Beryl's Blog: The Most Wonderful Time

It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

That T.V. commercial is filling the air again.  It is back to school time.

Most children have had their fill of summer.  They have played with their friends, filled their days with swimming and bike riding, soccer, tennis and family vacations close to home and even abroad. They are suntanned, healthy and well fed. But, even though most of them would not admit it, they are bored and ready for something new. 

For other children, going back to school is a blessing.  They have missed the breakfast and lunch programs which sustained them from September to June.  They have been left to care for and amuse themselves while parents have been working or just not home.  There has been little structure and little joy in their summer time.  Returning to school will bring some sort of stability back into their lives.

As we think about the children who will be boarding buses, riding bikes or walking to their places of education, I would invite each of us to hold them in spirit and pray for their safety throughout the months to come.

Creator God,

Bless all students as they begin another year of school.

Give them peace when they feel nervous, focus when they feel distracted and energy when they feel tired.

Open their minds to the lessons they will need to learn, both in and outside the classroom.

Help them make friends that build one another up, and be a friend to those who need someone to stand with them.

Guide them in making good choices as they grow in wisdom and maturity.

Be ever present with them in the classroom, on the school bus, on the playground and at home.

And, bless them with teachers who fill the classroom with an atmosphere of care and mutual respect. 

Empower administrators and teachers to react with patience and understanding towards all students as they help grow pupils in both knowledge and character.

Help parents encourage their children and understand the challenges and fear of failure that can come with each new year.

Help them have realistic expectations for their sons and daughters that are neither unreachable nor unchallenging.

May they know and feel your loving care in all they do.  Amen.

Beryl

The Rev. J.G. Joyce: Renaissance Man

Rev. J.G. Joyce in Verdun United Church.

Some in the community may remember the name of Rev. J. G. Joyce - maybe it appears on your marriage or baptismal certificate - but how many know that the minister who led worship at Verdun United in the 30s 40s and early 50s was an accomplished craftsman and a pioneer in radio broadcasting?

Born in Carbonear, Newfoundland in 1889, Joseph Gilbert Joyce attended Mount Allison University in New Brunswick and was ordained by the Methodist Conference at Harbour Grace, Newfoundland in 1917. He went on to Boston University, graduating in 1920 with a Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Sacred Theology. Rev. Joyce accepted the position of Minister of Wesley Methodist Church, St. John’s Newfoundland in 1922 where he stayed until 1930. During that time, according to his obituary, he built “the first radio station in St. John’s Nfld.”

Rev. Joyce’s motives were in line with his religious calling. He wanted people living in isolated communities along the Newfoundland coast, as well as some of his own parishioners who were too ill to attend services, to nevertheless be able to hear the message every Sunday. He personally enlisted local tradesmen to put up poles and wires behind the church building and by 1924, radio station 8WMC (later VOWR or Voice of Wesley Radio) went on the air. When Rev. Joyce found that many in his flock were too poor to afford radios, he personally made them crystal radio sets so they could follow the services.

Rev. Joyce was the second minister at Verdun United Church on Woodland. The building was inaugurated by Rev. Isaac Norman in 1931 but in 1933 the congregation called Rev. Joyce who would lead worship there for the next 24 years. Over that period, Verdun was growing by leaps and bounds and so were the churches. Despite the lean years of the Depression and the deprivations of wartime, in 1947 the congregation was justifiably proud to be able to acquit its mortgage. A special service was held to celebrate the occasion, during which Rev. Joyce actually set fire to the mortgage deed! Several representatives of the congregation joined him at the podium, including 10-year-old Marjorie Cooper, representing the Sunday School. Marge Cooper-White is still a member of our congregation, attending outreach services at the Floralies Residence.

Rev. Joyce sets fire to the mortgage deed, surrounded by (L to R): Marjorie Cooper, representing the Sunday School; Mr. Harris Way, Clerk of Session; Mrs. Clement King, oldest living original member (the King family had been there at the founding of the church in 1899); and James Goodwin, representing Church Youth. 1947

A talented craftsman, Rev. Joyce’s lasting bequest to the Verdun community is a stained glass window which he created after retiring from the ministry. Again according to his obit, Dr. Joyce (he gained that title in 1931 after graduating from United Theological College in Montreal) sought out several Italian craftsmen in order to learn about stained glass making. He ordered glass from Europe and seems to have acquired all the skills - cutting, painting, leading, firing - to complete the piece himself. (Some say his wife was more than a little involved in the project as well.) It was presented to the Verdun United congregation which proudly displayed it until the building was sold in 2007. At that point it was moved to SouthWest United where it can still be admired in our entranceway. The original dedication read, “For Pleasant Memories, presented by J.G. Joyce, D Th, Minister 1933-1957.”

Rev. Joyce died in 1959 and is buried with his wife Susan in her home town of Souris, PEI.

Another Blog post having to do with Rev. Joyce can be found here: A Voice From the Second World War

Meeting this Sunday: Bring ideas, bring friends!

Following this Sunday’s service (August 25) there will be a meeting to propose ideas for SouthWest as we move forward into a new era. All are welcome, especially those who have a little time and energy to contribute.

Are there events or projects you would like to see happen at SouthWest? Are you part of a group that might like to use our space occasionally or on a recurring basis? We would like to hear from you.

We also invite you to contact anyone and everyone who might possibly be interested in being part of any new initiatives. From use of the church building by young musical troupes to basement poker games, it's all on the table!

The meeting will follow this simple agenda:

1.Words of welcome (Beryl)

2. Revamping old traditions (Dorothy)

3. Throwing open the doors (Sarah)

4. Worship details (small group / worship committee)

Collecting School Supplies

We are collecting school supplies to help out teachers and families at Verdun Elementary. Please leave donations in the big box at the church entrance or call the office (514) 768-6231 to arrange to drop supplies off during the week. If you’re not sure what to bring, you can never go wrong with duo tangs, pencils, large glue sticks or Crayola markers! Amy will bring everything over to VES the first week of September.

Save those milk bags!

Summerlea United Church in Lachine has an amazing ongoing project of weaving mattresses for the homeless out of plastic milk bags. Between January and June of this year they delivered 25 mattresses and five smaller seats to the Open Door Shelter on Park Avenue. Although they have a lot of groups helping them collect milk bags, they can never have enough, as it takes 450 bags to make the large mattresses and approximately 160 for the smaller cushions (that’s 12050 milk bags used in just the first half of 2019)!
The SouthWest Community can help by saving the bags whenever you buy 4 litres of milk. All brands and colours of bags are welcome, as they just make the mattresses more colourful. Drop them off on Sunday or call ahead to bring them by during the week. When we have collected a good number, Amy will deliver them to Summerlea.

Two Summerlea volunteers with a milk bag mattress.

Beryl's Blog: Remember the Sabbath, to Keep it Holy

We live in a busy world. So many things scream for our attention and it is getting harder and harder to fit everything into a 24-hour, seven-day week.  And for those who still have young children at home, weekend sports or family activities may be the only precious moments they have to still connect to one another.

0nce upon a time, we lived an agricultural life style; our livelihoods depended upon growing our own food, maintaining our own livestock and helping our neighbours to do the same. Hours were long and chores were endless. But, Sunday, or Sabbath, was the one day in the week where, even if for just a few hours, families could put on their best Sunday clothes, drive the horse and buggy to worship and socialize with those they had not seen nor heard from for several days and then go home, eat together and relax until chores had to begin again. 

Even more important, as a community, they could lift their voices in songs of praise and give thanks for good weather, abundant produce and just enough rain. They could pray, as one, for the misfortunes which befell them individually, or as a group and then join forces to assist in any way possible to help their neighbours.  They grew a community of faith and love, whether related by blood or by common need.

Sabbath, for most Christians, has fallen by the wayside.  Sunday family dinner has become a scramble to get everyone at the same table, at the same time.  Grandparents, elderly aunts and uncles, cousins and friends no longer grace our dining rooms, if we indeed have a dining room.  We have lost the benefit of the extended family; the continuity in our lives.

That was not the way of Jesus and his followers; they ate as a family and shared all they had at meals.  In doing so, they created strength in numbers, a bond of friendship, an open invitation to those who might be alone, and a strong sense of community and support in times of both sorrow and joy. Most important, they created a holy space to honor the One who created them!

It is no secret that church attendance has dropped to a low from which we may never recover.  But, perhaps, there is still one thing we can do as our communities get smaller and smaller. Something we can do as a gift for those who are “family”, blood related or not.  And that is to set aside a few hours on Sabbath (or on any one day of the week) to open our hearts and our homes to those who are alone.  To offer up a place of welcome and friendship that is missing in the lives of so many people.  It does not have to be elaborate; tea and dessert may be enough. The most important item on the menu should be the willingness to love and be loved.

Sabbath was and is Creator God’s fourth commandment and is a blessing, a gift to us:

Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days and do everything you need to do. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to God, your God. Don’t do any work—not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maid, nor your animals, not even the foreign guest visiting in your town. For in six days God made Heaven, Earth, and sea, and everything in them; he rested on the seventh day. Therefore God blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as a holy day.        [Exodus 20:8-11 The Message (MSG)]           

 As Jesus so often said, perhaps now is the time to “Go and do likewise”.

Beryl

SouthWest Stories: Dennis and Dorothy Brown

“We were introduced by his old girlfriend.”

Dorothy Brown is recalling how she met her husband Dennis, over sixty years ago. They were just kids: fifteen years old. Nevertheless, they have been together ever since.

Both grew up in Verdun, and attended Verdun High (which is currently the Champlain Adult Education Centre). Dorothy attended Verdun United Church as a teen, when her family lived around the corner on Egan. Dennis lived on Claude street until the age of ten, when the family moved to Moffat.

“I thought everybody had rats until I moved to Moffat,” he says. In his early home, “you could hear them running up and down the halls all the time.”

The happy couple, 1962.

Dennis and Dorothy – interestingly, her maiden name is also Brown - were married by Rev. Jones at VUC in 1962.

“I remember the day very well,” Dennis says. “We listened to the Alouettes game in the vestry while we waited for you.”

Dorothy admits to arriving half an hour late for her own wedding despite the short distance she had to walk. “All the neighbours were out in the street,” she says. She had to stop and talk to each one as they admired her dress and wished her well. She was 20 years old; Dennis had turned 21.

Dennis started working at Trans Canada Airlines as a mail boy, but before long had moved into purchasing. He stayed with the company as it became Air Canada, and retired as a Manager after 34 years.

Although Dennis had to travel a lot for his job, he says he rarely got a chance to visit the cities he flew into. “I saw the Eiffel tower out the window of my hotel room.” After he retired, they drove across Canada and visited “cities where I’d only ever been in airports,” Dennis says.

Having worked for an airline, Dennis still gets passes for travel. That helped them afford a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Australia about three years ago. They flew to Sydney, then took a Pacific Ocean cruise with stops in New Zealand, Tahiti and Bora Bora, and ending in Vancouver. A highlight, according to Dennis, was swimming with sharks and stingrays off Mo’orea, an island near Tahiti.

The couple has two daughters, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild. The daughters, Carolyn and Lisa, were baptized at VUC, and Dorothy attended with them for a time, but then the family moved to Lasalle and life got busy.

Dorothy worked at the Montreal Star as a clerk for five years when they were first married, then left to become a full-time mom and homemaker. She volunteered at her children’s school in the library and the lunch program, and got involved with the Girl Guides of Canada. She continued volunteering when she became a grandmother, becoming known as the “pizza lady” at their primary school.

Dorothy says it’s when she lost her mother in 1996 that she felt a strong need for a church community again. They decided to give Crawford Park United a try. At the time, Rev. Nerny was leading both the Crawford and Verdun United congregations. Within a few years he would retire and Rev. David (Lefneski) would take over both churches.

By 2005, both churches were in severe financial difficulty. Dennis by this time had taken on the responsibilities of Clerk of Session and was on the Official Board. He recalls two years of meetings, meetings, meetings before the decision was reached to merge the congregations and sell the VUC building, the larger of the two. The stained glass windows now found in the back and sides of the SouthWest sanctuary came from Verdun United. The distinctive wooden pipe organ was built specially using some of the proceeds from the sale. The choice of the name SouthWest signaled a new beginning. Dennis has continued as Clerk of Session and is still on the board – now called Church Council.

Dorothy was never an “official” member of the UCW at Crawford or SouthWest, but over the years, she always seemed to be helping out with church events, whether cooking, setting up or serving. These days, Dorothy is in charge of the church kitchen. She is hoping to bring back a once-a-month meal at the church, and maybe a Holly Tea during the Christmas season. She coordinates the Bingo that is on a break for the summer, but will be back in the fall on the first Saturday of each month.

Dorothy is not shy to say more help is needed. The congregation is getting smaller and people have less energy. She also recognizes that some may not have been made to feel welcome in the past when they tried to volunteer. Today she says, “If someone wants to help, I say, ‘pick up a cloth’! I’m never going to say no,” adding, “I also think saying thank you is important.”

Church Notes

Worship Team meeting and School Supplies

SouthWest’s Worship Committee will be meeting on Sunday August 25th after the service. They will have some basic business to discuss, but would also like to encourage a broader participation. Please come if you have ideas as to what we would like to do as a community over the coming months (meals, special services, invited guests, community involvement, etc.) Come especially if you have a little time and energy to contribute.

We are taking up a collection of school supplies to be donated to either Verdun Elementary or St. Columba House. A box will be set up in the church entranceway. Cutoff date: September 1st. Some items that are always appreciated are:
- duo tangs
- Hilroy copy books
- glue sticks
- scissors
- scotch tape
- HB pencils
- pencil crayons
- pencil case
- lunch box/ bag
- Kleenex boxes

Are You a Good Photographer?

Ever look at bulletin covers or other United Church of Canada materials and think, “I could do that”?

The United Church of Canada is looking for professional-level photos for two projects:

• Photos of United Churches for the 2021 church calendar. (Deadline Dec. 30)

• Photos showing spirituality or Christian life for the cover of Sunday bulletins. (Deadline Oct. 30)

An honorarium of $100.00 will be provided for each selected picture.

Farewell to Frank

A big thank you to Sheila Morrison for organizing the send-off for superstar volunteer Frank De Montigny on Thursday. About a dozen SouthWest friends met for an early dinner at Café Benedictins on Verdun ave near Woodland. The food was good and our waitress very patient!

Frank is heading back to Saskatchewan at the end of the month to be closer to family. The Breakfast Club “munchkins” will miss Mister Frank, as will we all, but we wish him bon voyage and all the best.

Photos by Sheila and by Sue Mooney.