Blog ..Blogue
News from SouthWest ..Des nouvelles du Sud-Ouest
The Breakfast Club at VES is asking for our help in stretching their provisions over the remaining seven weeks of the school year. They would be grateful for donations of single-serving fruit yoghurts, and boxes of frozen waffles. Mild cheese is always welcome, either in blocks or slices. If you have anything else to offer, please call first. 514-768-6231.
The Mission remains open through May at least, so you can bring things by 9am-2pm during the week.
Thank you!
Tuesday, May 7th is the first Mini-Market to be held at Dawson. The list of produce that will be available is below. In addition, Sheila sends this message:
For those of you who have enjoyed my pies, cakes etc at the Southwest Mission I will still be baking but upon request only. If you would like some “goodies” please do not hesitate to send me an email at smorrison9940@gmail.com. Thanks for all your support while we were at the Mission!
SouthWest wishes all the best to the Mini-market and Community lunch teams as they continue serving community in their new location.
PRODUCE EACH LB. KG
CHEF WHITE POTATOES .44 LB .97 KG
COLOSSAL CARROTS .68 LB 1.50 KG
SPANISH ONIONS .60 LB 1.31 KG
TOMATO VINE RED 2.05 LB 4.51 KG
APPLES (SMALL) TBA
BANANAS, TURBANA .54 LB. 1.18 KG
RED MED GRAPES 2.28 LB 5.03 KG
CLEMENTINES 1.30 LB 2.86 KG
ENGLISH CUCUMBERS #2 .79 EACH
MIXED PEPPERS #2 1.80 LB 3.96 KG
WHITE MUSHROOMS 2.70 LB 5.95 KG
This comes from our friends at Summerlea United Church, 225 – 50th Avenue, Lachine, H8T 2T7 :
Mark your calendars! Our returning cast and some enthusiastic newcomers will be putting on another musical this spring, Malice in the Palace. It is the story of Esther in the Bible, told in a way that is both humorous and thought-provoking. First performance is on Sunday, May 12th @ 10:30am. A great Mother’s Day treat! A second performance will take place on Sunday, May 26th @ 3:00pm. A freewill offering to help defray our costs would be greatly appreciated. We hope you will invite your friends and families to come out to either or both performances!
When it was at the Mission it was called Welcome Wednesday. As of next week, you can enjoy the Community Meal and the Mini-market on Tuesdays “Chez Dawson”. I’m sure Léonore and Sheila and their volunteer teams would love to see a lot of familiar faces as they launch this new adventure at Dawson Boys and Girls Club.
Where? 666 Woodland ave.
When? The lunch is at 12:30. The market is from 12:30 to 5PM. Tuesday, May 7th
À partir de la semaine prochaine, le repas communautaire (anciennement Mercredi M’Attend/ Welcome Wednesday) et le Mini-marché renaîtront les mardis. «Chez Dawson». Chef Léonore, Sheila et leurs équipes de bénévoles seront surement ravis de voir beaucoup de visages familiers lors du lancement de cette nouvelle aventure au Repaire Jeunesse Dawson.
Où? 666, avenue Woodland
Quand? Repas à 12H30. Marché de 12H30 à 17H. Mardi, 7 mai.
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!
Thanks to Shirley Stark for organizing the sale and dedication of plants again this year.
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
Bonjour à toutes et tous,
Le Repaire jeunesse Dawson est à la recherche d’unE agentE de développement pour le projet Marché Mobile Verdun/ Mobile Market. Sous la responsabilité de la direction du Repaire jeunesse Dawson et du comité de suivi, l’agentE assumera la mise en place du projet de marché mobile à Verdun, notamment dans les HLM du quartier. Le projet aura pour but d’améliorer l’accessibilité à des fruits et légumes frais pour les populations les plus vulnérables de Verdun.
Merci de faire circuler dans vos réseaux!
Bonne journée,
Eve St-Laurent
Agente de concertation
Concertation en développement social de Verdun - CDSV
3972 rue de Verdun, Montréal
514-769-2228, poste 110
eve.st.laurent@cdsv.org
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 !!!!
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
