Easter Plants

Thanks to Shirley Stark for organizing the sale and dedication of plants again this year.

Minister's Message: Easter Joy

One: This is the day that God has made,

All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it! (Psalm 118: 24)

Over the last few Sundays, this Psalm has been read in worship. In it are the palm branches of Palm/Passion Sunday waved in praise to God (v. 27-28) and the affirmation of the rejected stone (Jesus) becoming God’s kingdom cornerstone (v. 22-23).

It affirms for all who would hear: 

Give thanks to the Lord, because God is good, 
God’s love endures for ever! (v. 1-4, 29).

This affirmation of love is one that I am grateful for. It is present in moments of joy but also in those times of loss, distress and fear. It weaves together our relationships, including our interconnected-ness with all of Creation. It speaks of love as greater than death, the heart of the message of Easter. 

In my imagination I hear the whisper of God in the coldness and darkness of the tomb early that Sunday morning: 

It is time. 
You did well my Son.
Come home!!

These last few weeks are very emotional for me as I live a profound personal goodbye to SouthWest: the final Good Friday service and community meal at the Mission, confirmation and Easter celebration, preparing to move the office to the church and transitioning programs to the local Community center. Twenty years have flown by and I live such profound gratitude for so many blessings and so much love. This love sustains me in these deep transitions. 

“This is the day that God has made” is not only for the joyful times. It resonates in the sadness of death, in the coldness of the tomb and the inevitable goodbyes that occur in our lives. It is an affirmation of a constant for us: that God is in our midst, that love is everlasting, that we are created to live in relationships and not in isolation. 

An Easter hymn says:

Because you live, O Christ, 
the garden of the world has come to flower,
the darkness of tomb is flooded with your resurrected power.
The stone has rolled away and death cannot imprison.
O sing this Easter Day, 
for Jesus Christ has risen, has risen, has risen!!

(Shirley Murray, 1984, VU 178)

I affirm love and wrap myself in its warmth like a hand stitched quilt, and am calmed and held in its grace. 

May the stone be rolled from our hearts, our anxieties and fears. 

May the whisper of God be life and hope to our lives. 

May God bless endings with new beginnings for this is the day that God has made. 

Rev. David 

Offre d'emploi marché mobile

Bonjour à toutes et tous,

 Le Repaire jeunesse Dawson est à la recherche d’unE agentE de développement pour le projet Marché Mobile Verdun/ Mobile Market. Sous la responsabilité de la direction du Repaire jeunesse Dawson et du comité de suivi, l’agentE assumera la mise en place du projet de marché mobile à Verdun, notamment dans les HLM du quartier. Le projet aura pour but d’améliorer l’accessibilité à des fruits et légumes frais pour les populations les plus vulnérables de Verdun.

 Merci de faire circuler dans vos réseaux!

 Bonne journée,

Eve St-Laurent
Agente de concertation
Concertation en développement social de Verdun - CDSV
3972 rue de Verdun, Montréal
514-769-2228, poste 110
eve.st.laurent@cdsv.org

Easter material for families/ feuillet pour familles à Pâques

The story of Easter – Luke 24

After Jesus’ death, early on Sunday morning, the women who had followed him went to the tomb carrying the spices they had prepared… But, O surprise! the tomb was empty!!!

The body of the Lord Jesus wasn’t there anymore.

Le récit de Pâques – Luc 24

Tôt le dimanche matin, après la mort de Jésus, les femmes qui l’avaient suivi se sont rendues au tombeau en apportant des huiles parfumée. Mais, ô surprise! Le tombeau était vide !!!!

Minister's Message: Easter Life

The Greening of the Earth and our Spirits 

Christ is risen! Alleluia, He is risen indeed!

'Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome...ran from the tomb, distressed and afraid. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.'  Mark 16: 1-8

One could say it is slow in coming each year, the interplay between the ending of winter and the arrival of spring. More sunshine, then cold, gardens starting to sprout then wind and snow. Back and forth like a tug of war. 

The resurrection story in Mark's gospel is profoundly human. It is not the full blown Easter joy of the other Gospels but rather the slow greening of the spirit. It is a story of encounter with the emptiness of both the tomb and the spirit. 

The women who go to the tomb find it empty, hear the angelic proclamation “he is not here, he is risen,” then run away 'distressed and terrified!' And instead of sharing joy they say nothing to anyone because of their fear. 

This is not the more regimented religious version that accommodates the need for full-on certainty and explanation: the one that goes so quickly from death on the cross to resurrection joy and leaves one with whiplash. 

There is progression in the greening of the spirit just like in the greening of the earth. There is room for fear, distress and disbelief. There is not always an immediate turn around, but the slow converting to the light of each place in our hearts, minds and spirit. Resurrection may be an immediate moment but letting the stone be rolled away from my heart takes time. 

When our hearts are wintry, grieving or in pain,
your touch can call us back to life again,
fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
love is come again, like wheat arising green. 

(VU 186, John Crum, 1928, to the tune of Noël Nouvelet.)

May I let the Resurrected One touch my fears, questions and distress. As the earth is renewed this springtime may I be slowly greened in my faith. 

Let the greening begin in me o God! 

A blessed Easter to all of you. 

Rev. David 

Message du Pasteur: Pâques

Joyeuses Pâques!!

En cette fête de Pâques - la fête de la renouvellement de nos esprits et de la terre - nous sortons de l’hiver avec un profond besoin de crier: Alléluia !! Pendant le carême, nous avons suivi les traces de Jésus sur un chemin qui mène à travers le désert, chemin qui implique des sacrifices et des choix difficiles à comprendre pour nous qui vivons en 2019. Une nouvelle vie vient après la souffrance, la joie après la longue nuit de larmes, la résurrection après la croix. Il y a la célébration, mais seulement à la suite de périodes durs.

Que Pâques soit remplie de vie, de joie et de résurrection dans vos cœurs et vos relations, et à travers vous, qu’elle brille dans les dures réalités des gens qui vous entourent. Quand on vous dit: Christ est ressuscité, criez: Alléluia !!

Pasteur David

Palm/ Passion Sunday April 14

Worship this Sunday, led by Beryl Barraclough, will take us through the Passion story, from the Last Supper to the crucifixion and burial. Versions of the Passion can be found in all four Gospels, but this year we will be hearing readings from Luke.

 Volunteers are preparing a bake sale to take place directly after the service. There will also be sandwiches available to buy and raffle tickets for various prizes.

Beryl will also lead a Women’s Circle in the sanctuary at about 11:30.

Minister's Message: Learning How to Die

Holy Week begins this Monday and the darkest days of the Christian pilgrimage will begin. The Passion story is one of heaviness, betrayal, sacrifice and violence. The seven last words of Jesus spoken from the cross invite us into the intimacy of his last hours. They are a living testament to his life, faith, and the relationships that sustained him and speak to the complexity of believing even when senseless death makes a mockery of good people whose life was focused on selflessness and generosity. We cannot make sense of the senseless and need to accept that shadow, injustice and darkness are a part of living. Following Jesus into his last days and listening to his words from the cross may give us insight as to how we may both live and die.

The holy week hymn, Go to Dark Gethsemane (James Montgomery, 1820, VU 133) has this verse:

Calvary’s mournful mountain view;
there the Lord of glory see,
made a sacrifice for you,
 dying on the accursèd tree.
“It is finished,” hear his cry:
trust in Christ and learn to die.

 I have accompanied many people at their end of life. The idea that trusting Jesus helps me learn to die is one I like. As I hear his anguish, his letting go, his forgiveness and ultimate hope I want to both live and die in these values and faith Jesus inspires.

Read his last words in a moment of meditativeness.
Begin with a prayer:

Help me God to follow Jesus even to his death on a cross.
Teach me the meaning of living and dying in hope.
May I trust in Christ as I live into the darkness of death.

Pray for those who are experiencing violence, hatred and torture, for those who are dying alone and those who need hope and grace.

1. Luke 23:34: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
2. Luke 23:43: Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.
3. John 19:26–27: Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother
4. Matthew 27:46 & Mark 15:34 My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?
5. John 19:28: I thirst.
6. John 19:30: It is finished. (From the Greek "Tetelestai" which is also translated "It is accomplished", or "It is complete".)
7.    Luke 23:46: Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.

 Let us listen to Jesus in his dying words.

Let us follow him into darkness and learn how to die.

 Rev. David

image: BRUCE ONOBRAKPEYA, URHOBO, NIGERIA.

April 17 Mini-market is the last one at the Mission

Next Wednesday will be the last Mini-Market held at the Mission. We wish Sheila and Maurice and team all the best in their new home. We will let the SouthWest community know when things are up and running at Dawson.

Minister's message: Couch Surfing Like Jesus

Where did Jesus sleep during his three year nomadic, public and prophetic ministry? The Gospels tell of his friends Mary, Martha and Lazarus where he would stay when near Jerusalem. Did their hospitality include a guest bedroom or did they share a straw-filled mattress on the ground? I am thinking of accommodations as I no longer have a home in Montreal. I spent a night on my son’s Verdun couch this week. Although a bonding moment, it was not my bed! I walked to and from the Mission, a healthy choice, and lived from a small knapsack. The couch was a step up from an air mattress.  

Listen to this story of Jesus’ sleeping habits.

As they were walking along the road, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow You wherever You go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.” Then He said to another man, “Follow Me.” The man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

(Luke 9: 57-59)

In another gospel, Jesus was sleeping in the hull of the boat when the storm came (Matthew 8: 23-27). He must have been tired and slept where, and as, able.

I imagine that Jesus knew what couch surfing was about as he had no place to call his own. Interesting to remember that when he responded to Spirit’s call, he gave up everything: home, address, carpentry career, family responsibilities… he became an itinerant preacher - staying where he was welcomed or under the open sky, living in the moment and with what he could carry. 

For someone who has a few thousand books this is a hard word to hear: How many books can I carry?

My mother and sister come to visit the new house today. Garden plans, the placing of quilts and the enjoying of this new space will be part of this weekend. My mother said that I am not downsizing but rather upsizing (like at McDonald’s?) and living in my dream house. It is true that I now enjoy an attached garage with an electric door opener and a central vac, just like my mom! (No competition there.) 

These are change-filled days with so much to do. 

Living the balance between Jesus’ call and the reality of our lives, in the preciousness of each moment life offers us, following as a disciple, willing to give up everything or at a minimum to not be consumed with possessions is our challenge. 

I enjoy the Iona Community song that says:

First-born of Mary, provocative preacher,
itinerant teacher, outsider’s choice;
Jesus inspires and disarms and confuses whoever he chooses to hear his voice.

 (John L. Bell, 1998, MV 110)

 I pray in this Lenten season to lessen my hold on things, to accept changes that, while challenging, are for my well-being.

I pray for those whose only option for sleeping is a couch, or under the open sky or in a refugee tent.

I pray to hear the call of Jesus to live life fully, to love deeply and to appreciate the travelling companions and hospitality offered along the way. 

I pray that Jesus inspires, disarms and confuses me.

Amen.

 Rev. David