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Personal Message from the Pastor:
A bit about me…
Regina is home for me and my connection to Our Savior’s goes back to 1998 when my spouse and I were married here. We later had two children who were baptized here. We always found OSL to be a welcoming community, but unfortunately I had a great deal of past religious trauma that made it difficult for me to trust God and embrace the community.
For my own wellbeing, I fired God and walked away from the church entirely for many years, setting out on a spiritual journey of sorts. It was on that journey that I encountered God as a kind, compassionate and unconditionally loving being.
Several years later, I unexpectedly crossed paths with a pastor who welcomed me and my questions - and I had A LOT of questions. She helped me explore my faith and introduced me to who God was for her - kind, compassionate and unconditionally loving. It was through her that I was able to experience God inside the church just as I had experienced God outside of the church.
I began attending Sunday worship regularly and was only back for a few months when one Sunday in church I thought, “I think I am supposed to be a pastor!” I remember thinking, “What??” I had a career that I loved as a dental hygienist for over 20 years. I had no interest in going back to school, not in my mid forties! Perhaps it was the the onset of a mid-life crisis!
I tried to ignore it, but I have learned that the Spirit is persistent, and so I did eventually go to Seminary, convinced that at some point, someone would figure out this was a bad idea. After all how could someone like ME be called to ministry - I’m messy, I get things wrong all the time, I have a “colourful” past, and I certainly do not have all the answers.
But somewhere along the way, I realized that even though I thought I’d fired God all those years ago, God had never given up on me and had always been at work in my life even if I didn’t recognize it at the time.
Somewhere along the way I stopped trying to figure out why God called me.
Today I believe God is asking me to do for others what was done for me… foster a safe and brave space for people to ask their questions, and know they are loved by God just as they are. It is possible to experience God’s love and grace and find deep, real, and life-giving community within the church. I know this is possible because I have experienced it. May you experience it too.
Blessings on your journey.
Reverend Diane Nokonechny
Our Savior’s Lutheran Church is a community of faith committed to making known the reality of Christ's presence in the world through the Word, worship, prayer, teaching and fellowship. We are an accessible church. We offer free taxi service should you need a ride getting to and from Sunday worship. We have an AED on site. We also offer pastoral care on request.
Our Parent Church: Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada (ELCIC) is the largest organized body of Canadian Lutherans with approximately 93,000 baptized members in 493 congregations. We trace our roots as a confessing movement to the reformation of the catholic church initiated by Dr. Martin Luther in Germany in the 1500’s. The ELCIC is in full communion with the Anglican Church of Canada. (www.elcic.ca)
Our Synod: There are five ELCIC synods in Canada. Our Savior’s is a congregation of the Saskatchewan Synod (www.sasksynod.ca).
