboine River, and writing my name in the snow.
Here I re-print a note I sent to the artist, about the painting:
Such an awesome journey with you here, Maureen. You’ve really touched my heart… and by YOU I mean, Maureen Archer, but also God my father, through his Holy Spirit… ministering to me.
With my parents both passed away, and my two older brother’s – Glenn and Andrew – pretty much in the early stages of dimentia to be honest, and my brother John having gone back into a dark cave, where none of the rest of us can follow, we wait outside, keeping the cook fire burning whilst waiting for his re-emerging… poetry keeps my heart from breaking…
Your innocent teasing, “…you were my friend first!” brought back so much to me. Where I’ve been, and where I am now.
My Dad had no close friends… he was typical male perhaps? He watched TV, Tennis was his sport. Taught me how to play cribbage, keep my fingernails trim, banking and budgeting, smacked me with the belt when my behavior warranted it (he always thought so evidently, but I . . . ok ok ok, I deserved it!) Anyways… he also, with my Mum, took us to church. They looked for a church when they came to Winnipeg from Calgary. In Calgary the Brand Clan of David Brand (my grandfather) had become baptists. We went to First Baptist Church Calgary. That was the beginning of faith journey for me, in the womb of my Mum going to a Baptist Church… anyways, yeah, we tried a few churches… they wanted a Bible based church, and we found our way eventually to Calvary Temple… you know the story of the Titanic and Calvary Temple, yeah?
Titanic
Our Great Grandfather, Alexander and Great Grandmother Elizabeth, came to Canada in 1912… with their whole family to immigrate… they were excited because it was a new beginning for them, in the “new world” and they had tickets on the maiden voyage of a brand new state of the art Ocean Liner, Operated by the White Star Line, and it was the Titanic.
Perhaps you can imagine what happened when Alexander had to give up those tickets, when Elizabeth, pregnant with our great Aunt Janet (Grampa David’s sister). She was too ill to travel, and their trip had to be postponed… but who can fathom their emotion when on the fateful day, April 15, 1912… the Titanic sank, with 1517 of the 2224 passengers/crew passing away beneath the waves!
Years later, my Great Aunt Janet gave me her father’s King James Bible… and I leafed through it, and found our family name had been underlined:
“Zechariah 3:2 And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?”
I was probably around 16 – 18 years old when she gave me that bible… and through my own ship wrecked first marriage, I lost track of that bible, God return it to me one day! – but I never forgot that verse… but only as a chuckle, and a Great Grandpa that was “cute”
It wasn’t until my own father passed away in January 18, 2012 – that I heard, at his funeral… the story of the Titanic’s connection with our family.
The rest of the story is that Alexander committed his life to God, in answer to the rest of Zechariah 3… the if/then statements therein… they took it as their lives being spared, no different… no less dramatically than Joshua, the high priest’s deliverance from the flames…
They looked out their new business office window, in down town Winnipeg, and saw a new church that was being planted there, Calvary Temple, and he and his brother said, “that’s it… that’s where we will make good on our promise…” and they entered in, and . . . well. . . my father, the romantic, history buff, that loved movies… never mentioned that story to me! It gives me a chill that this story had been kept from me for so much of my life. I would have put that bible into a safety deposit box… LOL
So, you know… the day that you told me about this painting being for me… was on the anniversary of Dad’s passing, who is Winnipeg to me… as is your painting… the Assinaboine Park foot bridge, in the winter, at night… oh, Maureen, I pray that my years extend enough to bring Ashton to safety, and to complete all God has called me to do… but its interesting that its a snowy, cold clear night, and I’m on this side of the foot bridge, to the other side… I’m in tears.
Thank you Lord for Maureen, for this gift, and for each and every moment…
…I pray for “all these things” look after Ashton… always, and Cheryl, this Coop… keep me here as long as you will… thank you thank you thank you Holy Holy Holy God…
When I was a teen, emerging from high school to adult life… I’d spent the summer hearing from God… and each time he asked me, “what if I asked you to be single?” I answered, then you would give me the power to do it, you would give me the strength to do it!” At that time, and ever since… from when I as probably around 14-16 years old. I have never been single for longer than 15 minutes LOL… and I knew God was wanting to have ALL of me. It was the same sort of conversation God had with Abraham in Genesis 22. I knew what he meant, or so I thought I did… Arthur Schopenhaur in one of his essays describes women in the seventh ‘chapter’ and as I read it… I looked around to make sure no women were present to read over my shoulder and be offended… I realized he was describing me. Part of what he described was all women think about is getting married and having kids… if you had asked me as child, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I would not have known what to reply, if you meant vocation. But I’d readily have told you, I wanted to get married and have children.
I was alone all summer, working as a Life Guard and Waterfront Director for our church camp, Red Rock Youth Camp, Calvary Temple, Winnipeg, Manitoba. You saw that, eh? I was alone. But I was there for six weeks, with junior-intermediate-senior camps. 3 weeks of girls camp. 3 weeks of boys camp. I have thought elsewhere about how I’ve always been alone, though I’ve been at the same time, with others.
At the end of that summer, I went to an integrated youth camp, the PAOC district camp located on the shores of Pelican Lake, it was called Manhattan Beach Camp. Perhaps I’ll describe it in more detail later, but that week many wonderful conversations with God happened. I was once again alone with him yet not alone.
On the last evening, the last big alter call, I went up to the front, and on my knees, God asked me to be single! I said yes! Then the scripture Daniel 3:16, 17 & 18 came into my mind. Not the words. The reference! I had to run to my cabin to get my bible! I read these words…
16 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. 17 If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.”
Daniel 3:16-18 NIV
The fiery furnace of living single looming… and the bellowing liar, the prowling lion, THIS IS THE WAY ITS DONE!
I don’t need to answer you about this. The God I serve is able to give me a wife, but even if he doesn’t, I will not bow down!
I didn’t know at the time that this was also about my calling… that revelation would take much longer, but it began there.
Somewhere along all of this thought, I found myself on the shoreline, standing on the beach… no bridge in sight! And above me was a bright, clear, starry sky in the summer time! And with tears in my eyes I longed to be on the other side with him! Speaking of Moonlit Nights… click on that. But also, as no emotion is without complexity… click HERE and see that God delivered me, over and over again. Its a life time of him fulfilling his promise to sanctify us through through.
Well, here now is a bridge that has come into sight. I am not afraid of it. But I also know, that I will one day cross, but that there is work still yet to be done.
Back to the disciples, looking up into the sky… in Acts chapter one… look around you… but first look within… connect with God… find him! Hebrews 11:6.
Look around you! You are in Christ! Are you in Christ?
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
Hebrews 4:1 NIV
So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Hebrews 3:19 NIV
Running Down Vimy 
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