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Cheerio, Here You Go
Something I’ve been meaning to do for years is scan these two booklets. Time constraints or technical difficulties always got in the way. Well, it’s my last week at SouthWest and I’ve finally done it. Just click on the cover image of each to see a PDF of all the pages.
Amy
Trinity Sunday (June 4, 2023)
This week we celebrate Trinity Sunday. What, some of you may be wondering, is Trinity Sunday?
Sundays are a holy day in Christianity, and in creation, and Trinity Sunday is particularly holy.
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity.
Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three persons of God: The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The readings for this Sunday begin with Genesis 1:1—2:4a (our first introduction to the God we worship), the very beginning of Genesis, continues with Psalm 8 and culminates in the Gospel of Matthew 28: 16-20 where Jesus gives his final commission to his disciples at the end of his life.
The reading from Matthew this week is a story about the lives of those men and women who followed Jesus; people who were so very ordinary and, yet, so very extraordinary.
Our reading from Matthew 28: 16-20 is:
The Great Commission
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Jesus had one last important instruction for these disciples:” Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
Jesus spoke these words to the men and women who understood his message and had themselves seen his works.
They were first-hand witnesses to Jesus in the Spirit. They understood the call to spread the word in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. But what a task Jesus had set before them; they were the only surviving members of a face-to-face experience with him and now he was depending on them to carry out his work!
So, I have to ask what about us? We too are ordinary men and women, each with our own burdens and baggage. Most of us do not have the means or the know-how to change the big things in our world. But there are three basic things which we can do to ensure this great commission of Jesus does not go unheeded.
If we can seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God, I believe the rest will follow. If we can learn to both receive and extend God’s welcome to all God’s people, especially those who are marginalized, then we are doing the work of Christ and walking in the presence of Jesus the son, God the Father and the Holy Spirit.
My prayer for this week is:
Faithful Creator, we give thanks for your forming, saving, and empowering work in our lives. Shape us for a closer relationship with you and a meaningful life among our neighbours.
We are thankful for your constant presence in our lives as we learn and grow in our faith.
In our daily living and relationship with others, help us to be a sign of your presence and your unending love. Amen.
In peace
Pastor Beryl, DLM
Easter Blog: The Miracle of the Resurrection
April 7, 2023
Here we find ourselves, yet again, in Holy Week. For those who have followed Jesus’ journey to the cross, we have yet to experience Maundy Thursday, the horror of Good Friday and, finally, Easter Sunday Resurrection.
The miracle of the resurrection is the most important miracle of the Christian faith. When Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the first Easter morning, he showed people that the hope he proclaimed was real, and so was God's power at work in the world, believers say.
Good News
All four of the Bible's Gospel books -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John -- describe the good news that angels announced on the first Easter: Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he told his disciples he would three days after his crucifixion.
But Resurrection is not a one-time event. In fact, it happens over and over again. Whether or not we can envision it, the cycle begins at the end of the summer season when the leaves end their lives and leave the branches they have adorned all summer. It happens when the glorious song of the summer birds wanes and is replaced by the sorrowful cry of geese as they head for warmer places.
It carries through the season of frozen times in winter; times when we and all creation feel entombed in our places of hibernation, awaiting the melting of the ground and the warming of the spring time sun.
It is then we know that the promise of new life is indeed true. The buds begin to appear on the trees, foreshadowing the new growth waiting to burst forth. The birds slowly return, full of new hope; searching for mates to begin the cycle of new life. Slowly, the flowers push through the earth and bring forth colour and fragrance. The bees and insects commence their summertime dance of pollination culminating in new life, new fruit, and the seeds so necessary to begin the cycle of new life, once again.
Yes, it will soon be Easter morning Resurrection. This cycle has happened for more than two thousand years now.
Glorious Resurrection! New Life! Hope!
My Easter wish for you is that each and every one of us can experience that same hope today.
My wish is that no matter what our situation, no matter what tears have blinded us or what pain, grief, confusion, helplessness or hopelessness we have been focused on, we not allow any of that to make us miss out on the greatest blessing we will ever receive: that Jesus is right there with us – and always has been!
My prayer for this Holy Week
Release your Spirit and let it blow through our feelings of hopelessness.
Gather us together as one people, agents of your grace and love in this tired world.
Move mightily through your church, for the world is hungry for what only you can provide.
Only you offer enduring peace.
Only you offer victorious hope.
Only you offer unconditional love.
Lead us through this week of uncertainty.
Let us experience your Easter promise,
may your victory be our victory and may
we be witnesses to your promise of unconditional love and eternal life.
Amen
In peace
Paster Beryl, DLM
Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
Sometimes our cherished childhood images of a gentle Jesus are challenged. Sometimes things rattle our cage and our faith and make us call everything into question.
Those questions might come from something someone said, as it does this week when Jesus does not hold back as he instructs that peace comes with sword!
It is at times like this that we might want to argue with the text or, let it look us into a deeper understanding of what God may be doing.
Matthew 10:24-39 New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
24 “A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master; 25 it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27 What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30 And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31 So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
32 “Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, 33 but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword.
35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, 36 and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
37 “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.
Each week I turn to Seasons of the Spirit for inspiration and prayer. This week’s Gospel reading was countered by a poem of hope and faith that I truly want to share with you.
It Is Enough by Lauren Hodgson
With God, we are all enough:
disciple, teacher, worker, boss.
None above the other;
no one above another,
in God’s sight.
So have no fear.
The truth is complex, but it is real.
Nothing is covered up.
It will all, in its time, be uncovered.
Have no fear and proclaim it from the housetops.
Let it be heard.
Yell! Sound it out! Shout!
And have no fear.
Because in the arms of the Beloved,
you are cherished.
You are known so deeply
that not a head on your hair
can escape the depths of this love.
Each hair counted.
Each hair matters.
Just as you matter.
In knowing so fully, we are known.
In loving so wholly, we are loved.
In denying, we are denied.
And in acknowledging, we are acknowledged.
We are not called to choose the simple path:
no one said this would be an easy journey.
Things won’t make sense.
You will look for peace and find nothing but a mess.
You will encounter violence,
and through it,
discover a world of love and compassion.
The road is rocky.
It feels lonely.
There will be doubt.
But still...
Keep going.
Keep walking that road of uncertainty.
Even when you feel alone, you are not.
Even when the thorns reach at your flesh,
and the branches capture you with their claws,
keep going.
Even then, keep going.
Because it is enough.
Because you are enough.
Enough.
For whatever situation you may be facing this day, let the words of this poem be the light that guides you onward, even when you think you cannot take another step. For myself, I am going to put these words in a place where I can easily find them, read and breath them.
My prayer for you this week is:
Jesus, you call us to live our faith and travel beside you in a world filled with tension.
As you bring peace to the world, you also disrupt our peace, turning our lives upside down.
May we be reminded of your constant love for us.
May we feel your disturbing presence in our lives as a reminder that we are heard, known, and loved as cherished children of God.
Amen
In peace,
Pastor Beryl, DLM