INTRODUCTION

For where two or more come together in my name, there am I with them.

MATTHEW 18:20, New International Version

he word “church” brings to mind an image of an archi- tectural structure built for the public worship of God. But a church is much more than a building of wood and stone. It is the story of the people who chose to build and maintain a structure as an expression of their worship and relationship with God. People breathe spiritual life into the frame and transform it into a church community. The Lot 16 United Church sits serenely in the countryside,

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REFLECTION: Ellyn Lyle A single spire was the source of such interest to me as a child. It mattered not where I travelled in my community, it was omnipresent on the horizon. Oftentimes, it stood with quiet grace against the western sley. On other occasions it was a distinct silhouette in the east. With no regard for the weather or changing hands of the clock, it was simply there, somewhere, every day. Moving from the

jbrm, I was afraid that my sense of direction in lyre was somehow irrevocably altered. Yet from my new home on the outskirts ofMiscouche, there stood the lone spire against the northern sky. Maybe I sensed as a child that this nucleus of my

community was part of my true north. Nonetheless, as most children must do, I ventured into the world to test my wings. As one of the flartunate few, my wings brought me home. And there, still the center of an evolving community, stands my

beacon . . . that magneticforce given to me by a cherished family and a treasured community.

12January, 2002. Ellyn is the daughter of Darrell and Donna Lyle, see Lyle History.

xiv LOT 16 UNITED CHURCH AND ITS PEOPLE