More memories from 30 years ago

  

St Philip’s Dunbar where I was priested and served

St Philip's Dunbar courtyard

We lived in the upper floor of this house on West 36th in the Dunbar area

After ordination on May 18th 1980, Janice & I visited England

This is a photo of our visiting Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, UK with David, Sylvia & Claire Everett, Janice’s cousins

Through Living Stone Productions, we sponsored many Christian concerts including the Randy Stonehill Band at St Andrew’s Wesley

One of the wonderful fruits of the sometimes painful time at St Philip’s Dunbar was the birth of our first son James. What a joy he has been to us. We are so grateful for the gift of our three sons James, Mark and Andrew. They are irreplaceable gifts from God.  I was age 26 at the birth of my first son.

Fatherhood is an amazing gift…

Lord, I give you my dear son. May he live for you all the days of his life.

God the Father loves us more than we even love our own children.

Grandma Olive , holding our first son James, was a very loving lady.  She poured into our family in so many ways. We are immeasurably healthier because of her. I always loved to visit her and Grandpa Hird in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast.

Grandpa Vic Hird had a deep love for children. It brought out the best in him. He had a soft spot for James who was key in Grandpa coming back to faith in Jesus Christ.  When James was about two to three years old, he danced before Grandpa Vic, as Grandpa Vic cathartically sang ‘Jesus loves me, this I know for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong, they are weak but he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me, Yes Jesus loves me, Yes Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.’

One of our favorite places to vacation for the Hird family has been Penticton in the Okanagan. My parents even bought property there at one point, thinking of retiring in Peachland. When our eldest son James was born in 1981, we vacationed that summer in Penticton. Holding James, I was about to go off on the motor bike.  Being a wise parent, I gave my son back to my wife Janice, before heading off.

Every one loved our new son James. My in-laws Rev David and Vera Cline had a particular heart for James.  David and Vera at that time were leading Brighouse United Church in Richmond, a booming evangelical congregation before the tragedy that happened to their former denomination.

Nana Allen dearly loved her new great-grandson James. Sadly Nana was to pass away the next year in 1982. We still miss her, but rejoice that she is with Jesus. Her godly example has been a great inspiration to us.

When my specialists advised me to step down from St Philip’s on Oct 1st 1981, my father and mother rallied around us, being a great support. My dad Ted has always been very fond of our son James. Family is such a wonderful gift that we don’t always fully appreciate.

James as always is full of life and vitality. You can see why thirty years later James does so well at floor hockey, and is such a strong Canucks fan. Go Canucks Go!!

Motherhood and Apple Pie

by Rev Ed Hird

 

Mother’s Day stirred up a favourite memory from my childhood: going on the Horseshoe Bay Ferry over to the Sunshine Coast, where my Grandma always served us  freshly baked, hot apple pie.  Grandma Hird baked some of the tastiest apple pies that I’ve ever eaten.  But she always apologized about her apple pies, saying that the pastry didn’t turn out just right, or that she hadn’t baked enough pies for us.  Our family usually needed to go on a diet for three weeks, just to recover from a weekend of Grandma Hird’s delicious cooking!  Grandma always would tell us how fortunate she was to have such wonderful neighbours.  She would comment on how caring and friendly they were to her.  Whoever you were, Grandma Hird always made you feel special.  With such a gift of hospitality, it was no wonder that so many young children in the neighbourhood  ‘adopted’ her as their own grandma.

 

Caring and Sharing

Even though she couldn’t read a note of music, Grandma Olive was an excellent pianist.  As her eyesight became worse and she went into a care facility,  her greatest regret was that she couldn’t play the piano any more, or bake apple pies for us.  Grandma was such a loving person that she loved to give generously to others, and it hurt when she couldn’t.  When my family and I would visit Grandma in the nursing home, she used to give our 3 boys money to go to MacDonald’s.  She’d say: “I so miss not being able to cook apple pies for you, like when Grandpa was alive.”  Grandma Hird really missed her husband since he’d passed away.

 

A Teenage ‘Mother’…

Grandma Olive didn’t have an easy life.  She had to quit school at age 15 to look after her 3 younger brothers.  Her mother, who was an Ensign in the Salvation Army and knew William & Catherine Booth personally, had died suddenly in the 1918 flu epidemic.  Her father was away overseas at war.  So Grandma Olive had to function as “the mother” to her younger brothers for the next six years until her father remarried.  She had a tough time understanding why such a wonderful woman as her mother would be taken from her.  But she never stopped trusting that she would meet her Mom some day in heaven.  Years later, when my Grandma’s sight was going, she gave me her mother’s bible.  I have always treasured this gift, as it includes some actual sermons and poems written by her mom.  ‘The cross is a mystery’, wrote her mother, ‘until you take it up.’  Grandma Olive knew from personal experience that being a mother often involves taking up unexpected crosses in one’s life.

 

A Majestic Lady…

When Grandma Olive died in 1990, I had the unique privilege of taking her funeral service.  It was a hard thing to do, but also very meaningful.  Years later, I give thanks for what a loving, gracious grandmother she was to me.  When I wonder why my father learned to respect women, I know that it came from his deep respect for his mother Olive who totally devoted her life to her family.  I firmly believe that much of my father’s self-confidence as an adult came from the unshakable conviction that he was unconditionally loved by his mother.  As Grandma Olive was gradually dying, her Doctor often visited her. He said that she was a majestic lady, and that whenever he came to see her, he went away feeling better.  Even in the last stages of death, Grandma Olive had the ability to comfort and calm those around her.

 

Grandma’s Last Supper

I will always remember the last private communion service that I had with Grandma Olive, a week before she died..  She participated very intensely in the service, although greatly weakened physically. As I spoke of Jesus’ loving death for us, she nodded her head continually and then said: “I’m ready to go.  I want to be with Grandpa, my parents, and my friends.”  One of her last few words were: “.I am so fortunate.  I have such a good  family and friends”.  Then she said, “I love you very much.”  Grandma Olive was not afraid to die, because she believed in the truth of Easter.  Grandma knew that love was stronger than death.  This Mother’s Day,  I want to thank God for all the mothers, like Grandma Olive, who unselfishly devote their lives to their families.

 

The Rev. Ed Hird

Rector, St. Simon’s  Church North Vancouver

 

Anglican Mission in the Americas (Canada)

http://stsimonschurch.ca 

-award-winning author of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’

-previously published in the Deep Cove Crier

http://www.battleforthesoulofcanada.blogspot.com

p.s. In order to obtain a copy of the book ‘Battle for the Soul of Canada’, please send a $18.50 cheque to ‘Ed Hird’, #1008-555 West 28th Street, North Vancouver, BC V7N 2J7. For mailing the book to the USA, please send $20.00 USD.  This can also be done by PAYPAL using the e-mail ed_hird@telus.net . Be sure to list your mailing address. The Battle for the Soul of Canada e-book can be obtained for $9.99CDN/USD.

-Click to download a complimentary PDF copy of the Battle for the Soul study guide :  Seeking God’s Solution for a Spirit-Filled Canada 

You can also download the complimentary Leader’s Guide PDF: Battle for the Soul Leaders Guide