Farewell to Rev. David

Rev. David Lefneski’s final Sunday service at SouthWest is on June 2nd at 10AM. All are invited to join the congregation in sending him off with the pot luck to end all pot lucks!

Rev. David has been in Verdun since 1998 when he took over as Minister of both Verdun United and Crawford Park United. He oversaw the amalgamation of those two congregations in 2007 and the transformation into SouthWest United. It was his vision that created and sustained SouthWest Mission for twelve years.

Rev. David has been a minister not just for his congregation but for the whole community. His vision for SouthWest was of a radical hospitality. When it came to baptisms, marriages, and celebrations of life, all were welcome. There was no judgment based on past religious affiliations or lack thereof. He actively sought ties with our Muslim and Sikh neighbours.

Rev. David will be missed by a broad range of people, some of whom never attended a service at Southwest United, but knew him as a partner in community organizing, as Padre to the Legion, or as a comforting presence in their time of grief . We hope as many of them as possible will come by the church on Sunday, June 2nd, to share our table and say goodbye and good luck to David.

Where?: Southwest United Church, 1445 Clemenceau, Verdun

When?: Sunday June 2nd, starting at 11:30AM

What should I bring?: your best dishes and your best wishes!

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 

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.

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

Moderator's Prayer: Counter Terror With God's Peace

Forty-nine people murdered.
More than forty others wounded.
In Christchurch.
At worship. 
At prayer.

Forty-nine people murdered.
More than forty others wounded.
For one reason:
because they were Muslim.

Forty-nine people murdered.
More than forty others wounded.
Hundreds grieving the death of family and friends.
Thousands even more afraid
for their loved ones and for themselves.

Forty-nine people murdered.
More than forty others wounded.
Because of fear, turned into rhetoric,
turned into anger, turned into
white supremacist hatred.

It is time to pray.
It is time to act.

It is time to stand, together,
to counter acts of hatred, 
large or small,
with acts of love;
to counter acts of hatred, 
wherever we encounter them,
with all that we have and all that we are;
to counter terror
with God's peace.

Grieve. 
Pray. 
Act.
Love.

And my prayer, this day?
God... help us to do so.

—A prayer in response to the March 2019 New Zealand mosque attacks by the Right Rev. Richard Bott, originally posted on Facebook. Moderator Bott encourages the sharing of prayers he posts throughout his term.

Minister's Message: Hello and Good-bye?!

The first night in my new house was last Thursday. Compared to Montréal, it was very, very quiet, although a very empty house. I woke up at four o’clock when my hip hit the floor, the air mattress had lost its air, and had a blurry moment of: Where am I? What happened to my bed?

The Lenten journey is calling us. The ashes of anointing on Ash Wednesday, made from last year’s palms, will also be available at Emmanuel for the first Sunday of Lent. They speak of the cost of following Jesus on a journey that makes difficult decisions and ends in sacrifice and death.

These days I am very conscious of changes, transitions and endings.

I read my letter of resignation at SouthWest last Sunday, a deeply emotional experience. It was a goodbye after almost two decades of ministry, of shared journey, challenges and joys.

To quote my written words:

I have served Crawford Park and Verdun United Churches since the summer of 1999 and grown with you through many changes including the amalgamation of SouthWest and the beginning of SouthWest Mission in 2007.
The number of baptisms, weddings and funerals (which we call Celebrations of Life) are of historical record. The number of worship services, sermons and prayers? A lot, I would say.
As two decades come to a close and yet more changes lay ahead I discern some new challenges for me.

My years with you have been rooted in a generous gospel, one that reached into the wider community with radical hospitality, deep joy and inclusion.
SouthWest has transformed my life and I am grateful.
Thank you for the blessing that has been mine to serve you.

With love...

The very first hymn I sang in the Dunham United Church during my internship in 1998-1999 was VU 633. Its prayer language and hope touched me as I left the Presbyterian Church to join the United Church. It was also sung last Sunday at SouthWest.

Bless now, O God, the journey
that all your people make,
the path through noise and silence,
the way of give and take.
The trail is found in desert
and winds the mountain round,
then leads beside still waters,
the road where faith is found.
Bless sojourners and pilgrims
who share this winding way,
whose hope burns through the terrors,
whose love sustains the day.
We yearn for holy freedom
while often we are bound.
Together we are seeking
the road where faith is found.

(Sylvia Dunstan, 1989)

As the move continues forward slowly, and beds will make their way into freshly painted rooms, I am grateful for life and love. The next months before officially leaving SouthWest at the end of May will be emotional and busy.

As we together move into our Lenten journey we are ever surrounded by brothers and sisters in faith that are with us in all the challenges ahead.

We are rooted in faith, hope and love!

With love,

Rev. David