Order of service, June 21, 2020

The Scripture reading this Sunday is from Matthew 10:24-39. Here is the version Beryl will be using (NRSV)

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!

Whom to Fear

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 him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.[a] 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.

Not Peace, but a Sword

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.

Opinion: Indigenous Gems

Did you know that June is Indigenous History Month? Or that June 21st is National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada? With so much else going on, it’s possible this hasn’t been on your radar.

But it should be. With the Black Lives Matter movement poised to finally make North America deal with its history of systemic racism, we as Canadians must absolutely come to understand the effect colonialism had and continues to have on the Indigenous peoples of this land.

CBC’s subscription TV service, Gem, is offering a great deal of programming free during the pandemic, including a bundle of shows and films they call Celebrating Indigenous Storytellers. It includes everything from 5-minute documentaries to 2.5-hour feature films like the award-winning Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner. Exploring this material can be a really gentle way to start learning about Indigenous lives. (Much of this material is also playing on CBC TV this month at various times. Check your local schedule.)

There’s a non-fiction series called Future History, in which two hosts , one who was raised with Indigenous traditions and one who is trying to recapture his Indigenous identity, travel the country meeting people who are putting traditional Indigenous Knowledge to use in the modern world. I love this show’s “future” angle because, important as it is to learn the histories of First Nations and Inuit peoples in Canada, it is just as important to learn what life is like for Indigenous peoples today, to see them as families and communities who have hopes for their children and grandchildren.

I also recommend Birth of a Family, a POV documentary about four siblings who were taken during the “60s scoop” and placed with white families in different parts of Canada and the U.S, who reunite as 50-somethings.

There’s even United Church content in the series: a 21-minute documentary called Devout and Out focuses on ordained minister Susan Beaver, a lesbian and Kanien’kehá:ka (Mohawk) from the Six Nations reserve in Ontario, who ran for Moderator of the United Church of Canada at the last General Council.

And for something fun and close to home, you can check out the whole first season of Tracey Deer’s Mohawk Girls, a half-hour comedy-drama shot in Kahnawake.

Amy

New Testament 101: Acts

Acts is the second book written by Luke. In his first book, Luke told all that Jesus did and taught.  In Acts, Luke continues the story by describing some of the struggles the disciples faced as they tried to obey the command of Jesus “You will tell everyone about me in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria and everywhere in the world. (1:8)

So many different countries are mentioned in Acts that the book may seem to have been written only to tell about the spread of the Christian message.  But that is only part of the story.  After Jesus was taken up to heaven, one of the big problems for his followers was deciding who could belong to God’s people.  And, since Jesus and his first followers were Jews, it was only natural for many of them to think that his message was only for Jews.  But, in Acts, the Spirit is always present to show that Jesus came to enlighten both Jews and Gentiles and that God wanted followers from every nation and race to be part of God’s people.

There were many conflicts between Christians and Jews because most of the Jewish religious leaders of the time rejected Jesus’ message.

The most serious problems for the early church were a result of the disciples, at first, failing to understand that anyone could become a follower of Jesus -without first becoming a Jew.  This only began to change when Philip dared to take the message to the Samaritans (8: 7-25) and when Peter went to the home of Cornelius, a captain in the Roman army (10: 1-48).

Peter, while in Jerusalem, was instrumental in explaining the question of who could become a follower of Jesus when he argued that the Spirit of God was leading them to reach out to Gentiles as well as Jews with the good news of Jesus (15: 3-35).

The man who did most for the spread of faith was Paul and much of Acts tells about his preaching among the Gentiles.  He even took the message to Rome, the world’s most important city of the time (28: 16-31).

One of Luke’s main reasons for writing Acts was to show that nothing could keep the Christian message from spreading everywhere. 

 For two years Paul stayed in a rented house and welcomed everyone who came to see him.  He bravely preached about God’s kingdom and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ, and no one tried to stop him. (Acts 28: 30, 31)

Some highlights in Acts:

Telling the Good News in Jerusalem (1: 1-8. 3)
The Good News in Judea and Samaria (8: 4-12. 25)
Paul’s first journey to tell the Good News (13: 1-14. 28)
An important decision in Jerusalem (15: 1-35)
Paul’s second journey to tell the Good News (15: 36-18. 22)
Paul’s third journey to tell the Good News (18: 23 - 21: 16)
Paul’s arrest in Jerusalem (21: 17-23. 22)
Paul is taken to Caesarea (23: 23-26. 32)
Paul is taken to Rome (27: 1-18. 31)

Beryl

SouthWest Worship Service June 14, 2020

The service will be available as of Sunday morning here

Order of service June 14, 2020

Follow along with the service again this week using the order of service here. Or download and print it from the button below. I haven’t included all the hymns, but words and music are below for I, The Lord of Sea and Sky, (VU 509), the hymn after the Reflection.

New Testament 101: The Gospel of John

Who is Jesus Christ?  Well, John answers this question in the first chapter of his Gospel. He calls Jesus the “Word” by which God created everything and by which life was given to everything (1:3, and 4).  He describes how John the Baptist announced the coming of Jesus in the words “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29).  When Philip met Jesus, he knew Jesus was “the one that Moses and the Prophets wrote about (1: 45).  And, in the words of Nathanael, Jesus is “the Son of God and the King of Israel” (1: 49).

In John’s Gospel, we learn a lot about who Jesus is by observing what he said and did when he was with other people.  This includes a Samaritan woman who received Jesus’ offer of life-giving water, a woman who had been caught in sin, his friend Lazarus who was brought back to life after death and his follower Thomas who doubted that Jesus was raised from the dead.

Jesus also refers to himself as “I am”, a phrase which translates the most holy name of God in the Hebrew Scriptures.  He uses this name for himself when he makes his claim to be the life-giving bread, the light of the world, the good shepherd and the true vine.

Jesus performs sever miracles that are more than miracles.  Each of them is a “sign” that tells the reader something about Jesus as the Son of God.  For example, by healing a lame man (5: 1-8) Jesus shows us that he is just like his Father who never stops working (5.17).  This sign also teaches that the Son does only what he sees his Father doing (5:19) and that, like the Father, “the son gives life to anyone he wants to” (5:21).

The way John tells the story of Jesus is quite different from the other three Gospels.  In John, Jesus has long conversations with people about who he is and what God sent him to do.  In these conversations, he teaches many important things – for example that he is the way, the truth and the life.

Why did John do this?  John himself tells us “so that you will put your faith in Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God” (20:31).  How is this possible?  Jesus answers that question himself in his words to Nicodemus:

“God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die” (3:16).

A quick glance at this book relates for us:

The message of John the Baptist (1: 19-34)
The choosing of the first disciples (1:35-51)
Jesus’ seven miracles (2: 1-12, 50)
Jesus’ last week, trial and death (13: 1-19, 42)
Jesus is alive (20: 1-10)
Jesus appears to his disciples (20: 11-21, 15)

A SouthWest memory to share – when I first began my discernment process, a dearly loved member of my team said to me “if you want to understand the Gospels, start with the Gospel of John”.  It was Ann Towill.

Beryl

Quality masks, locally made!

It’s looking like this new fashion trend of face masks isn’t going away any time soon. So the questions we are starting to ask ourselves are: How many masks do I need? And what kind?

I bought some from Amanda Elias of Atelier Fiber Arts here in Verdun and I’m very satisfied. The elastic is thin and not too tight so it doesn’t bend your ears down or give you a headache. They’re made of 100% cotton, have a built in wire not just over the nose but almost the whole top edge to make them more airtight and even have a built-in pouch if you want to add a filter.

Amanda is a local entrepreneur I met through SouthWest Mission. She was involved in various projects there for at least five or six years. As it turns out, Amanda’s true love was sewing.

After coming through an Emploi Quebec Young Entrepreneurs program with flying colours, Amanda started her own sewing business. She would complete projects for people but also rented sewing machines to people to do their own projects, and offered sewing courses for all ages. She even opened a store on Wellington for a while but she found the administration side was too time-consuming and took away from sewing. So she took her business online a while ago and, with the pandemic, that has turned out to be a blessing. She turned her talents to facemask-making a few months ago and that is taking up all her time now.

Amanda will mail the masks to you at regular Canada Post rates, or she offers “porch pickup” from her place on Bannantyne. I used this option and it consisted of: ordering online and receiving a confirmation, then a second confirmation about 12 hours later that my order was ready for pickup. I then told her what time I could come by and she left the package for me in the mailbox. Voilà! No contact, and I even got a little exercise! The masks are cute and very comfy.

The cost is $18 a mask which may seem like a lot but it’s a competitive rate, and remember, they’re going to last a long time! Plus you get the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with supporting a small local business.

You can check out Amanda’s designs on her website here

Or follow Atelier Fiber Arts on Facebook here

Amy

Ladies in hats

UPDATE: Dennis Brown writes: “We had a tradition for several years to have a men's choir on Mother's day and then a ladies choir on Father's day. The hats were just a prop. This was a Sunday morning rehearsal.” Also, I would add Ann T. to the list of names below. She is the third lady from the right. The lady in the red blouse is Betty W. I still can’t place the lady behind Myrtle and in front of Rev. David, or the lady on the very right next to David L. Anyone?
An additional note: very soon after this was taken, David L left his post as music director. That August, Sarah F. was asked to “fill in” for six weeks. I guess she didn’t mind the gig because she’s still with us!

ORIGINAL POST:

These photos are dated 2006. I recognize a lot of faces but wonder exactly what the occasion is. David Lyttle is there and people seem to be holding music books, but I don’t think this is the choir because there are no men! Is it the UCW? I see Shirley, Linda, Phyllis, Betty, Iris, Myrtle, Lil, Sandra, Shirley, Dorothy, Shirley, Donna, and a few more I don’t recognize. What, only three Shirleys??

Great hats, everyone!

Worship Service: Sunday, June 7, 2020

Watch Pastor Beryl’s service with communion as of Sunday morning here

Sunday Service: May 3, 2020

Once again, Pastor Beryl’s service will be available to watch as of Sunday morning at the link below.

A little surprise this week: she filmed it in the church! She reminds everyone watching to try to have a candle on hand, and something to light it with.

The Hymns this week are: VU 299 Teach Me God to Wonder; Psalm 23 VU 747; VU 806 O God Our Help in Ages Past. Find links to them below.