Butterfly (reprise)

The following post first appeared in What's the Good Word in April of 2011.  Much has changed for our lovely butterfly over the intervening three years, and change will continue to occur.  What has not changed is our delight in this little congregation's colourful contribution to our collective life.  We continue to smile on days when the butterfly soars in the warmth of holy sunshine and watch carefully on days when it needs to seek shelter from the rain. As a way to look back and remember the delightful flight of this little entity, I offer the following reprint of that early post.

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Consider the caterpillar; how he crawls along quietly going from leaf to leaf, staying mostly hidden, trying to blend in with his surroundings.  He wouldn’t dare stand out.  After all, he might get stepped on or eaten for some bird’s lunch!  So he quietly crawls along until it is time, then spins a cocoon with himself inside.  To all appearances, that is the end.  The caterpillar is no more.  The blend-in caterpillar, that perhaps no one knew even existed, has ceased to be.

But then something remarkable happens.  Transformation occurs!  The cocoon splits and a new creature emerges.  This new being does not immediately take to the air, but spends some time to get oriented and dry its wings in the sun.  Only then does it begin to float on the breeze and fly where it wills.  Gone are the drab, blend-in colours, replaced by bright and wondrous hues.  The urge to hide is replaced by a willingness to see and be seen as it visits the flowers and makes the world a better, more beautiful place.

In the Barrie congregation, we are beginning to see signs of a butterfly.  Our former presence there had reached the stage of its life when it needed its rest.  To outside appearances, the caterpillar was dead, but this was not the case.  From the cocoon has emerged a new creature and a fresh expression of Christian life is beginning to test its wings in that fair city. 

This past weekend, for instance, there was a gathering of youth and others on Thursday evening for fun and fellowship.  Friday saw our leaders out on the streets, visiting the unique flowers that are God’s people.  Saturday evening was their first worship event held in a downtown café, and the little coffee shop was packed with 31 people!  Then Sunday afternoon, despite some rain, a group gathered for a service project which consisted of picking up trash at a local park.  I have seen pictures of that event, and they were clearly having a wonderful time.  They didn’t even look like caterpillars!  Then they all went back to the pastor’s home for more conversation and play.

I think this butterfly is going to be absolutely beautiful!

Posted by Carman