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This week our community member spotlight lands on Jen Strohschein, our faithful and enthusiastic accompanist, as well as dedicated AbbeyCouncil member and notetaker. Jen and her husband Dan have been an important fixture in the AbbeyChurch world for quite a while now, with Dan having served as interim Poet-in-Residence over the summer. Please read on to get to know them a little bit more.

 

Tell us a little about yourselves.

Dan and I and our growing up kids, Iona and Andrew, have lived in Victoria since 2015.  We have prairie roots, I from a farm in central Alberta and Dan from all over the prairies (as well as North Africa and Switzerland - his dad worked in the oil world and they moved a lot).  After our marriage in 2004, Dan and I moved much too frequently for my liking, and as we headed west towards Victoria we committed to finding a right place and remaining there for at least 10 years.  We have done it!

How did you find yourself at AbbeyChurch? What continues to draw you here?

We started off going to church at St. Philip Anglican Church in Oak Bay, and knew Rob and Meagan and the kids there.  This relationship was a bridge to the fledgling AbbeyChurch, which I sometimes also attended.  At its first home in Paul Philip hall, it was mere blocks from our home.  I eventually found two churches to be one too many, and shifted over to AbbeyChurch during Covid.  Because I played with the band, I actually got to gather with a few people at that time when gathering was not allowed. I realized then how much I needed to be together in community.  
My longing for community continues to draw me.  And my love of worshipping together.  I appreciate the fluidity and flexibility of who and how we are.  Because we tend to come from a stance of seeking the Divine, I trust the Holy Spirit has freedom to guide and form and teach us.  

Tell us a bit about your faith journey. Was there a spiritual background to your life/childhood?

I have deep Baptist roots on both sides of my family; my mom's Great Grandfather Pioneer McDonald was the first Baptist Missionary in the (then) Northwest Territories.  I grew up in a kind but not particularly spiritual German Baptist church in rural Alberta.  Church was a big part of the life of my nuclear and extended family.  It has been (and will continue to be) a journey to figure out my own understanding and expression of what it is to be a Jesus follower.  Dan comes from no spiritual background at all.  We had some significant push-back from many well-meaning Baptists when we were contemplating getting married.  It has not been easy to be "unequally yoked", but it has been rich and challenging and I know that God is walking closely with us in our journey together.  

How do you fill your time? What brings you joy?

I work as a physical therapist with seniors wherever they live.  I love this privileged work - I have dear, interesting elder-friends all over Victoria. I also love to garden in our yard and sometimes our neighbours' yards, and love even more to spend time in nature. I am particularly drawn to the woods.  I have many moments of joy amongst the trees and ferns and mushrooms and wild birds.  And with friends.  Vulnerable, real connections give me joy.  In all these places I see God working and loving and life-affirming.  

Where do you sense God is at work today - in yourself, in our community, in the world?

I feel that God is at work in the undercurrents, in the shadows, in the ripple-effects of small connections and gestures and offerings.  My hope and my experience is that God multiplies and uses our "little things with great love."  God is teaching us to love:  to see, to honour, to serve God, ourselves, each other, the people who surround us, the beloved Creation of which we are part.
Thank you to Jen and Dan for opening up to the community and sharing a little about your story. May God bless you and keep you, always.