It’s 1988. Some of us can remember 1988, some of you weren’t even born. Whether you remember or not some momentous events occurred in 1988.
- Brian Mulroney won a second majority government in an election fought over the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement.
- Calgary hosted the Winter Olympics. The summer Olympics were in Seoul where sprinter Ben Johnson won Olympic gold……….. for a few hours.
- Wayne Gretzky won another Stanley cup in Edmonton and then got traded to LA.
- The last of the Chrysler K Cars rolls off the assembly line.
- If you were a woman you probably had “big hair,” if you were a man you probably had “big hair” too (or at least wish you had).
- You were listening “Get Outta My Dreams” or “Never Gonna Give You Up” on the radio.
- At the movies maybe you’d have seen “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “Rain Man” or “A Fish Called Wanda.”
“That’s all well and good” you might say, “but what does it have to do with us today?” Well, if you were sitting here in church 30 years ago, you’d be welcoming a 20 something Reverend Ivan Gregan to the pulpit. I’m betting if you’d asked him then he’d have said he was planning on staying a few years then moving on. Obviously, he found something here with us that made him want to stay. Obviously, we’ve been privileged to have the benefit of Ivan’s leadership for three decades.
Port Wallis is known around the Conference for innovative worship, for our Celtic spirituality and as a place where you may be greeted in your mother tongue. Ivan’s ability to frame scripture in modern terms we can all understand, his sense of humour, his musicality, his knowledge of church history and his gift of preaching are things I hope we never take for granted. I think I speak for everyone when I say, thank you Ivan for 30 years of faith filled service.
