Our Bingo date at the beginning of January had to be cancelled due to winter weather. We're hoping for better luck this coming Saturday, February 3rd. Right now the forecast is for cold, but clear.
Cost at the door is $5, which gets you your first bingo card and a ticket for the (cash) door prize. Additional bingo cards can be bought for 50 cents. Doors open at 12:00, play begins at 1PM and refreshments are available (donations gratefully accepted). Please note that this is in the basement of the church, at 1445 rue Clemenceau in Crawford Park. Good luck!
The Quebec City Mosque Attack, 1 year later
Nearly a year has passed since the attack on a mosque in Quebec city that left six men dead, and nineteen wounded. On Sunday, January 29, 2017, just as evening prayers were ending, a gunman entered the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City, and opened fire.
Quebeckers and Canadians were horrified, and many events were organized to express solidarity with the Muslim community. The Saturday following the attack, Rev. David helped organize a vigil here in Verdun which was attended by local politicians as well as representatives of various cultural and religious communities. Over 100 people gathered in the Parc des souvenirs in front of the borough hall, and afterward all were invited across the street into the mosque (Islamic Centre of Verdun) for tea and cookies. It was an inspiring moment of neighbours overcoming their differences and recognizing their shared humanity. The front door of the mosque the day after the shooting was also a testament to this desire to reach out and console our neighbours. It had been spontaneously decorated with flowers, candles and personal notes expressing love and solidarity.
Notes and tributes outside the Verdun Islamic Centre last January.
The six men who died were all fathers, with a total of 17 children among them. A few of those children were already adults, but most were toddlers and preschoolers. The religious community has been helping the widows and orphans as best they can, even while the rest of Quebec society seems to have almost forgotten the mass shooting, which was the worst in the province since the Polytechnique in 1989.
As long as we insist on labeling this act of violence an “isolated incident” rather than an extreme manifestation of an all-too-present prejudice, we do a disservice to all Quebeckers. An imam who spoke at one of the funerals following the attack said that Alexandre Bissonette, the shooter, was also a victim, because his mind has been poisoned by the misinformation so readily disseminated by talk radio and the internet.
Our politicians have refused to name January 29th a National Day of Action Against Islamophobia. They say on the anniversary this Monday we should focus on the men who died and were wounded. Of course we should, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t also look into our own hearts and try to change. Like the Verduners who came out for the vigil last year, we can counter prejudice, which is really just ignorance, by getting to know our neighbours, by realizing that headgear is just headgear, skintone is literally skin-deep; that all humans bleed, that all families mourn.
We remember: Ibrahima Barry (aged 39), Mamadou Tanou Barry (aged 42), Khaled Belkacemi (aged 60), Aboubaker Thabti (aged 44), Abdelkrim Hassane (aged 41) and Azzedine Soufiane (aged 57). May they rest in peace.
Mini-market January 31st/ Mini-marché 31 janvier
Winter wears on, but the fresh fruits and vegetables at SouthWest's Mini-market are a colourful reminder of summer. Visit us at the Mission next Wednesday, January 31st, between 10:30 and 3:30 and get your produce for the week, at great low prices. And for a special treat to get you through the long winter evenings, why not try some of Sheila's home baking? You can also browse in our Community Dépanneur which includes shelves of preserves and a freezer full of soups and single-serving meals. Don't forget to join us for a tasty lunch at 12:30 prepared by the Dream Team Cuisine supervised by chef Léonore. We are becoming well-known in the community for these Welcome Wednesdays.
If weather or a disability prevents you from getting out, you can still place your market order using the downloadable form below and calling or e-mailing Sheila or Maurice.
L'hiver est long, mais les fruits et légumes frais disponibles à notre Mini-marché rapellent les couleurs de l'été. Passez nous voir mercredi prochain, le 31 janvier, entre 10H30 et 15H30 et achetez vos épiceries pour la semaine à des prix qui font sourire. Gâtez-vous en goutant des patisseries maison de Sheila. Jetez un coup d'oeil également sur notre Dépanneur communautaire, consistant d'étagères de conserves et d'un congélateur plein de soupes et de plats délicieux en portions individuelles. Et bien sûr n'oubliez pas de prendre votre place à table à 12H30 pour un dîner préparé par le Dream team cuisine sous la direction de chef Léonore. Tous les deux semaines, Mercredi m'attend à SouthWest!
Si le mauvais temps ou la mobilité réduite vous empêche d'être parmi nous, vous pouvez toutefois placer une commande en téléchargeant le formulaire ci-dessous. Les livraisons sont possibles sur le territoire de Verdun.
Celebrating "Pops" 1928-2018
I welcomed a minor into my home as a foster parent in the fall of 2016, a youth from Nigeria abandoned at the Dorval airport. He ended up in downtown Montreal, alone and vulnerable. Dans la Rue sheltered him in "The Bunker" where he was safe at night until social services could find a longer term solution.
I remember when Father Emmett "Pops" Johns borrowed money at age 60 to buy the van to become a missionnaire de la rue in 1988 . Thirty years later at his death (on January 13th) he is being remembered for his vision, determination and his large family of street kids in Montreal; his kids, our kids.
Generosity incarnates the best of faith, hope and love. It moves into action at a time when some think of retirement and "Pops" lived into a new career. St. Francis said: "Preach the Gospel always, and when necessary use words."
Thank you, Pops, for your feet, hands, heart and vision to love our street kids. You inspire me to practice a radical hospitality in the everyday.
You were for so many "Le bon Dieu dans la rue".
This African-American spiritual is my prayer as I am inspired by Father Emmett Johns' example:
I'm gonna live so God can use me, anywhere Lord, anytime.
I'm gonna live so God can use me, anywhere Lord, anytime.
(I’m gonna: work, pray, sing!)
Let’s get on with living it!
Rev. David
Breakfast Literacy
In honour of International Literacy Day (Jan. 27) we had a team of volunteers come in this morning from RECLAIM literacy. Alphabet pancakes were on the menu!
Our Breakfast Club team was delighted with the gift of a new grill from RECLAIM Literacy (Joy Fyckes, Executive Director) and Literacy Quebec (Marg Legault, Executive Director)
Our Co-manager Sheila reports, "We now have 53 children signed up with the Breakfast Club. On average we have 40 children per day who either walk or come by bus. The kids enjoy coming very much and are well fed with most coming back for seconds. Every Wednesday we have 2 volunteers from the company VORTEX in Pointe Claire which alternate from week to week. George O’Reilly and Sue Mooney volunteer every Monday and Friday, Kathy O’Halloran generally Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and Frank DeMontigny every day. "
Sheila, Sue (Co-Managers), Joy Fyckes (RECLAIM), Austen (volunteer) Frank (volunteer) and kneeling, Marg Legault (Literacy Quebec)
Frank is usually the first to arrive at the Mission in the morning and he is the one who clears the snow and/or ice making our entrance safe for kids and adults alike. Thank you Frank!
Sheila continues, "We always have fruit and yogurt for the kids and each day we serve something different such as grilled cheese, eggos, cereal, oatmeal, croissants, scrambled eggs and toast and pancakes and from time to time some surprises. The Breakfast Club gives the children a good start for a busy day."
At the end of Thursday's Literacy breakfast, each child received a loot bag from RECLAIM containing a box of alphabet Kraft Dinner, and a bag of Alpha-bits cereal, with the written message: "Breakfast time or dinner: when you practice reading you're a winner."
Please pray for students and young adults
The following comes to us from Jean-Daniel Williams, McGill chaplain.
Dear colleagues,
This weekend about 25 of our young adults are going on our annual retreat to spend time with one another, building community, worshipping, envisioning future social justice and religious projects, and generally frolicking in the snow.
The McGill Ecumenical Chaplaincy is centred at McGill but our ministries include young professionals and students at all of Montréal's universities.
I simply ask in ways that are appropriate to you personally and in your church's Sunday worship to keep us in your prayers. These retreats have in the past been times of profound vocational discernment and developing personal relationships. These retreats have had an important role in some upcoming ordinations and weddings!
We do in fact have many amazing, committed, and passionate young people in our church. I appreciate you keeping our ministry to them and them in your prayers particularly this weekend. Telling them that United and Anglican churches across the province are praying for them has been deeply meaningful to them in years past.
Sincerely,
Jean-Daniel
Le Révérend/The Rev'd
Jean-Daniel Williams
McGill University
Student Services, Christian Chaplain (Protestant)
Services aux Étudiants, Aumônier chrétien (protestant)
L'Église en marche vers les autres: vidéo-conférence
Many of you mention that you would like occasions to use and practise your French and particularly church vocabulary. Here is a new version of the UTC online-series PARLONS DE LA VIE D’ÉGLISE. This time our topic will be: L’ÉGLISE EN MARCHE.
If you have taken some French courses and are looking to continue practising your church vocabulary while discussing a current church topic, this is an easy, accessible opportunity for you. The online course will be taught by Angelika Piché five Thursdays from 12:30 pm to 1:15 pm, from January to April.
Meet 'n' Mix/ Méli-Mélo
The next community celebration at the Mission is on Sunday, January 28th. Along with the usual lunch and activities for the whole family, there will be a baptism this month! Join Rev. David in welcoming Madison April Lapensée, daughter of Jean-Luc Lapensée and Karyn Labrecque into our community of faith. Doors open at 12:30. All are welcome.
Going Home by Another Way
January needs a better agent. As the months of the year go, January and February are invariably the least popular members of The Twelve. But February has the advantage of brevity…and Valentine’s Day. January? January’s when the Christmas ornaments start to look ragged and winter tightens its long grip. A better agent might call public attention to January’s several charms. It’s the chronological home of neglected holidays. January gives us New Year’s Day—the biggest day of the year in some cultures. But in America, it lives in the shadow of its bacchanalian December neighbor: New Year’s Eve. January also hosts the Eighth Day of Christmas, as well as the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Twelfth. The Eastern Orthodox celebrate Christmas on January 7; they can do their holiday shopping when stores are having post-holiday sales. (Wouldn’t it be a lot thriftier if we bought our gifts on December 26 and opened them on the Twelfth Day of Christmas, January 5?) The year’s first month also brings us Martin Luther King Day. And an obscure church holiday called Baptism of the Lord—which is known only to clergy who use the lectionary. What else? My birthday is in January. And Epiphany—which celebrates the arrival of the Magi to visit the infant Jesus.
Much has been made of the story of the Magi—those wise men (of indeterminate number) who came from the East to visit the baby Jesus with strangely inappropriate gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. In his well-known poem, “The Journey of the Magi,” T.S. Eliot describes their harrowing travels to discover the infant. The poems speaks not a word about the wonder, or the revelation, or the joy of it all. In fact, it asks:
« Were we led that way for birth or death?
There was a birth, certainly…
This Birth was hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death. »Yikes. Not exactly the holiday cheer that I’d like to see. Does it not suggest that the openhearted must make changes despite themselves. Some “progressive” preachers have pointed out that after discovering the Christ, the Magi “went home by another way.” They regained their old lives but with new insight, new light.
This is always the case when the living Christ calls us to himself, leading us with light we cannot help but follow. He’ll make us ill at ease with ourselves as we are, and the world as it is. The call of Christ is never to remain the same. It’s always to something better than we are—and yet somehow consistent with who we are. It’s something to think about as January fades into February.
Darlene H.,
Chair of Church Council
Une Nouvelle Année 2018
Les mages: un massacre et des chemins pour une nouvelle année
Réflexion sur l’évangile de Matthieu 2, 1-18
Qu’est-ce que les rois Mages ont ressenti quand ils ont appris que leur visite chez l’enfant de Marie à Bethléem a eu comme conséquence le massacre d’innocents? Nous aimons la version aseptisée de l’histoire de Noël, empreinte d’innocence, de vulnérabilité, d’humilité. Une mère de famille m’a même demandé de ne pas lire ce récit violent d’enfants mâles tranchés par l’épée lors du culte de dimanche. Ce récit nous rappelle pourtant que la lumière n’existe qu’en relation avec les ténèbres et n’a de sens qu’à moins d’être près des dures réalités de notre existence humaine.
En ce début d’une nouvelle année, je regarde les chemins à parcourir et je cherche un sens dans ce récit de la fin du temps de Noël. L’Épiphanie : qui est cette ‘apparition’ appelée Emmanuel, Dieu avec nous? Comment cette lumière éclairera-t-elle ma route et mes choix? Il y a beaucoup de chemins dans ce récit : celui qui suit une étoile et conduit non pas à un bébé mais à un enfant, celui qui se révèle en rêves venus de Dieu aux sages ou par un ange à Joseph, et celui d’un choix difficile que fait la Sainte Famille, de se résigner à une vie de réfugiés, nomades qui cherchent la sécurité en Égypte.
Quant aux chemins que j’ai à parcourir en 2018:
- je m’assure d’être entouré, comme les Mages, de co-explorateurs;
- j’ose lire des récits bibliques et me demander comment le voyage de ces personnages peut m’aider dans mes choix de vie;
- je m’ouvre à Dieu, en prière, en songes et par sa voix au milieu de ma vie;
- je voyage ‘léger’/prêt à partir le temps venu - à l ‘aventure ou en accompagnant des ‘SDF-Sans domicile fixe’;
- j’ai de l’empathie pour ceux et celles vivant des circonstances difficiles;
- je n’essaie pas de défendre Dieu dans les larmes et les cris face à l’injustice;
- j’agis contre la violence par l’hospitalité envers les étrangers, les réfugiés;
- je vois, au cœur de l’évangile un bébé, devenu enfant, bientôt porteur d’une croix et je demande le courage de suivre ses traces.
Bonne réflexion sur vos chemins de découvertes et d’aventure en 2018!
Pasteur David
Vous les peuples, suivez-moi !
Je suis la lumière du monde !
Si vous savez aimer, vous serez dans la joie,
vous saurez comment suivre mes voies… »
1.Quand le chant des anges s’est tu,
quand l’étoile au ciel a disparu,
quand les mages, les bergers, s’en sont retournés,
c’est là que Noël a commencé :
2.Pour trouver les pauvres et rejetés,
pour consoler l’âme brisée,
pour nourrir d’amour et de pain les enfants,
soigner notre environnement…
3.Pour briser les fers des prisonniers,
pour combler les inégalités,
pour entourer, aider, les peuples malheureux,
pour embrasser les enfants de Dieu…
4.Pour toujours l’espérance garder,
pour danser devant un nouveau-né,
mettre un peu de musique au fond des vieux cœurs,
et chanter à toutes les couleurs…
(traduit de l'anglais par David Fines, septembre 2006)