Last Thursday’s picnic at Deep Cove was amazing.

Rabbi David Mivasair writes about the picnic for First United sponsored by Mt Seymour United Church:

For me, the greatest thing was emptying the First United building, getting people out of the hot and crowded concrete and asphalt world of the DTES and into the gorgeous wide open space that surrounds us.

Cool green grass beneath our feet, blue sky above, lovely clean water sparkling below, forests and mountains all around, fresh air, sunshine – it’s a different world only a few kilometres away.  So near and yet so far.

 Many people at First United never go there, never have been there.  One elderly man in the community has been here at First United and in this DTES neighbourhood for well more than 15 years – maybe many, many more.  He was reluctant to go to the picnic, to go to an unknown place and to do he knew not what.  I nearly kidnapped him – and he went.

 Once we crossed the Second Narrows Bridge, he was in terra incognita – unknown territory.  Never been there before.  Never seen it.  Ever.  All along the way, every half kilometre or so, he kept exclaiming, “Oooooo, this is so beautiful!  I love it here out in the countryside.  It’s so clean, so big.”  Even though the 211 bus to Deep Cove runs right past his place on Cordova Street and he can go for free any time with his bus pass, he’s never been there — despite living here for decades.

When we first got there, he was anxious to get back to the ‘hood, to the familiar.  He asked me about four or five times if we could leave early and come back.  Little by little, he relaxed.  After an hour or two, he took of his shoes.  After another hour or two, I saw him without a shirt.  And then, he went down to the cool, delicious water and waded in halfway up to his ankles.  He told me later he hadn’t been in the sea for probably twenty years or more.

My greatest memory is of a very quiet native elder who is somewhat crippled and always a bit crumpled in a wheelchair finding himself being caringly wheeled down the grassy slope to the water’s edge by a couple of strong young guys.  In the surf’s edge, they gently lifted him up and over the gunwales and set him down in the bow of a canoe.  What a sight!   What a great blessing!  They paddled him out on the water all around Deep Cove and then brought him back, lifted him again into his chair and pushed him back up the hill.

 I give my greatest thanks to everyone who made this possible.  First in my mind are staff community worker Carrie Belanger and our wonderful student interns Christy Lew and Sivan Havusha. Also high on my list are the many folks from Mt. Seymour United Church who set up the food, organized canoes, greeted us so warmly and did so much more.  And, of course, First United’s very dedicated kitchen staff, hosts, drivers and so many others made it all happen in such a beautiful way.  And, behind us all, are Rev. Ric Matthews and the visionary leadership of First United as well as hundreds and hundreds of people who support First United day in and day out and really make it all possible.

 One last story:  the front door at First United hadn’t been locked for so very long that the latch slot was filled with dust and dirt and needed to be scraped out before we could even shut the door.  May we all learn to live in a way that will bring on the day when public buildings made for us people to gather in all have rusty, dirt-filled locks from disuse.

 Thank you all for making this wonderful picnic happen.

 David

Rabbi David Mivasair,
Chaplain First United Church