As it’s the first Sunday of the month, there will be communion during the service. Those who are watching from home are invited to have their baked good and beverage on hand. You may download the bulletin and communion insert here.
List of Candidates: Federal Election
The election campaign is in full swing and, unbelievably, voting day is just a couple of weeks away. If you plan to vote by mail, you must apply for your ballot by September 14th at the latest. Do it as soon as possible though, because they will mail it to you and you will have to mail it back via Canada Post. It is particularly important, if you are voting by mail, to know who your local candidates are, as you will have to write in your choice. It’s not the same ballot you get if you go to a polling station, where you just have to tick a box.
In the riding of Lasalle-Emard-Verdun, the candidates, along with the parties they represent, are as follows:
LaSalle--Émard--Verdun 24-037
(Quebec / Québec)
WALSH, Michel
People's Party of Canada / Parti populaire du CanadaANTONIN, Pascal
Free Party Canada / Parti Libre CanadaCARTER, Sarah
Green Party of Canada / Le Parti Vert du CanadaDE LIERRE, Jason
New Democratic Party / Nouveau Parti démocratiqueFORTIN, JP
Communist Party of Canada / Parti communiste du CanadaGUÉRARD, Raphaël
Bloc Québécois / Bloc QuébécoisLAMETTI, David
Liberal Party of Canada / Parti libéral du CanadaMORAN, Janina
Conservative Party of Canada / Parti conservateur du Canada
If you live in a different riding, you can find out who your candidates are by going to Elections Canada and entering your postal code.
The toll-free number for Elections Canada is: 1-800-463-6868.
Beryl's Blog: Season of Creation
(“Earth, that fragile piece of stardust we call home, that unique planet where life exists in all its diverse splendor, that amazing floating rock whose mysteries we have only begun to discover”) from Seasons of the Sprit, 2015
September 5th is Planet Earth Sunday, that time in our Season of Creation series where we are invited to see ourselves as an inherent part of the created world.
We are not separate from it, masters of it or, on the other hand, beholden to it.
Rather, like the plants and rocks and birds and cattle, the fish and turtles and crawling things, we are a part of it. This planet earth is our home, the only one we have.
The Season of Creation sets us on a path of rediscovery of our God-filled world and our place it. It invites us into worship and faith, and guides us to living with respect in creation for the sake of all God’s creatures.
Within each created being is the DNA of the Creator, the stardust of the cosmos. We are all related through this great creation, we are brothers and sisters with all that is.
In 2015, Pope Frances offered a prayer for our earth which I would share with you:
All-powerful God, you are present in the
whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
that we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
as brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
help us to rescue the abandoned and
forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it,
that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain
at the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation,
to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature
as we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day.
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle
for justice, love and peace.
Pope Francis, Laudato Si
If you are able, join us for worship on this first week in the Season of Creation where we will pray:
Through your word and your design, O God, you call us to remember we are part of the abundance of your creation, from tiny molecules to divine light. Every being reflects your DNA and reminds us that you continue to create and delight in what you have made. With these gifts, move us from despair to hope; from taking things for granted to a place of deep reverence. Amen.
Pastor Beryl, DLM
A Creepy Claim to Fame
If you had been walking along Verdun Avenue on July 23rd, 1938, you might have stopped, like the people in this photograph, to watch a coffin being carried out of Wilson’s funeral home and placed in a hearse.
How many of the bystanders knew, I wonder, that the body in the coffin was that of Arthur Ellis, who for over two decades was Canada’s official executioner, or “hangman”?
Born in England in 1864, Arthur Bartholomew Alexander English seems to have apprenticed under John Ellis, England’s Chief Executioner, and taken his last name as a tribute, as well as a handy alias, when he began his career in Canada.
Arthur Ellis was based in Montreal throughout most of his career, but travelled across the country in his, ahem, professional capacity. It’s unknown whether he was living in or near Verdun when he died, but if arrangements were entrusted to Wilson’s, it suggests he was. Newspaper articles from the period claim that he died in extreme poverty, having lost his position due to a “botched” execution. I think that’s as far as I’ll go into the gory details.
What if instead we look around us on that July day in Verdun in 1938? We can’t see the funeral home itself unfortunately, but certainly the facade would have been much different than it is today. The Wilson family sold to Alfred Dallaire in 1989, and Yves Légaré took it over in 2003, but a ‘salon funéraire’ has stood at 5784 Verdun avenue, corner Manning, all this time.
5784 Verdun (southeast corner where it crosses Manning ave.) in 2021.
Kitty-corner from the funeral home, at 5811, we can see Verdun’s own Steinberg’s grocery store, which had opened earlier that year. The family chain of stores was started in 1917, but this was the first Steinberg’s in Verdun, if not the last. Indeed they were so successful that by 1941, the grocery was in need of more space and moved to 5100 Verdun Ave, at the corner of 6th. Yep, that’s where pharmacy Jean Coutu is now.
The former Steinberg’s grocery building at 5811 Verdun ave. has changed a lot. And look how much wider the street is now compared to 1938!
Meanwhile, 5811 Verdun avenue has had many incarnations over the years, including its time as Smith-Main’s bakery in the 1960s. The building suffered a bad fire in 2019 but has been repaired. The ground floor is now occupied by Depanneur Guorong, also known as Mini-Marché Manning.
Post Script
Arthur Ellis was Canada’s hangman for a long time, but he was not our last. Capital punishment continued until it was abolished in 1976, and hanging was always the Canadian method of choice.
Legend has it that Ellis is buried in Mount Royal Cemetery.
August 29, 2021 SouthWest Service
Music Sunday August 29
Once a month, usually on the 4th Sunday, our worship will be lay-led with an extra emphasis on music. Join us in person this Sunday at 10am or tune in later on Youtube for this Music Sunday. Here is the downloadable bulletin.
Boardwalk Days
I confess to belonging to a number of Facebook groups that specialize in Montreal - and sometimes specifically Verdun - nostalgia. I am a newcomer to Verdun (14 years and counting) so in my case I guess it’s not really nostalgia, but the black-and-white photos on these sites allow me to see a Verdun I have heard about but never seen. I hope you will enjoy this small blast from the past.
Those with long memories will recognize the Band Shell that stood on the Boardwalk in the 40s and 50s, where you could go hear concerts on warm summer nights. In the second shot, you catch a glimpse behind it of the Dance Pavilion (the “Pav”).
This would be Lasalle Boulevard near the bottom of Woodland Avenue. It’s before the waterfront was built up in the 60s: the river is much closer to the road than it is today!
I spent some time during the recent heat wave cooling off at the Natatorium. What a treat to stumble across these pictures from its early days!
This is the “before” shot: breaking ground for the Natatorium in 1938.
A swimming competition in the early 40s. “The Nat” hasn’t changed much over the years except the diving boards are no longer there.
Beryl's Blog: The Alpha and the Omega
Most of us are we are familiar with the Alpha and the Omega; “the beginning and the end” as the title for Jesus. These words are used to designate the comprehensiveness of God, implying that God includes all that can be. They bring to mind life, death and eternal life with the one who created us.
August is winding down, hotter than usual, but winding down none the less. As I daily fill the bird baths and refresh the garden to make sure the toads and other crawling creatures are not without moisture, I cannot help but notice that the flowers are beginning to seed, the tomatoes are ripe for picking and even the pumpkins will be ready soon enough.
Many of the birds have already left to begin yet another cycle of life -the robins, the red-winged blackbirds and even the geese are gathering in the farmers’ fields, the flock growing daily. I am blessed yet with a lone humming bird, fighting for a place to feed amongst the multitude of wasps which seem to appear in abundance in August.
As a Pastor now for more than 13 years, I am familiar with Omegas. I have lost count of the celebrations of life I have shared with families and friends, the different traditions in different cultural settings.
Death, unknown and yet to be experienced, is daunting for so many. Fear and anxiety can overshadow the promise of eternal life, without pain and suffering, which is offered to us through Jesus.
Many years ago, I was given a poem about death. It has sustained my belief in eternal life – perhaps not as we expect it to be, but life given and joyful nonetheless.
This Saturday we will celebrate a life, once again. As I make preparations for the service with the family, I read this poem once again for the peace it brings and share it now that you too might envision the beauty in the inevitable omega of all things:
For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?
Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb.
And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance.
Kahlil Gibran, author of The Prophet, was born January 6, 1883, in Bsharri, Lebanon.
May the peace of Christ, which passes all understanding, be yours this day and always.
Pastor Beryl DLM
August 22, 2021 SouthWest Service
Baptism: Karaminas-Kennedy
Last Saturday, Pastor Beryl baptized baby Kassandra, daughter of Stefanie Karaminas and Matthew Kennedy. Congratulations to all.
