The Back Page
By Sue Ferguson
Do you remember when your first outings to Church began? Maybe you were too young to recall, or perhaps you have only recently been attending. I first attended church as a young girl in Walsh. My Mom or my Grandma would take me to Sunday school where the kids would all sit in the old wooden chairs and sing “Jesus Loves Me” and “This Little Light of Mine”. We would then all head to our classes with our Sunday school teachers. I remember most of those teachers, as they were particularly kind and special people. I remember memorizing scripture passages, and having stories told using the felt board, long before the use of any kind of digital screen. It was always an honour to get to place the next piece of felt on the board as the story progressed. After Sunday school we would head in to the sanctuary for the church service. I was too young to really understand the sermons. I enjoyed listening to the piano and the music, and I would colour on the offering envelopes to keep busy. Once in awhile I would try to look up the scripture in the pew Bible as the pastor read aloud. Usually by the time I found it the reading was over. One image I remember from that little church was a large painting of Jesus above the pulpit area. He looked so majestic, yet so kind, loving, and warm. Looking at that painting week after week and experiencing the feelings it evoked really made an impression on me. In my mind Jesus was a superhero.
Many years later, I would once again attend that little church in the village of Walsh not because my Mom and Grandma made me go, but because I longed to be there to learn about and hear the Word of God. That painting was still there. It still evoked the same feelings, but I felt I knew far more about Jesus and now I knew why He was a superhero and so much more. I had my own Bible now, and I knew where to find the scripture before it was even read. The hand that once scribbled with coloured crayons now wrote feverishly in a notebook trying to capture the pastor's every word, so as to study and think on it at home afterwards.
I invite my Mom to come to church now. It's funny how the tides have changed. My Grandma has been gone a long time, but boy could she and I have some great conversations about faith. I look forward to that one day when I too am with our Heavenly Father. Until then, I will be forever grateful for the wonderful memories of my time at that little church. I am all grown up now and I have not only seen but felt the love of God. I have felt His arms around me at a time when nothing else or no one could comfort me. I felt the warmth and love that I saw in that painting. I hope you too have felt that love, for it is unlike any other.
