Pastor John Beaudean paused in his preparations for his first service, looked out his office window and wondered how many of the people he had canvassed during the past summer months would come to Christ Risen Lutheran Church that Sunday morning.
On the October morning in 1968, the window in the Pastor's office in the House-Chapel at 79 Leacock Drive, looked out, over the Sandwell Green and the fields and treed areas, towards the village of Hazeldean on Highway 7/15. About half-way to Hazeldean, were the buildings and barns of a prosperous farm. If one drove out of Kanata-Beaverbrook on the gravel sideroad, which now forms Teron and Eagleson Roads, one would pass through a rural landscape on the way to Highway 7/15. Turning right, one would pass the small community of Glen Cairn on the left, and proceed over the hill to Younghusband's General Store in Hazeldean. The highway then led on towards Stittsville, Carleton Place, and far off Toronto. However, if one turned left then one would get to Bells Corners and Lynwood - which boasted an IGA grocery store. One could continue on to Ottawa via Richmond Road or Carling Avenue, or turn down Pincrest Road to where the new multi-lane Queensway ended and zip the rest of the way into downtown Ottawa.
In 1968, Kanata was less than half of the present day Beaverbrook community; Glen Cairn was a separate small community in Goulbourn township; South March consisted of a few homes and a country store with nearby rural Anglican and Roman Catholic parishes; and the areas between and around these communities were open fields and forests. Today, these areas are filled with the beautiful residential developments of Bridlewood, a vastly expanded Glen Cairn, Katimavik-Hazeldean, Kanata Lakes, Morgan's Grant, and Stittsville. March Township, the Nepean communities of Crystal Beach and Barrhaven, and the west Ottawa communities in which many of our members lived, have also grown remarkably over the past 25-plus years.
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Today, Christ Risen Lutheran Church sits in the heart of a fast-growing high-tech city/suburb on the western edge of Ottawa - still located in Resurrection Park…. surrounded by meandering paths through parkland….and still nestled in the historic residential neighbourhood of 'Beaverbrook'. And yet, through all of the industrial (and residential) change that's occurred since the first beginnings of Christ Risen, some things just never change: Christ Risen Lutheran Church continues to be a caring congregation, ready to share the joys and sorrows of life with one another, ready to reach-out into our world and our community with hands that offer to help and heal, and ready to share the beautiful message of God's love, and grace, with people young and old, and of all races, genders, cultures and lifestyles. But, most importantly, we can be forever thankful that the gospel message never changes: that we're graciously loved, compassionately forgiven, and eternally saved…..through the greatest gift the world has ever known: Jesus Christ!
