Moderator Installed at Closing Worship

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Mardi Tindal was installed as the 40th Moderator of The United Church of Canada during a worship service in which this General Council’s theme, “down to the potter’s house,” was interpreted through words, music, and movement.

Nine family members and friends placed their hands on Tindal’s head as she knelt, and the previous Moderator, the Very Rev. David Giuliano, asked God to “send your Spirit upon your servant, Mardi…that she may serve faithfully in this office.”

Tindal received several gifts, symbolic of the office of Moderator—a stole, a talking stick, and a necklace. Potter Darryl Auten, from Salmon Arm, British Columbia, presented Tindal with a large bowl and a small bowl, both of which had been created during the opening worship service a week ago. The smaller of the two bowls had not yet been glazed. As Auten gave the bowl to Tindal, he said it was to remind her that all beautiful things “are not yet finished.”

Sarah Wyatt, from the General Council Worship Committee, presented Tindal with a clay pot “holding the prayers and dreams of our church.” The Children in Council gave Tindal a traveller’s satchel containing a reusable water bottle, indicative of Tindal’s concern for the environment, and an Intelligence Manual with advice from the children.

“As a church, we will keep on striving to discern God’s call to us,” Tindal said during her sermon.

Tindal asked commissioners to return to their communities and continue the work of the General Council. She told them not to wait for the General Council to develop programs. “Together, we are the program,” Tindal explained.

Tindal also asked commissioners to do what they could to help offset the carbon footprint she would create as she travelled as Moderator on their behalf. “I promise to pray for you and this church daily,” she said.

Throughout the service, children, youth, and young teens used physical movements and poses to interpret scripture readings, prayers, and reflections.

Early in the service, Auten, wearing a potter’s apron, reminded commissioners of the Council’s theme, based on Jeremiah 18:1. “On occasion the potter has to make decisions about what is holy and what is right and what is beautiful about their creation,” he said.

He explained that sometimes potters will destroy a piece of their work in order to reuse the material. Using a hammer, he broke several bowls he had made. Some of the pieces he broke were flawed, but some had been finished pieces.

“Sometimes it is a thing of beauty,” he said. Sometimes potters break “something very close to their hearts.”

He said that what Jeremiah learned in the potter’s house was that one’s connection with God is not limited to the temple, but is found “in the hearts and minds of the people of God wherever they were.”

In addition to the bowls presented to Tindal, Auten also presented a large and small bowl to Giuliano in appreciation of his service to the church as Moderator.

The Okanagan Mass Bell Choir and a 70-voice choir consisting of commissioners and visitors to Council offered music during the service.

The Children in Council had baked the small loaves of bread that were served during communion. Everyone received a small clay cup in which to receive the communion juice. Communion was served at several stations by children and some of the yellow-shirted volunteers who had been part of the week’s meeting.

The candles that had been lit during the opening worship were extinguished and carried from the worship area. The candles symbolized the four directions, which are honoured in First Nations traditions.

“Christ, you are before us as what gives us courage to keep moving,” Tindal said in benediction. “We dedicate ourselves to you now.”