June 2nd, Mark your Calendar!

This is a reminder that June 2nd is Rev. David’s last service at SouthWest so it would be nice to see a lot of friendly faces in the pews. June 2nd is also the Tour de l’ile bicycle race and once again they are coming along Lasalle boulevard. If you’re driving to church, plan on coming via Champlain. If you take the bus, routes may be disrupted. We will have taxi chits available at church this Sunday (May 26) for anyone who wants to use one next Sunday. Taxi chits can also be picked up at the Mission, but please call ahead to make sure someone is there!

The service is at 10am, Sunday June 2nd, and farewell potluck begins around 11:30.

Minister's Message: The Way of Love

The Way of Love

Powerful, poetic and life changing words...

They were read last Saturday at Mystic United by Frances Jones at the celebration for her brother Stan Black, and the next day at the wedding of Cara and Yves at SouthWest. They are one of the most exquisite definitions of what love is and are based on how God in Jesus has loved us: with focus, assertiveness and sacrifice.

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.
(The Message, 1 Corinthians 13: 1,2,3-7.)

"Keeps going to the end.”
I like that. 

As I end 20 years of ministry with SouthWest (I am very conscious that I arrived when I was 39) the message Paul wrote to the congregation at Corinth resonates deeply. It roots me in the incarnation of love, of giving and receiving, of blessing and being blessed, of celebrating life and mourning deeply. It carries us from endings into new beginnings.

This poem invites each of us to be better than our natural inclinations. It models how Jesus lived, died and rose again : Love as I have loved you. (John 15: 12-15).

My role is to incarnate love in words and deeds, in prayers and celebration. There has been community, worship and ministry before me and there will be after.

Emmanuel is celebrating 175 years of ministry with an afternoon service and Gospel concert June 9th. A long history of love in action.

Beryl Barraclough, a Designated Lay Minister, will begin her ministry July 1st at SouthWest and will be a wonderful pastor. I will preach every Sunday in July and August at Emmanuel and root myself slowly in this new context. I am also determined to start a new garden and anticipate many hours toiling the soil.

In all our endings and new beginnings we live this ideal of love.

 In the following chapter (14:1) Paul begins with these words: Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it—because it does!

What a great exhortation for each of us.
The quality of our lives is measured by how we love.

Rev. David

Happy Retirement to Mary Anne Fyckes

After being the Spiritual Life and Community Animator for several Lester B. Pearson schools since the board was created over 20 years ago, Mary Anne Fyckes is retiring at the end of this school year.

It seems oddly fitting that Mary Anne is retiring just as the Mission is closing and Rev. David is leaving. Mary Anne has been a familiar face around SouthWest Mission from its inception. In fact, she is the one who first suggested that Verdun Elementary might be looking to rent space to a community partner and that SouthWest might be a good fit. For twelve years it was, and Mary Anne had a big part in making that partnership work.

Mary Anne has deep roots in Verdun and a great understanding of and fondness for Verdun families. Over the years, Mary Anne has always taken an interest in Mission activities and has served as a bridge between us and a succession of Principals. As a Muslim she has also been a link to our local Islamic Centre, helping to forge a warm relationship between our two communities.

In a rapidly diversifying Verdun, she has consistently been a voice for cultural sensitivity and inclusion. She has been the one we turn to to understand another culture’s approach to the grieving process, but she’s also the one who tells us where to find kosher hotdogs! A spiritual animator’s job is multi-faceted.

As a wearer of the hijab, how does Mary Anne feel about retiring at this fraught moment, with the CAQ government preparing to prevent educators from wearing “religious signs”? Let’s just say that, inside or out of the system, Mary Anne has no intention of keeping quiet!

Mary Anne, you will be missed, but you have earned your rest and relaxation, and all of us at Southwest wish you the best. We won’t say good-bye, just “see you around”.

  • The school is having a send-off for Mary Anne Fyckes in the Mission space on Friday, May 31st at 6PM. Please get in touch with Amy at the office if you would like to go. The organizers are trying to get an accurate head count.

Minister's Message: Words of Life and Beauty

This prayer has been on my heart since Easter Sunday:

O God for whom there are no barriers,
no stones too big to remove,
roll away our resistance to you.
Let your words fill us with new life
and bring us out from the tomb of indifference, alive in you.
In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

(UCC, Celebrate God’s Presence, p. 197)

 Let your words fill us with new life...

At my final outreach service at Les Floralies, LaSalle this week some 30 people attended worship and shared with me words of appreciation for some ten years of monthly ministry in this residence. The SouthWest pastoral team members were given flowers and I received a card, gift and a homemade Celebration Cake! Beryl Barraclough, the Designated Lay Minister who will begin her ministry July 1st at SouthWest was also there so people would know there is continuity. We sang this hymn:

Sing them over again to me,
wonderful words of life,
Let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life.

(P. Bliss, 1874) 

In John’s Gospel (6: 25-71) Jesus talks about his death and how the disciples would have to ‘feed on his flesh’. Many did not hear the allusion to his death and resurrection and found his teaching too hard. They turned back and no longer followed him. The words I have spoken to you are full of the Spirit and Life, Jesus says to those remaining. In other words: are you going or staying?

Peter responds: Where would we go? You have the words of eternal life!

In the midst of significant transitions it is hard to hear words of life. In the endings it is difficult to hear of new beginnings. When there is loss and grief, can we hear hope or in the darkest night, see the light?

Faith believes that the One we follow has the words of eternal life. That Jesus has gone before us through the depths of the grave and darkness of the tomb. He knew God’s silence on the cross as he hung naked and alone.

There too, few disciples remained to keep vigil.

I am only keeping my head above the waters these last days of May as I prepare for the emotion-filled goodbye to SouthWest after 20 years. At every turn there are memories of two decades of ministry and relationships. I believe that God is in our midst guiding and cajoling us: reminding us of that strong faith of our ancestors that gets on with doing what must be done in the midst of change and challenges.

I believe that there is life in the words of Jesus and a living relationship with him that gives us the courage of goodbyes. I believe that love knows no boundaries or distance and is not limited to biology. It is the ultimate word of life.

So join me in the prayer:

Let your words fill us with new life!

 

Rev. David

Mini-market, Tuesday at Dawson

Here is the list of items that will be available from the Mini-market being held at Dawson Boys and Girls Club next Tuesday, May 21st, from 12 to 5PM.

PRODUCE                                                             LBS.          KGS              EACH

CARROTS                                                   .          .68            1.50

ENGLISH CUCUMBERS                                                                         .84

KALE                                                                                                             2.58

SPANISH ONIONS                                                 .63           1.38

MIXED PEPPERS (NO GREEN)                          2.07           4.57

WHITE MUSHROOMS #1                                   3.47           7.64   

TOMATO VINE RED                                ,           2.34           5.16

POTATOES BAKER #50                                        .73           1.62

APPLES, CORTLAND                                           1.18          2.60

CLEMENTINES                                                     1.29          2.84

BANANAS, TURBANA            .70           1.53     

GRAPES, RED MEDIUM                                      2.40          5.28


    








Looking for strong arms, and backs!

The only constant in life is change, right?

The SouthWest office is moving out of the Mission and into the Church. We’re planning to get the big stuff moved on Tuesday, May 28th. Rev. David is organizing a U-haul. There are a few big pieces of furniture that will need to be loaded up at Melrose and unloaded at Clemenceau, along with about 20 boxes.

if you can give us an hour or two in the late morning-early afternoon to help, please get in touch with the office. Lift with the knees!

Amy

514-768-6231

In Memoriam: Alice McVeigh Crawley

We are saddened to announce the death of Alice McVeigh on May 3, 2019, at the age of 88. Beloved wife of the late John Crawley, mother of Danny and sister of Patricia Ovenstone.

She leaves to mourn many relatives and friends.

Rev. David Lefneski will lead a celebration of Alice’s life at the Urgel Bourgie funeral complex, 3955 Cote-de-Liesse in Ville St-Laurent on Sunday, May 19th at 3PM.

May 14 Mini-Market at Dawson

A reminder: the Community lunch and Mini-market have moved to Dawson Boys and Girls Club (666 Woodland ave.), and to Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays. Here is the price list for the May 14 market:

CARROTS                                                            .68 LBS   1.50 KGS

CHOP SUEY                                                      1.01 LBS.   2.22 KGS

ENGLISH  CUCUMBERS                                        .83 EACH

GREEN ONIONS                                                       .54 EACH

SPANISH ONIONS                                           .62 LBS.    1.38 KGS

MIXED PEPPERS, NO GREEN                       1.89 LBS.    4.16 KGS

SPINACH IN BAGS                                                 2.80 EACH

WHITE MUSHROOMS                                  2.84 LBS     6.25 KGS

RED TOMATOES ON VINE                           2.34 LBS     5.16 KGS

CHEF WHITE  POTATOES                              .46 LBS     1.02 KGS

MACINTOSH  APPLES                                   .89 LBS      1.97 KGS

BANANAS, TURBANA           .70 LBS.      1.53 KGS

CLEMENTINES                                             1.36 LBS.      3.00 KGS

LEMONS                                                                    .53  EACH



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