June 26 - Final post, Shalom

At the end of August, 2011, I formally retired from my position at VGH. My brother died the next week in Idaho and so I was off to be with family to honour his life and grieve his death. While there the hospital administrator who was responsible for Spiritual Care at VGH called me and asked if I would return to work part-time until the end of the year when the new person would begin. I said yes.

In early 2012 when the Personnel Minister for the Pacific Mountain Region learned I might be available for supply work I was asked to step in for someone who was on sick leave in Pitt Meadows. I said yes. It was supposed to be for three months and lasted nearly two and half years. The person I was filling in for had died. A few months later I filled in at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church in Vancouver while one of the staff ministers was on sabbatical. As soon as that was completed, I was asked to help out at the United Churches of Langley. I said yes. That lasted for 18 months. And literally just as this posting was being competed I was asked to parachute into Colebrook United Church in Surrey beginning on Christmas eve because their minister was on leave and the replacement had to step away because her husband was dying. In all toll, I was at this church for over two and a half years, and journeyed with them as they closed their doors and disbanded as a church.

A year later we moved to Edmonton and I began attending MWUC. When Ian retired in 2022 I was asked to step in for a year while the search committee continued their task. I said yes. When a new minister was called, I stepped away, but was called back when they went on sick leave. I have been here ever since then. Dale Irving taught me that the key to a successful retirement is the ability to say “no”. So beginning next week, that word will become my mantra.

I have enjoyed my last 15 years in ministry primarily because it was for the most part quite different than my ministry for 30 years as a hospital chaplain. But the time has finally come for me to stop saying “yes” and move into a new chapter in my life. Or, as Rob said on Sunday, it is time for me to graduate into retirement.

As I do so I want to express my deep, heart-felt appreciation for you, the community of faith at Mill Woods United Church. You have welcomed me, supported me, laughed and cried with me, as we have journeyed together the last several years. This time has been a blessing for me, and I say Thank You! You will continue in my heart as you and Rev. William embrace the future that awaits.

Shalom,

The Rev. Dr. Dale W. Johnson