Gratitude

Maybe it`s the colder weather and extra blanket on my bed.

Maybe it`s the abundance of harvest in field and garden.

Maybe it`s the return to school and the end of summer.

Maybe it`s the feeling alive each precious morning

Maybe it's the loneliness and pain of many around me.

Maybe I simply choose thanksgiving over anger and scarcity, over bitterness and dismay.

I give thanks, and say this doxology of praise:

For food in a world where many walk in hunger;

for faith in a world where many walk in fear;

for friends in a world where many walk alone,

we give you humble thanks, O Lord.

(VU 551, Anonymous words)

Tu nous rassasies alors que beaucoup ont faim ;

nous tiens en la foi pour combattre les peurs ;

tu mets des amis, précieux, sur nos chemins ;

Dieu, merci du fond de nos cœurs.

(trad. David Fines, 2006)

Rev. David

Who is on the Guest List?

Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"
Jesus answered them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."
(Luke 5: 29-32, New International Version)

There is nothing better than a personal invitation to a meal, an event, a concert.
I recently hosted a Garden Party that included line dancing in the driveway and some
wonderful singing. It was an opportunity to celebrate many summer birthdays and the
engagement of my eldest.
The invitation list was a reflection of joy and gratitude.
Levi experienced grace and forgiveness from Jesus who said to him, Follow me! He left
everything behind and wanted to share this joy of discipleship and gratitude with friends.
Many, like him, were tax collectors who were seen as collaborators with the Roman Empire in Palestine. Sinners! Traitors! Jesus was critiqued for eating with those people by the religious right of his time.
At Méli-Mélo last Sunday and after a delicious meal of veggies and grilled cheese sandwiches (with lots of ketchup) I learned how to play 'fish'. Nathan and Ethan had great fun teaching me this simplest of card games that was not on my Conservative family's list of appropriate Sunday games. Such fun! Such laughter!
It's amazing how religious rules can ruin a good meal or card game. There are those who have the list of who not to invite given their political allegiance, gender, orientation or age. What happened to joy, gratitude and fun? To sitting at table with Jesus and meeting new friends whose lives may be touched with the exuberance of a new disciple named Levi? Or laughing together in play and frivolity across the generations where the young teach the older (me) something new?
Our religious negativity turns a lot of people off 'church'. Our lists of do's and don’t sap joy and spontaneity out of life. Let's let go of an old time religion of criticism and judgement and join Jesus at table with those who need grace, salvation and healing.
If the meal is where sinners gather then I want to be on the guest list.
If our radical hospitality is for those who need welcome, belonging and joy then I have a place at this table.
Sounds like our SouthWest Vision!
Providing a table where all are welcome, with food for body, mind and spirit.
Nous procurons une table où chacun trouve de la nourriture pour le corps, l’âme et l’esprit; une table où tous sont les bienvenus
Yes!
Rev. David

P.S. Thanks to Licensed Lay Worship Leader Valerie Nickson preaching this Sunday at
SouthWest and the worship leadership of our own Dennis Brown.

Promises from the heart

At worship last Sunday, SouthWest celebrated the baptism of Hayley Cecelia Webster. She was welcomed into God's family with unconditional love, joy, lots of water and promises of the heart. Her siblings Madison and Nathan traced their hands onto paper and distributed them to all present. Everyone wrote a blessing or a promise on these 'sibling' hands which were offered to Haley as her baptism candle was lit.

When some of his disciples wanted to exclude children, Jesus blessed them instead and made a promise: unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in. (Mark 10: 13-16). The promise to welcome children is fundamental to our faith. 

I include in the newsletter the personalised promises made by godparents and parents last Sunday. They touched me and they blessed Hayley. 

I will be interring the ashes of my brother Joe this week-end at the Lefneski family plot in Guelph. In such difficult times promises root each of us and say that neither you nor I, nor our families are alone. 

Thanks be to God.

CARINA (Godmother)

I promise to help you whenever you are in need.
I promise to guide you down the right path, to encourage you to never give up on yourself.
And to care for you and love you.

KEENAN (Godfather)

I promise...
To love you, 
To guide you,
To support you,
To care for you,
To encourage you,
And to hold you in my heart
Forever and always

RYAN AND KIA (Parents)

Although God already knows you, and loves you, as parents it is our job to guide you with a gentle hand. To teach you all the qualities of Jesus that we strive to emulate through everyday acts of kindness, humility, patience and forgiveness.  To see struggles as gifts and as ways to grow one's character and learn how to trust in God. Thankfully we are not alone in this endeavor, but at least for a little while, we'll be the loudest voices in your ear.

To this we could say: Amen! Alléluia! 

- Rev. David