Cold Feet

 The link for this week's live-streamed service is here.

This week we were blessed to have the Rev. Mitch Coggin for a return visit to our pulpit while Rev. Irwin is away at Synod.  He is the interim moderator for Trinity Presbyterian in Victoria and takes on guest preaching spots from time to time as people like our Rev. Irwin need time away.

The first time Mitch visited us was in July of 2025. His bio at the time showed a very busy life, but he menitoned he was trying to learn how to be retired. 

Below is his updated resume and I think he may be failing at the "retired" part. He has added tai chi and improv to the list of activities, but hasn't removed anything!

Rev. Mitch Coggin moved to Victoria at the invitation of the Presbytery of Vancouver Island in 2018 to serve as the Transitional Pastor at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Victoria.  He held this position until March, 2025 when he officially retired from the Presbyterian Church in Canada (although for the last year has served as Interim Moderator of Trinity Presbyterian, Victoria. 

 He holds dual membership as a Teaching Elder in the Presbyterian Church in Canada and The Presbyterian Church (USA).  Mitch is an experienced Interim Minister having served multiple interim roles in the States before beginning his work in Canada.    

 Mitch is a certified coach through the International Coaching Federation and teaches coaching as a valuable understanding in guiding congregations through the transitional process.  

On a personal note, Mitch is a passionate woodworker, creating fountain pens on a lathe from the beautiful wood found in the Pacific northwest. . 

Mitch plays golf at least three times a week and has taken improv and tai chi classes during the last year. He and Linda were sworn in as Canadian citizens in January of this year and just this week voted in their first Canadian election!

"The cold floor under her bare feet shocked her awake, a sudden, freezing reminder of the world she had forgotten while asleep."
— The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery

If you've ever slid from a warm bed and placed your bare feet on a cold floor on a frosty Canadian morning, you can relate to the above quote. When the wood stove in the kitchen was the main source of heat in the house, the temperature in bedrooms could drop to near freezing overnight. When morning came, those aroused from slumber shivered into the day, scrambled for clothes and yanked on wool socks in fewer minutes than it takes to tell, before racing for the warmth of the kitchen and a hot breakfast.

I think a warmed bathroom floor is one of the great luxuries of life. 

Sadly, what many of us remember with a hint of nostalgia, is still a reality for many living rough in our towns and cities. Cold, wet feet are a misery, especially when there is no relief in sight. 

Except, we are the relief. 

Every autumn for as long as I've been posting this blog, our congregation collects warm socks, sweaters, coats, blankets . . . for those who cannot come in from the cold. 

Mostly, we concentrate on socks. Socks filled with compassion for someone suffering cold toes and blistered heels. Someone who is loved by God.

The reasons for homelessness are many and complicated. We've been doling out care baskets for decades and still the problems persist. It is tempting to shrug and expect "someone else" to find a solution. 

There is an old adage about one person being unable to change the world but we can change the world for one person. A pair of warm socks -- simple, affordable and immediate. Will change the world for one person with cold feet.

Bring your donation to the church and place it in the baskets in the narthex. Help change one person's world.

  Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matt. 25:40 KJV