Entwining

A group of friends sat together with me last evening discussing the business for our church. It was our official church board meeting of the month. As we each shared something of the situations we were facing individually it became so evident that we are vitally connected with the community around us. People count on each of us for strength and support. Sometimes the weight of the support that we need to give is greater than our ability – but we still offer it. The word “entwined” seems to make the most sense of what we do together. We count on each other for many things.

In the flower garden…
You really don’t have to look too far to find examples of entwining. As I walk to our back yard now the small and quickly growing Morning Glory plants have already begun grabbing the netting provided. Together they are struggling to see which one will reach the top first. At this stage they are about 12 inches from the ground. Not only are they attaching themselves to the netting they are grabbing one another. However when you place your hand on the Morning Glory plant it is rather limp and has little ability to hold itself up. Without the netting and the possibility to grabbing a hold on each other – it would never reach the top. From the past few years, as they have grown so well in this spot, they have covered the fence entirely – just because of the entwining that goes on.

Not far down the same walkway is another vine that is doing well. It has sprung to new life again after the winter. We wondered if it would make another year. A few months ago it looked dead. But here it is and it is very much alive with a full and massive head of leaves on it. In fact the other day I needed to trim it a little as it had begun to push itself below the siding on the house looking for a secure hold. It is famous for entwining too.

Pioneers…
This past week I spent time at Lang Pioneer Village east of our city. I have written of this in an earlier posting.

While listening to the young man speak of the Carpentry Shop that we were demonstrating in, the story fascinated me. He shared how the folk of the village counted on the Carpentry Shop to make and repair valuable tools for the village. Because the carpenter knew how to work with wood – they came to him for help. His work was vitally entwined with the community in which he lived.

This particular Carpentry Shop was situated in Lang Village from 1856 on. The Hastie family came from Scotland to make a new life for themselves in Canada. They opened the Hastie Carpentry Shop and stayed in business until 1938-1939. The same family owned and operated this vital business for the community.

Some of the buggies that are on display in the village were made by this shop. They even bear the name “Hastie”. I know that behind the General Motors (GM) in Oshawa is a similar story with the McLaughlin Family – making the Buick automobile.(see below)

The Hastie Shop made the beds for people and the cribs for their babies. They created the chairs and tables that every home needed. Then later they made the boxes that would bury their dead.

In some communities the Carpentry Shop then developed an outlet to become a furniture store. Some would grow to the next stage which would become a business helping with funerals – offering to make the caskets and also to help in the service to the grieving family. An example of entwining with the community… to become a full fledged Funeral Home (see below)

The Garden Hoe...
While I was carving and during the time I sat in the shop, a lady from a house across from the Hasty Carpentry Shop came to ask me a practical question. She was dressed in her period costume with bonnet and all. In her hand she held a garden hoe handle and the metal hoe end. It had broken off when they were using it in the garden. It had been a great tool to cultivate the small garden patch that they have beside the old log house.

In about twenty minutes I removed the old wood from inside the metal head. I then carved the end of the handle to fit into the metal opening and it was as good as new. The entwining took place again in the small village.

The dictionary states of entwining can also happen when we… knit, conjoin, join, loop, intertwine, enlace, wreathe, wind, fold, interlace, wattle, plash, pleach, and splice something together.

Oddly enough there are many that feel that community is distant from them. The folk that are near them are so wrapped into computer games or TV that they have little or nothing to do with each other. Last evening I found that to not be so. As the friends sat discussing the business of our church they each shared how they are connected to the community in so many ways. Entwined and joined to the community around themselves.

Question for you…
How are you entwined with your community today? How do people rely on you for what you offer or are able to do? How do you depend on them as well?

2007 is a long way from 1856 – 151 years actually. Yet today we need entwining as much as they did. Wow!

~ Pastor Murray Lincoln ~

Resource and Reference
Lang Pioneer Village

Examples of Funeral Homes from Furniture Stores…
Carson Funeral Homes
Brainard Funeral Home
Keener Funeral Home
Drugger Family Funeral Homes

Carriage Company becomes an Automobile
The McLaughlin Automobile - GM