A Letter from Pastor Beryl Regarding the Reopening of our Church

Dear Friends:

Well, it has been quite a journey over the past six months or so.  And we are still trying to figure it all out.

To date, there has been no official announcement from Conseil régional Nakonha:ka Regional Council other than what we already know.

So, that being said, we are planning to re-open for worship on Sunday, September 13th (unless we receive directions to the contrary in the meantime).

Because each of us is responsible for the safety of the other person, and we must respect the congregation of Verdun-LaSalle Baptist Church who use our facilities after us, the following guidelines will be in effect for the time being:

1.      Please do not arrive more than 15 minutes before worship begins

2.      The only entry and exit point will be the front door.  Entry and exit by the side door will not be an option

3.      Please arrive with your mask 

4.      If you have a fever, cough or any other symptom or suspect you might have been in contact with a person with Covid 19, please do not come

5.      You will be asked to sanitize your hands upon entry

6.      You will be asked to sign a register for tracking purposes in the event of an outbreak

7.      Please respect the social distancing measure of six feet when in the pews.  However, members of the same family may sit together

8.      There will be no hymnbooks and a bulletin will be provided, which we ask that you dispose of after the service (you may take it home)

9.      For the time being, there will not be a choir but, if possible, a soloist or musician is permitted (along with Sarah of course)

10.  Access to the washrooms will be by the staircase at the back of the sanctuary only

11.  Please do not use the first row of seats as the Minister and readers are required to stay well back from the congregation

12.  If you are reading that week, please bring your own Bible

13.  The Minister, reader and soloist must all use different microphones

14.  There will be no coffee hour after worship and it is recommended that you leave the church in a timely fashion, via the front door only.

In being diligent and observing these suggestions, each of us is taking responsibility not only for ourselves, but for our family members at home, our friends and our neighbours.

I realize all of the above may seem overwhelming but we have come this far, we are strong in faith and we can get through this. 

Looking forward to seeing you for worship on Sunday, September 13!

In peace

Pastor Beryl

SouthWest Service for August 30, 2020

August always seems to fly by, even when there are five Sundays in it! Thank you to Beryl and Sarah for bringing us a service on every one of those weeks, and to Katherine Black who is back as soloist for this latest service. Follow the link below on Sunday morning. Don’t forget to have a candle and matches handy.

News of "Our" Breakfast Club

Like schools across Quebec, Verdun Elementary will be welcoming students back next week after what for many has been an unheard of 5 1/2 month break. Like most years, the Breakfast Club will be there to greet them. Kids will recognize the cheerful tag-team of Sue Purcell and Sheila Morrison who have coordinated the program there for several years. And that’s good, because so much else will be unfamiliar.

One of the biggest changes at VES this year is that the program will serve all 250 of the school’s students. Fees, which have always been modest, have been further reduced to a “suggested donation” of $20 from the families. this is Breakfast Club of Canada stepping up its game to make sure kids don’t go hungry during these challenging economic times.

That change goes hand-in-hand with another one: children won’t eat in a cafeteria space like the old SouthWest Mission, but in their classrooms. The role of the coordinators will be to plan weekly menus based on the pre-packaged foods they will receive from Breakfast Club of Canada.

“We’re not allowed to cook anything,” says Sheila, “not even toast.”

Breakfast Club will still provide well-balanced meals representing all food groups, but they will be cold breakfasts. It’s all of course in the interest of preventing an outbreak of Covid-19 in the schools.

Another part of Sue and Sheila’s job will be packing large plastic bins for delivery to each classroom. They are not allowed to have volunteers helping them out as the school tries to limit the number of people who come and go.

“The delivery guy can’t even come in,” Sheila says, “He will leave the order outside the front door.”

“We’ve been off so long,” Sheila said when asked how she and Sue were feeling about being back in a school environment during a pandemic, “you want to get back into a routine. And we love doing it, seeing people, having a purpose.”

Amy

• SouthWest United is pleased to continue providing salary support to the VES Breakfast Club. In past years, we have given food donations but this year that is a no-no. Sheila and Sue will let us know if there is anything more we can do to help further down the road. Meanwhile, if you’re so inclined, the national organization, Breakfast Club of Canada, would be grateful to receive your donations, this year more than ever.

Order of Service for August 30, 2020

New Testament 101: Thessalonians

Well, we are almost at the end of our summer mini-bible study.  But we are still in the letters of Paul (those written by him and those written in the style of Paul)

Paul started the church in Thessalonica (2: 13, 14) while working hard to support himself (2: 9).  In this important city of northern Greece, many of the followers had worshiped idols before becoming Christians (1: 9). But they were faithful to the Lord and, because of them, the Lord’s message had spread everywhere in that region (1:8).

This letter may have been the first one that Paul wrote.

Some people in Thessalonica began to oppose Paul, and he had to escape to Athens.  But he sent his young friend Timothy to find out how the Christians were doing.  When Timothy returned, he gave Paul good reports of their faith and love (3: 6-10).

The church itself had problems.  Some of its members had quit working, since they thought that the Lord would soon return (4: 11, 12).  Others were worried because their relatives and friends had already died before Christ’s return.  Sol Paul tried to explain to them more clearly what would happen when the Lord returns (4: 13-15) and then told them how they should live in the meanwhile (5: 1-11).

Paul’s final instructions are well worth remembering:

Always be joyful and never stop praying.  Whatever happens, keep
thanking God because of Jesus Christ.  This is what God wants you to do.

(5:16-18)

A Quick Look at This Letter

1.    Greetings (1: 1-3)
2.    The Thessalonians’ Faith and Example (1: 4-3:13)
3.    A Life That Pleases God (4: 1-12)
4.    What to Expect When the Lord Returns (4: 13-5:11)
5.    Final Instructions and Greetings (5: 112-18)

Beryl

[Images: The Cathedral of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki, Greece. One of the oldest churches in the city still standing today, this building was constructed in the 8th Century, but there has been a church in this place since the 3rd century.]

Music Notes: Christmas

There was something about the light this morning as I made my way across the yard to the barn. First stop: the release of the mad collection of chicks, hens, geese, ducks and ducklings. That’s when I realized there was something in the sounds as well, or to be more precise, the lack of sound. Most of the hens were still very sleepy on their roosts – it’s quite a lovely sight, made more lovely by the tree branches we’ve used to make their roosting spots, stretching across one side of the coop in unsymmetrical fashion – but there most of them were at a little after six this morning. I’m not used to waking hens up in the morning for breakfast!

Sarah’s version of a manger scene.

The sky was dark, sounds were muted, the wind was insistent, and I thought that if it were simply 20 degrees colder and the trees stripped of green, it would qualify as a classic late November morning. I heard the whisper, the one that will become steadily more insistent.

The world may be upside down, but the days will become shorter and the winds of winter will blow…

Every year, a week or so before Christmas, the SouthWest choir and favourite guests invite everyone to the church for our Carols by Candlelight. It used to be in the evening, but, for the past few years, we’ve gathered at dusk, and the candles shine brighter and brighter as the service wends its way. Our only real tradition is that it always happens, that we meet in celebration and leave the church with a smile.

There have been years when certain pieces have been prominent or certain guests regular features, and if I sit back in my chair for a few minutes I can fill my mind with the sounds of these memories. The singers we’ve had in the choir, the instruments to accompany, from bagpipes, drums (yes, Donald!), tubas, French horns, violins, viols and cellos, hand bells, cornetto, trombones and sackbuts. All these players and choir members have been so special, and made every carol service so memorable. It’s our tradition, and it’s always different. I loved the year Georgia, Lexi and Stephanie were our presenters, and the years the kids from the Alleluia choir came to sing, and I also remember last year with the reading of the Gift of the Magi, even though some thought it too long. But that’s always been an essential element as well – the review and classification as ‘one of the best of all time’, or simply wonderful!

And in exactly four months, real time, it will be Christmas.

The candlelight service will fill the church with light once more and we will gather in celebration. There are no plans yet – what we will be doing or singing – but for me that is also a tradition: puzzling out the candlelight service when the leaves are still on the trees.

There are people we will miss in a painful way, but we’ll take time for that too.

Sorrow borne in the company of those who share in the same memories is a sorrow that leaves room for the recollections that bring solace as well.

We may be singing through masks, but I’m sure Dorothy will have something organized so that the masks are in some way festive!

A wise person once told me that we should always have something to look forward to. This can be a perfect cup of coffee after the morning chores or a glass of wine at the end of the day. A movie or a hockey game, cruise on the Mediterranean Sea or a walk on the shores of a lake in the Laurentians. Something on our own horizon.

So, I move that we all look forward to this year’s Candlelight Service. Starting now. You have no idea what it will look like, but you never do! You know that the candles will be lit, that we’ll sing, and that we will honour our Christmas tradition.

Now, for a perfect cup of coffee…

Sarah  

SouthWest Service for Sunday, August 23rd

The service will be available to view here as of Sunday morning.

New Testament 101: Colossians

And the letters go on….

Colossae was an important city in western Asia Minor, about 100 miles east of the port city of Ephesus. 

Paul had never been to Colossae, but he was pleased to learn that the Christians there were strong in their faith (1:3-7, 2:6-7). They had heard the good news from a man named Epaphras who had lived there (1:7, 4:12—13) but was in jail with Paul (Philemon 23) at the time that Paul wrote this letter (1:14, 4: 3, 10, 18).

Many of the church members in Colossae were Gentiles (1:27) and some of them were influenced by strange religious ideas and practices (2: 16-23).  They thought that to obey God fully they must give up certain physical desires and worship angels and other spiritual powers.  But Paul wanted them to know that Christ was with God in heaven, ruling over all powers in the universe (3:1).  And so, their worship should be directed to Christ.

Paul quotes a beautiful hymn that explains who Christ is:

Christ is exactly like God,
Who cannot be seen.
He is the first-born son,
Superior to all creation.

God himself was pleased
To live fully in his Son.
And God was pleased
For him to make peace
By sacrificing his blood on the cross.       
(1:15, 19, 20a)

A Quick Look At This Letter

1.    Greetings (1: 1,2)
2.    A Prayer of Thanks (1: 3-8)
3.    The Person and Work of Christ (1: 9-2:19)
4.    A New Life with Christ (2:20-4:6)
5.    Final Greetings (4:7-18) 

Beryl

Order of Service for August 23, 2020

Music Notes: The Dawn Chorus

My father died last fall, November 13th to be precise, and less than 24 hours later a large goose walked up the lane. We named him Palmer, my father’s middle name, and he’s been with us ever since.

Not being too experienced with geese, we really weren’t sure for a while whether Palmer was goose or gander, but time will tell, and a few months later we knew that my father’s continued presence had indeed been ensured by a gander. A gorgeous, mostly white gander who can spread his wings wide and fly in great arks over the field. He always comes back, invariably to stand beside his one true love, Joey the goat. This attachment was established very soon after Palmer’s appearance, and he has remained steadfast, even with the arrival of two sweet female goslings this spring who have grown up to be fair beauties. You can plan love’s perfect path, but the heart goeth whither the heart beats strongest! He is king of the barnyard, and struts about with manly bravado.

The sky unleashed a torrent last night, preceded by streaks of lightning and huge cracks of thunder that sounded far too close. Carson the black lab did his utmost to muffle these exclamations, chiefly by lying down on my head. He is terrified of storms! So, I waited it out with him till it was quiet once more, and the countryside returned to a harmonious slumber.

The dawn chorus begins at around 5 o’clock, and it is no wonder that so many composers have been inspired by such sounds, both wild and domestic. Chattering, chirping, whistling, rustling: they all conspire to the morning symphony! When Rae-Bob the rooster starts his crowing, we know the mad collection of hens, chicks, ducks, ducklings and geese are milling in increasing intensity within the confines of the coop, ready to explode through the doors and express their delight in another day. From this cheerful cacophony, one voice stands out, and it is most definitely not the voice to inspire a sweet melody: Palmer exclaims, and it is very, very loud. He seems to scream at the day, as though he wants to bring everyone to attention before all semblance of fowl control is beyond his grasp.

Where there is life, there will be music. Always! Whether we summon it forth or not; life makes music. Where there is a heart beat, there will be rhythm.

I like to think of Palmer as the Schönberg of the yard (atonal and discordant!), but the chicks move around like a happy chorus of children singing their favourite songs, all in slightly different keys…

Impossible to ignore. Just like life, really.

Sarah