Painting it backward, painting it forward…
Painting … it doesn’t capture attention and conjure up images of a particularly exciting Church project, does it? Well, it was one that our Church recently embarked upon and one we are thrilled to report, pardoning the pun, it’s a wrap!
Our St. John’s Anglican Church, a beacon on the hill in Milton, PEI, is a storied William Critchlow Harris design with more than a century of proud history. Today, it is home to less than 100 congregation members, both city and country folk, who come together for Sunday worship.
The extent to which this was a thought-provoking process to undertake merely came with the stubborn realization, after two-years, that our volunteer parishioners were only so-inclined to scrape and paint just barely beyond their own level of reach. Admittedly, none of us are as fleet of foot and as daring as we were in our youthful days; to climb ladders, mount scaffolding and put on safety harnesses. Admittedly, none of us really wanted to risk limb and life, with prospects for calamity and injury assured, let alone risk liability to the Church.
The realization also dawned that it had been several years since we had last undertaken this work and that, looking further upward at the peeling of our beautiful Church steeple, that the time had come to give this beautiful structure a necessary and new coat of protection from the elements.
With budget resources committed and after months of anticipation, we entrusted the work to Mallard Painting and welcomed their team in early September. Blessed with splendid weather, by spray and stroke, row upon row of cedar shake took on a refreshing, glowing silver grey. Boom lifts helped conquer the steeple, restoring its proud ochre red hue. White trim on the windows gave the final pop.
As the deft hands of proud craftsmen were laying their final brushes, it was almost by divine coincidence that on the day of September 19th, we tolled the bells to mark the passing of our sovereign Queen Elizabeth II and to pay our final respects for a long and well-lived life of service. And as we stood inside the steeple, between the clangs, we couldn’t help but also reflect on this wonderfully resilient Church of England, that has also so well and steadfastly served generations of our parish family.
Painting the Church became so much more for us than a timely structural investment – it offered a spiritual reminder of how important it is to live in our gratitude, to respect our precious inheritances, to honour the legacies of those who came before us and to extend the blessings to those who come behind us.
So, the next time you embark on painting your Church, remember this simple call to action … paint it backward, paint it forward!
Submitted by:
Jeff Burry, Senior Warden
St. John’s Anglican Church
Milton, Prince Edward Island
