Pastor Beryl's Blog: Palm Sunday 2021

It will be a different Palm Sunday this year. But truth is things have been different for many years now.

There was once a time when, on Palm Sunday, churches were full and children would wave their palm branches and parade down the aisles to the shouts of loud Hosannas. Parents and Grandparents would proudly wave their own palm branches in joyful response.

Over the years, the parades got smaller and the voices became softer.

And now here we are – somewhere in Pandemic mode.  Even if we could fill our churches, our limit is 25 people (registered, sanitized and safely seated).

Palm Sunday is in remembrance of Jesus’ joyful entry into the Holy City of Jerusalem.  It was peaceful protest for peace and justice.

Jesus was a visionary.  A man ahead of his time.

But, for many, Jesus’ vision has not been lost.  People all over the world still cling to thoughts of peace and justice for all.  And, it has spread to peace and justice for this beautiful earth.  People still do care and fight for God’s vision, God’s kin-dom.

So, even if we cannot be together, let us not be afraid to stand in the places of those who believe as we pray these familiar words:

Create a clean heart in me, O God:
a humble heart,
a meek heart,
a peaceful heart,
a benevolent heart,
a devout heart
which does evil to no one,
which does not repay evil for evil,
but overcomes evil with good,
which loves you above all things,
thinks always about you,
speaks about you,
gives you thanks,
delights in hymns and spiritual songs,
and has its citizenship in heaven.
Amen.

Source: Girolamo Savonarola (21 September 1452 – 23 May 1498)

Italian Dominican friar from Ferrara and preacher active in Renaissance Florence.

SouthWest Service for March 21, 2021

Order of service for March 21, 2021

Here is the bulletin for this Sunday. You may download and print using the button below.

Taylors and Unwins and Kings: Oh my!

UPDATE: In response to this post, In an e-mail, Donna Davis wrote,
“I was intrigued when the surname Unwin came up in your newsletter discussion of the old photos. My Aunt Louisa Jones was née Unwin, in 1915. Her two brothers were Chesley and Norman Unwin. They grew up I think in Pointe-St.-Charles and/or Verdun. (Norman visited my aunt at the Floralies and so was known by some members of Verdun United.)

“My aunt's father Mr. Unwin would seem to fit in somewhere, but I only recall him being called "Pop" Unwin! I believe he worked at General Foods, where my aunt therefore got my uncle, Bernard Jones, an entry level job during the Depression.”

We can’t be sure if Donna’s Unwins are any relation to Annie Taylor, but the Verdun connection certainly makes it possible. Maybe Donna’s aunt Louisa was a grand-niece or something.

Donna’s e-mail continues,
“As for General Foods, however, my uncle would work there his whole life, rising to an executive position. The company is writ large in the Golden Generation of my family history. I wonder if we really understand how much our values were intimately permeated by such postwar corporate culture.

“My aunt and uncle at one time received substantial company gift boxes from GF and these had an allure our jaded postmodern tastes may not appreciate. Consider the remarkable prevalence and later persistence of Jell-O in church suppers and potlucks. And what congregational status that supply of gift boxes may have conferred upon my aunt and uncle! In Verdun we were not far removed at this time from the (Steinberg's!) Pinky Stamp mentality that infests "Les Belles-Soeurs," even if we fell on the more privileged side of the "Two Solitudes" divide. 

 “My uncle's lucky break, however, was a winter weekend, emergency job: breaking up and shovelling a massive spill of chocolate that had frozen all over the factory floors.  He often retold the story with some bafflement over how a supposed mechanical failure could have produced such results. I wonder now if sabotage had been afoot, especially if the company called in naive labourers (scabs, even?) over a weekend and presumably offered some of these men permanent jobs.”

So we have to ask, has anyone else ever heard of this Willy Wonka-esque episode at the General Foods plant in Lasalle??

ORIGINAL POST:

I have shared both of these photos before, in a post titled “In Search of Mrs. Clement King”.

At the time I remarked that, apart from Mary Jane Porter (aka Mrs. King), one other lady appeared in both of these pictures, taken some 40 years apart: Mrs. W. Taylor. I then wondered what her first name might be. Well last week, the original supplier of the Ladies Aid photo from 1910, Dianne Nolin, offered a potential answer.

Dianne is the great-granddaughter of Mrs. King (middle row at the right in 1910, and front row at far left in the 1950 shot), and granddaughter of Sarah (called Sadie) King, (front row far left in 1910 photo). Clement and Mary Jane were among the founding members of Verdun Methodist in 1899. You can read more about them in another post titled “Young Man With a Horn”.

Dianne wrote, “My grandmother [Sadie]’s best friend and neighbour in Verdun was Mabel Perrotte, and Mabel’s parents were William and Annie (neé Unwin) Taylor. Mrs W Taylor (Annie Unwin) would have been the same age as Mary Jane Porter King, my grandmother’s mom.”

Mother’s Day, 1950.
Back row: Mrs. C. Dawe (76); Mrs H. Salmela (73); Mrs. A. Parker (74); Mrs. E. Ritchie (74); Mrs. R. Norman (80); Unidentified; Mrs. A. Timms (78); Mrs. E. Grey (73); Mrs. E. Cain (75)
Front row: Mrs. C. King (84); Mrs. W. Taylor (89); Mrs. L. Hobbs (98); Mrs. E. Retallack (93)

Ladies Aid Society of Verdun Methodist Church, 1910
Back row, left to right: Mrs. Evely; Mrs. Taylor; Mrs. Mavor; Mrs. Dawson, Unidentified.
Middle: Mrs. Bradbury; Mrs. Hayden; Flo Bradbury; Mrs. C. King (Mary Jane Porter).
Front: Sarah Myrtle (Sadie) King; Jessie Bradbury; Mrs. Brown

Actually, the captioning on the Mother’s Day photo from 1950 suggests that Mrs. Taylor was about five years older than Mrs. King. They are listed as being 89 and 84 respectively. Regardless, they apparently had daughters the same age in Sadie and Mabel. What would make this discovery absolutely perfect would be if Mabel Taylor turned out to be seated next to Sadie in the Ladies Aid photos. Alas, there is no Mabel. If anyone out there is descended from the Taylor, Unwin or Perrotte families, we’d love to hear from you.

~~~

Since Dennis Brown scanned all of the glass slides from Verdun United, I have spent a lot of time looking at faces in old photos. There’s a photo dated 1915 taken at Verdun Methodist that appears to be a youth group of some kind. The more I looked at it the more I thought one of the young ladies in it might be Sadie King, five years older than she was in the Ladies Aid picture. I sent it off to Dianne and she confirmed that, yup, that was her grandmother at about 21 years of age! I wonder if one of the other girls in the group is Mabel Taylor. Sadie went on to marry Herbert Mavor. He is probably not in the 1915 picture since he enlisted that year and may have already been overseas.

Dianne Nolin ended her latest e-mail to me by saying, “I came across it [the mention of Mrs. Taylor] because Annie Unwin’s sister Lilian married Mary Jane’s brother Richard. Such a small world!”

We have to agree.

The young lady standing 5th from left is Sarah Myrtle (called Sadie) King (later Mavor).

Beryl's Blog: 5th Week of Lent

This week, I am sharing with you something different. 

In following the weekly prayer and healing meditations offered by the Sisters of the IHM, Michigan, USA, I was touched by the words of Scripture presented for this fifth week of Lent:

Mark 10:17-21 NIV -The Rich and the Kingdom of God

17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’” 20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.” 21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

These are the adapted words of Sister Lynne Moldenhauser, IHM:

Seeing as Jesus sees; not seeing whom or what Jesus sees but as Jesus sees.  In this passage from Mark, you will find our instruction, “Jesus, looking at him, loved him”.  Scripture scholars believe that this is the only reference in the Gospels where Jesus is said to love someone.  We all know that love was the root of Jesus’ life, but this explicit statement is an invitation to us.  We know that what Jesus says after this statement is a deep disappoint to the man because it demands something which is extremely difficult; “sell all and give it to the poor”. 

However, the focus of this passage is on the “looking” and the “loving”.  How often in the Gospels do we hear of Jesus healing the “seeing” issues for people?  That rich challenge in Matthew 7 about seeing the speck in our neighbor’s eye, but ignoring the log in our own.  Or the passage in Matthew 6 of the eye being the lamp of the body.  If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is unhealthy; your whole body will be full of darkness.

Seeing is an important ability to have – but seeing in a deeper way than simple vision. Many things can impair our ability to see.  Our biases can trap us into thinking we own the truth in any given situation or group of people or events.

We are inundated, more than ever, with stories, commercials, social media posting, etc. that attempt to impress upon us the “truth”.  What we accept in our lives as truth is how we see.  We all do this. 

But Jesus shows us a different way.  Before we decide about a group of people, or events, can we hold off on reacting and do this one beautiful, difficult task? 

Just pause, and recall these words “Jesus, looking at him, loved him”.  Let us take the time for that long loving look in all that we encounter, throughout Lent and beyond.

In closing, I would like to share with you “A Blessing "For Solitude", by John O' Donohue

May you recognize in your life the presence, power and light of your soul.
May you realize that you are never alone, that your soul in its brightness and belonging connects you intimately with the rhythm of the universe.
May you have respect for your own individuality and difference.
May you realize that the shape of your soul is unique, that you have a special destiny here, that behind the facade of your life there is something beautiful and eternal happening.
May you learn to see your self with the same delight, pride, and expectation with which God sees you in every moment.

Pastor Beryl, DLM

Re-opening for Easter

UPDATE: The maximum number has been increased to 250, but only for those churches that can accommodate that number and maintain social distancing. In our church, we still think it is best to limit the congregation to 25 people.

_____

The Quebec government has announced that as of March 26th, places of worship may open for up to 25 people. That means this Sunday we will not be live, but next week, which is Palm Sunday, we will. The schedule of SouthWest services leading up to Easter is as follows:

March 28: Palm Sunday: 10 a.m.

April 2: Good Friday, 11 a.m.

April 4: Easter Sunday, 10a.m. (Reservation required).

We are awaiting further guidance from our Regional Council, but we do know that all of the health precautions which were in place during Advent (when we were last open) remain. That is:
-Everyone must wear a mask while in the building. Please bring one from home; if you forget, we will have a few available. The Minister and others who participate in the service may remove their masks while speaking or singing.
-Everyone must clean their hands on entering the building
-Maintain a distance of 6 feet from anyone who is not from your household.
-No congregational singing
-Hymn books and Bibles will not be distributed. There will be a paper bulletin which should be recycled after the service or taken home (not left in pews).
-Everyone attending must sign a register.
-You are asked not to arrive earlier than 15 minutes before the start of the service, and unfortunately there will be no fellowship time after the service.

As we did for Christmas Eve, we will be taking reservations for the Easter Sunday service. You may call the office as of Monday, March 22 to reserve your place(s). If you leave a message, you will receive a call back to confirm your reservation.

For those who can not or do not wish to attend in person, we are hoping to live stream the services on Facebook. If you have not yet liked SouthWest on Facebook, this might be a good time to do that.

SouthWest Service for March 14, 2021

Order of Service for March 14, 2021

Download the bulletin for Sunday here.

Shots in the Arm

By the time you read this we’ll be nearly two weeks into the vaccination campaign for seniors in the general population. SouthWest people are eagerly signing up and the reports I’ve heard have been positive.

I personally accompanied someone with mobility issues to the Glen for her appointment. We were relieved to find wheelchairs available for anyone to use. As it turned out there wasn’t a lot of walking to do, or a lot of waiting, but the chair was very much appreciated nonetheless. People who have been to the Montreal General as well as to the Lasalle arena have also reported good experiences.

I had wondered if there would be any instructions regarding the second dose of vaccine. It turns out that when you go for your first appointment, they immediately book you for your second. Most people are getting appointments for the end of June, which fits into the 4-month window for getting your second shot.

Going into the second week, a few people reported problems booking appointments such as longer wait times, or having to go with a site further from home. We’re hoping that pharmacies will soon start offering the vaccine and that should help clear up any backlog.

As ever, we want to hear your stories, positive or negative.

In Memoriam: Beverly Page Ross

We are very sad to learn of the passing from this world of a lovely lady, Bev Ross.

Bev loved family, friends, animals, dancing, and travel - especially travel back to her childhood home in the Gaspé. Hope Town, Quebec is nestled next to the Baie des Chaleurs, a stone’s throw from New Brunswick. Bev always looked forward to trips back there in the summer.

Bev had beaten cancer more than once and fought through numerous other health problems over the years, always managing to stay upbeat. Maybe that’s how it is when you’re born in Hope Town. We don’t know details of this last illness, but it seems she had been in hospital for about a month before her death on March 4th.

Pre-deceased in 2007 by her husband Clyde, Bev was a loving mother to Harold, Heather and Glenn, as well as a grand-mother and great-grandmother.

Bev was on Facebook, where she kept in touch with many friends near and far. She will be missed by many at SouthWest United who enjoyed seeing her smiling face at services and events.

St. Andrew’s United Church in Hope Town, Qc.

“We line danced together for about 20 years,” recalls Helen Pantridge. “Our dancing group took two trips to Cuba.”

On Facebook, she liked to sign off at the end of the day with a “Good night, sleep well with sweet dreams”. We are wishing you the same, Bev.