Beryl's Blog: The History of Mother's Day

Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.”

Once a major tradition in the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, this celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church”—the main church in the vicinity of their home—for a special service. 

Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more secular holiday, and children would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. This custom eventually faded in popularity before merging with the American Mother’s Day in the 1930s and 1940s.

As I share these words, the words unconditional love, both given and received, comes to mind. Quoted hereunder are the words from Proverbs 31:25-31

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” ...

 My prayer for Mother’s Day is dedicated to all who mother, in all of creation:

Good and Gentle God, we pray in gratitude for our mothers and for all the women (and men) of theory who have joined with you in the wonder of bringing forth and caring for new life.

You who became human through a woman, grant to all mothers (and fathers) whether biological or adoptive, the courage they need to face the uncertain future that life with children always brings.
Give them the strength to love and to be loved in return, not perfectly, but humanly.
Give them the faithful support of partner, family and friends as they care for the physical and spiritual growth of their children.

Give them joy and delight in their children to sustain them through the trials of motherhood.

Most of all, give them the wisdom to turn to you for help when they need it most.  Amen.

                                                                                 - Author Unknown

 A blessed Mothers’ Day to all who have mothered, who mother, and who will mother.

 Pastor Beryl, DLM

On the Death of the Beloved

Those who attended or watched last Sunday’s service got to hear Aline Sorel read this poem, On the Death of the Beloved, by John O’Donohue. May 5th marked a year since we lost Steve Scales. It has been a hard year for many, with many losses. We print this here in hopes that it may bring comfort to others as it has to Aline.

On the Death of the Beloved

Though we need to weep your loss,
You dwell in that safe place in our hearts,
Where no storm or night or pain can reach you.

Your love was like the dawn
Brightening over our lives
Awakening beneath the dark
A further adventure of colour.

The sound of your voice
Found for us
A new music
That brightened everything.

Whatever you enfolded in your gaze
Quickened in the joy of its being;
You placed smiles like flowers
On the altar of the heart.
Your mind always sparkled
With wonder at things.

Though your days here were brief,
Your spirit was live, awake, complete.

We look towards each other no longer
From the old distance of our names;
Now you dwell inside the rhythm of breath,
As close to us as we are to ourselves.

Though we cannot see you with outward eyes,
We know our soul's gaze is upon your face,
Smiling back at us from within everything
To which we bring our best refinement.

Let us not look for you only in memory,
Where we would grow lonely without you.
You would want us to find you in presence,
Beside us when beauty brightens,
When kindness glows
And music echoes eternal tones.

When orchids brighten the earth,
Darkest winter has turned to spring;
May this dark grief flower with hope
In every heart that loves you.

May you continue to inspire us:

To enter each day with a generous heart.
To serve the call of courage and love
Until we see your beautiful face again
In that land where there is no more separation,
Where all tears will be wiped from our mind,
And where we will never lose you again. 

-John O'Donohue

Verdun Then and Now, 2

As a follow-up to last week, here is another picture of Wellington street back in the day, accompanied by my attempt to capture the same view today.
Last week’s Wellington view was facing in the same direction as this, but from further along. Here you can still see the spire of Notre-Dame-des-Sept-Douleurs in the distance but the photographer is standing back at 1st Avenue.

Notice the awnings in front of all the businesses? Back before air conditioning this was how you kept the sun out and the air cooler indoors. On the other hand, as someone pointed out on the site where I found these old photos, there are more trees on Wellington now than back in the day!

Speaking of then and now, restoration and expansion of the Verdun Auditorium has been completed. The siding in the top picture was removed and the original brick facade restored, with bright modern extensions added at side and back.

Grieving Workshop

To coincide with Palliative Care Week
The McGill Council on Palliative Care is presenting this
Virtual Workshop on how the COVID-19 pandemic affects grieving.

Thursday, May 20th. at 5:00pm

Supporting Healthy Grieving through the Pandemic

Dawn Cruchet BN, Med, Grief Educator and Counsellor

 Dawn will focus on the idea that for the griever, grief is grief - it hasn’t changed in the pandemic. However, because of so many limitations, people have not been able to share their grief and what are they supposed to do with these feelings?

Dawn believes there is an even bigger need to educate about grief so that loving family and friends and caring neighbors and co-workers can understand that they can grievers once they recognize that it is a natural, healthy response to loss.

Join us at:

Zoom link

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81393503293?pwd=SkVaT25jV3JwQmxyYWZpbURrVTFzZz09

For more details about the presenters follow the link to

COUNCIL UPCOMING EVENTS PAGE

Order of Service: May 2, 2021

It is the 5th Sunday of Easter. For those who will watch the service from home, here is the bulletin to follow along.

Mental Health Sunday, May 2, 2021

Mental Health Sunday (the first Sunday in May) is part of the United Church of Canada’s effort to create communities of radical belonging for all people, including those living with mental health challenges. It ushers in Mental Health Awareness Week, May 2-9.

Below is an insert containing useful tips on how we as church can make the world a little better for our neighbours who struggle with mental illness. Find more resources on the UCC website.

Verdun Then and Now

I came across these photos on a Facebook page called Verdun Citoyen/Verdun Citizen. They are not dated but the horse and buggy in the first one would suggest they are from at least a century ago. On a sunny day I decided to take a bike ride and try to reproduce these Verdun scenes as they appear today.

I was standing at the corner of Claude and De l’Eglise (the address indicated on the historical picture) but I’m not sure I’ve got the right spot.

The picture above was taken on Wellington street from the block between Gordon and Galt, looking “east”* towards Notre-Dame des-Sept-Douleurs church.

Remember when we figured out that the Chinese Laundry shown in an old Verdun photo would have been across the street from Verdun Methodist church on Gordon? And a couple of people said there had been a Chinese restaurant next to the laundry with its front door facing Wellington? If we could pull this picture back just half a block we might just see that restaurant. That corner is occupied by the Friperie Renaissance now. I’m not sure but I think the part of the Renaissance building that you can see in my photo below is the same building housing Lafleur Furniture in the historical picture. Do you suppose any of that nice detailing is still there underneath the siding?  
- Amy

Beryl's Blog: Thoughts on the Apocalypse

We may have gotten it all wrong!

Lately, I have been hearing the word “apocalypse” bandied about in regard to this world-wide pandemic we are living through.

So often, this word conjures up visions of the rapture, fear, a vengeful God, and violent and exclusive religion. It is an overwhelming judgment on Western Christianity that it is drawn to such beliefs. But despite its misuse, the biblical meaning of apocalypse holds a somewhat different image.

If we look at the origins of the word, we find that kaluptein is the Greek word for “to cover” and apo means “un,” so apokaluptein means to uncover or unveil. While we primarily use the word “apocalypse” to mean to destroy or threaten, in its original context, apocalypse simply meant to reveal something new. The key is that in order to reveal something new, we have to get the old out of the way.

As a subscriber to Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation (From the Center for Action and contemplation) I found myself drawn to the poetic words from Neale Donald Walsch (Facebook post July 22, 2014) that put this quite nicely.

 “Yearning for a new way will not produce it. Only ending the old way can do that. You cannot hold onto the old all the while declaring that you want something new. The old will defy the new; the old will deny the new; the old will decry the new. There is only one way to bring in the new. You must make room for it.”

Viewed in this way, I am convinced that this pandemic is an Apocalypse of sorts.  But what does the Bible say about apocalypse?

In Matthew 24:8, hidden there in the middle of the wars and earthquakes it says, “All this is only the beginning of the birth pangs.” Apocalypse is for the sake of birth not death. Yet most of us have heard this reading as a threat. Apparently, it’s not. Anything that upsets our normalcy is a threat to the ego but in the Big Picture, it really isn’t.

In Luke 21, Jesus says right in the middle of the catastrophic description: “Your endurance will win you your souls.” Falling apart is for the sake of renewal, not punishment. Such a telling line to keep in our sights.

In Mark 13, Jesus says “Stay awake” four times in the last paragraph (Mark 13:32–37).

 In other words, “Learn the lesson that this has to teach you.” It points to everything that we take for granted and says, “Don’t take anything for granted.” An apocalyptic event reframes reality in a radical way by flipping our imagination.

Father Richard Rohr, OFM** states that “we would have done history a great favor if we would have understood apocalyptic literature. It’s not meant to strike fear in us as much as a radical rearrangement. It’s not the end of the world. It’s the end of worlds—our worlds that we have created. In the book of Revelation (also called the Apocalypse, or Revelation to John), John is trying to describe what it feels like when everything falls apart. It’s not a threat. It’s an invitation to depth. It’s what it takes to wake people up to the real, to the lasting, to what matters. It presents the serious reader with a great ‘What if?’”

As I have been doing of late, I find myself turning to our own Voices United for comfort and found the following hymn to be one of great hope.  May it be of comfort to you too as we face the uncertainties of these apocalyptic days.

VU 278  In The Quiet Curve of Evening

In the quiet curve of evening,
in the sinking of the days,
in the silky void of darkness, you are there.
In the lapses of my breathing,
in the space between my ways,
in the crater carved by sadness, you are there.
You are there, you are there, you are there.

In the rests between the phrases,
in the cracks between the stars,
in the gaps between the meaning, you are there.
In the melting down of endings,
in the cooling of the sun,
in the solstice of the winter, you are there.
You are there, you are there, you are there.

In the mystery of my hungers,
in the silence of my rooms,
in the cloud of my unknowing, you are there.
In the empty cave of grieving,
in the desert of my dreams,
in the tunnel of my sorrow, you are there.
You are there, you are there, you are there.

Be well, stay alert and stay safe

Pastor Beryl, DLM

**Father Richard Rohr is a Franciscan friar and ecumenical teacher who bears witness to the deep wisdom of Christian mysticism and traditions of action and contemplation. He is the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) and academic Dean of the Living School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he has lived since 1986. 

SouthWest Service for April 25, 2021

Order of service: April 25, 2021

For those who choose to watch from home, here is the bulletin for Sunday to follow along.