Absence makes the heart grow fonder and the rector more grateful

Dear People, Neighbours, and Friends of St. Thomas’s,

As some of you already know, last weekend our Honorary Assistant, Fr. Theo Ipema, was admitted to the ICU with a case of acute pneumonia. I’m grateful to his friend, Kathie, for persisting in her insistence that he couldn’t just get over it. She prevailed in the end, and he is getting much better. I share these details with Fr. Theo’s permission. Kathie reports that his oxygen levels are improving, though he is very weak and has asked that no one call or visit him until he lets us know he’s ready to receive social calls again. In the meantime, I ask for your prayers for his speedy recovery.

Fr. Ipema’s sudden illness brought home to me how much we rely on him and many others. Christine was away the last full week of June, as were Fr. Micah and his family, who are in France at the moment. So Fr. Theo was filling in not only for Fr. Micah at the altar, but also for Christine in the office! Last Friday, June 26, two parishioners were here very late after volunteering at the Friday Food Ministry. They saw that Fr. Ipema was also still here, working late in the office to pull together everything for Sunday morning. He was clearly flagging, and they helped him produce the High Mass booklet, after which they called to let me know that Father was in no fit state to be doing office work, let alone taking the Low Mass and serving as Deacon at High Mass the next day. I went over to check on him and asked him to go to the hospital. But he insisted on going home. Thankfully, Kathie was finally able to talk some sense into him.

I’m very aware that I am extremely fortunate to have competent and dedicated staff and volunteers who make St. Thomas’s what it is. I am utterly spoiled, in many ways, as they can attest. I walk into the vestry and everything is laid out for me; all I have to do is vest and pray and talk with parishioners. None of the set-up or clean-up falls to me. While I like to think I don’t take any of this for granted, there’s nothing like having to do the actual work to bring home how much our staff and volunteers do behind the scenes. Thankfully, Christine left step-by-step directions on the Friday copy job, so I was able to get the parish notices, Sung Mass, and Evensong booklets produced, as well as the auxiliary liturgical materials needed by acolytes, readers, intercessors, and clergy.

I should also mention here that at the same on Saturday night, amid all the hubbub over getting the booklets done, a warden arrived, having heard there was a plumbing issue that needed to be addressed urgently. With our sexton, Eli, also away on vacation, we really had a trifecta last Saturday! Christine, Eli, and Fr. Ipema keep things running so smoothly that it’s easy not to notice all that happens routinely every week thanks to them. (We are working on putting in place an on-call substitute sexton for the next time Eli goes on vacation, by the way.) Absence makes the heart grow fonder and the rector more grateful.

That was last week, at the end of June. And then there came this past week. It was the hottest week thus far this year, and July 1 (Canada Day) shattered historical daily records, hitting 36.0°C/96.8°F (but feeling like 48°C/118.4°F with the humidity factored in, according to one meteorological site I consulted). On Canada Day, Ronwen Guest came to the church to serve the Low Mass and I arrived to sub for Fr. Ipema, but we had no congregation and decided that was probably for the best! So we celebrated Canada Day by not celebrating Mass in a brick oven.

Being the designated celebrant in a hot church this past Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday made me appreciate even more our assisting clergy and the dedicated corps of servers, the Daily Office officiants, and our sacristan, David Jones. I hope that this is the last summer we will have no relief other than largely ineffectual fans, but I am very grateful to everyone who continues to be here of their own free will! That’s another way I’m spoiled — I grew up with air-conditioning in the “dry heat” of California. But Toronto is getting dangerously hot in the summers, so it’s not just about clergy comforts. At least, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

While I’m a wilting flower, I know that Fr. Ipema is made of sterner stuff, and would much rather be sweating it out here than lying in an air-conditioned hospital room. So take a moment to give thanks for his ministry among us, and if you see a staff member or volunteer in the next couple of weeks, thank them for all they do. And to those of you who are staff and volunteers reading this: Thank you!

Which reminds me: Tomorrow we will be giving thanks for the gift that Manuel Piazza has been to this community. He has accomplished great things with the young choristers program and as our organist at three services every Sunday over the past three years. We wish Manny well as he departs to begin his D.Mus. program at McGill this fall. I hope you can be with us for our parish BBQ in the (air-conditioned!) parish hall following our special combined service at 10:30 a.m., which will feature the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, Archbishop Shane Parker. We are incredibly blessed by all our people, neighbours, and friends. So to all of you: Thank you!

Yours in Christ’s service,

Nathan J.A. Humphrey+

VIII Rector