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Pastor Beryl's Blog: Mountain Sunday
The Season of Creation comes to a close this week with a vision of God’s holy mountain; a vision that offers us a path of hope for the future and calls us to live justly and in partnership with God
It is seldom possible to look toward the mountains on a clear day anywhere and not be awestruck by beauty and strength and grandeur.
Mountains, in scripture, are where humans draw nearer to the divine.
The bible records many mountaintop moments: Moses received the ten commandments on the top of a mountain. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gave the people some of the greatest wisdom in the Sermon on the Mount. Later, Jesus’ face shone like the sun on the top of a mountain as his awestruck disciples watched him converse with Moses and Elijah.
Mountains are set apart. They are sacred; in the book of Isaiah, they offer us an image of the true expansiveness of God’s vision for our world.
As the Season of Creation comes to a close with a vision of God’s holy mountain, we are reminded that, living in the midst of climate crisis and COVID-19, we have an even greater desire to find hope for the future.
Isaiah’s words offer us a blueprint for what is possible; the ways we are called to be part of God’s story, creating hope, renewal and rebirth. Most people have experienced the grandeur, mystery, challenge, invitation, awe of mountains. Even for those who have experienced painful or difficult things on mountains – or who find mountains oppressive – still the sense of them can be powerful.
Isaiah 65:17-25 - The Message
“Pay close attention now: I’m creating new heavens and a new earth.
All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain are things of the past, to be forgotten.
Look ahead with joy. Anticipate what I’m creating:
I’ll create Jerusalem as sheer joy, create my people as pure delight.
I’ll take joy in Jerusalem, take delight in my people:
No more sounds of weeping in the city, no cries of anguish;
No more babies dying in the cradle, or old people who don’t enjoy a full lifetime;
One-hundredth birthdays will be considered normal - anything less will seem like a cheat.
They’ll build houses and move in. They’ll plant fields and eat what they grow.
No more building a house that some outsider takes over, no more planting fields
that some enemy confiscates,
For my people will be as long-lived as trees, my chosen ones will have satisfaction in their work.
They won’t work and have nothing come of it, they won’t have children snatched out from under them.
For they themselves are plantings blessed by God, with their children and grandchildren likewise God-blessed.
Before they call out, I’ll answer.
Before they’ve finished speaking, I’ll have heard.
Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow, lion and ox eat straw from the same trough, but snakes—they’ll get a diet of dirt!
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill anywhere on my Holy Mountain,” says God.
As you face the next mountain in your life, I would invite you to pause, turn around and look backwards to all the mountains you have already conquered and remember that we are not alone.
Shalom
Pastor Beryl
SouthWest Service for September 12, 2021
SouthWest Service for September 19, 2021
Order of service September 19, 2021
Here is the order of service for this Sunday. Also see an invitation from our Music Director to attend a conversation before church.
Sing a New Song!
Sunday morning at 9 o’clock
A discussion for all those interested in Music at SouthWest
We’ll be talking about plans and priorities and looking forward to a new chapter in the ever-evolving soundscape at Sunday services and special occasions.
• In the basement
• Coffee included (and perhaps something to munch on…)
• Late comers are welcome too!
Sarah
Beryl's Blog: Sky Sunday
This week we continue in our Seasons of Creation Series with Sky Sunday.
Along with the sun, the moon and the stars, we also acknowledge clouds. There are many biblical references to clouds, especially in the book of Exodus:
Exodus 19:9 NRSV
Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and so trust you ever after.”
Exodus 24:15-18 NIV
Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
For many of us, clouds are dreamlike. They move around swiftly and quickly. They are secret and have something to hide from us. When you dream, it's almost always not clear what you dream about, as it is shrouded in clouds.
As I thought about clouds this week, I was drawn back to 1969 and a song written by Joni Mitchell entitled Both Sides, Now. I am sharing some of the words with you now in the hope they will bring back some wonderful childhood memories of laying in the grass and watching the fleeting dinosaurs, fish, dogs, elephants and cats fly by in the sky.
Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
Looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun
They rain and they snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way
I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all
Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way that you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way……
It's life's illusions that I recall
I really don't know life
I really don't know life at all
Fall is upon us and the clouds themselves have changed shape. Gone are the “mares’ tails” of summer. But it is still a wonderful experience to keep watch and let your imagination run wild and free.
I hope you can join us for worship this Sky Sunday. If not, remember that the sky, and all that is contained within, is that life-giving blanket which wraps around the earth and reminds us of God’s steadfast presence and unconditional love.
In peace,
Pastor Beryl DLM
School Supplies for Verdun Elementary
The generosity of this congregation never ceases to amaze me.
We put out the call at the beginning of the month for donations of school supplies for the children of VES. I returned to my desk this week to find the abundance pictured here. We’ll keep up the collection this Sunday and next for anyone that still wishes to contribute. If you can’t make it on Sunday, you may call the office to make an appointment to drop by.
Some items they would really appreciate are: markers, pencils, glue sticks and duo-tangs. If you prefer, you may also make a cash donation, which will be put towards vouchers for school lunches.
Thank you all!
Orange Shirt Day September 30
United Church of Canada encourages us to show our colours
On September 30, people all across Canada will wear orange shirts to remember and honour Indigenous children who were taken from their communities and families to residential schools.
The summer of 2021 was a summer of orange shirts as Indigenous communities across the country shared the truth they have always known: that many of the children who never returned from residential schools remain on the grounds of those institutions in unmarked burial sites. These communities are now seeking to honour the missing children.
This Orange Shirt Day is also the first observance of a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. For settler Christians in particular, this is a time when we can reflect on our role in colonialism and the residential school system, and our ongoing responsibility to make reparations.
Indigenous Ministries and Justice at The United Church of Canada encourages everyone to participate in Orange Shirt Day!
Why orange? Because of Phyllis Jack Webstad from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation, who went to St. Joseph Mission Residential School. On her first day of school, Phyllis wore an orange shirt that her grandmother had given her. It wasimmediately taken away, and that marked the beginning of Phyllis’s long separation from her family and community, a separation caused by actions of the church and federal government.
Orange Shirt Day is a time for us all to remember those events, their ongoing impact, and just as importantly the continuing strength and resilience of Indigenous peoples.
What We Can Do
On Sunday, September 26th (the closest Sunday to Sept. 30), on the UCC’s suggestion, we are asking everyone – whether they attend church in person or online - to wear orange. If you can, ask someone to take your picture in your orange shirt and send it along to us. (If they take the picture with a smartphone, it can be emailed to us: southwestunited@gmail.com). If we receive enough photos, we will create a photo collage to be shared on social media and in a future newsletter.
A note about orange shirts: There are many T-shirts being advertised and sold bearing logos and messages such as “every child matters”. If you choose to purchase one of these shirts, make sure that the proceeds are going to an Indigenous artist or to an Indigenous organization. But Orange Shirt Day doesn’t have to be about having the “right” shirt. I would suggest just wearing something you already have (or picking up something at a second-hand store as I did) and then making a contribution to an Indigenous organization. Here are a few local ones that are doing important work:
Native Women’s Shelter of Montreal: The NWSM is the only women’s shelter in Montreal that provides services exclusively to Aboriginal women and their children. Women are offered an up to three month stay in one of 13 private rooms, many of which are capable of accommodating more than one person so that women may stay with their children. NWSM also supports Resilience Montreal, the new day shelter and wellness centre right across the street from Cabot Square. Open to everyone, providing food and shelter as well as mental health and medical support. http://www.nwsm.info/
The address of the shelter is confidential, but donations may be mailed to:
P.O. Box 183, Station St. Jacques
Montreal, Quebec
H3C 2S1
Step by Step Child and Family Center is an inclusive daycare that challenges the existing systems to ensure their children receive the services they needed within their own community. https://www.stepxstep.ca/
P.O. Box 771, Kahnawake Mohawk Territory, Quebec J0L 1B0
Karihwanoron (Precious Things) is a primary school that teaches Mohawk language and culture. https://www.karihwanoron.com/
P.O Box 1439 Kahnawake, QC. J0L 1B0
A Prayer for Orange Shirt Day*
Today we wear orange
to remember and honour all the Indigenous children who went to residential schools.
Today we wear orange and we pray
for the residential school and intergenerational survivors who are still struggling.
Today we wear orange and we are thankful
for those who speak the truth, and who work to shine a light on injustice.
Today we wear orange in the name of compassion and the spirit of truth and reconciliation.
Help us, God, to remember and act on this, this and every day.
Amen.
*This prayer was inspired by Honarine Scott’s Orange Shirt Day blog.
In Memoriam: Jan Barr
1921-2021
Some of you will remember the Barrs as an active Crawford Park family back in the 50s and 60s. The SouthWest community extends condolences to the family on the loss of matriarch Jan, just shy of her 100th birthday. Predeceased by her husband Charles Barr, Jan was mother to David, Joanne (a United Church Minister), Joyce and Judith.
Here is the obituary as it appeared in The Georgia Straight:
The passing of Idora Janette "Jan" Barr of Fredericton, NB, wife of the late Charles Barr, occurred on Monday, September 6, 2021 at Pavillon Neill Hall- Shannex, Fredericton, NB. Born on September 24, 1921, in Springfield, NB she was the elder daughter of the late Richard and Edna (Parkhill) Foster.
Growing up, Jan moved many times, throughout the Maritime provinces. While serving in the army, she met her future husband, Charles. They married and settled in Montreal, Quebec for 34 years. Following Jan's retirement, they moved to Ottawa, Ontario and later, Sussex, New Brunswick, where they spent 30 happy years. Jan's wanderlust did not stop there. She and Charles travelled across Canada, spent many winters in Florida and toured many of the United States. Jan also journeyed to Bermuda, the Caribbean, Mexico, and across Europe and Great Britain with family and friends.
Jan loved their cottage on Grand Lake and would often be found planning and enjoying Toga parties, Cabbage Patch Doll birthday parties, family reunions, summer Christmas activities and all manner of creative events - bringing people together for fun and laughter.
She was a firm believer in the power of education and promoted it at every opportunity. She was proud to be a graduate of the Provincial Normal School, Fredericton, NB and received her Teacher's License in 1942. Jan loved teaching and would often reminisce about her students, colleagues, and memorable occasions during those years. She taught for many years with the Montreal School Board, specifically in Bronx Park Elementary and LaSalle High Schools. In 1970, she received her BA from Sir George Williams University, Montreal, Quebec.
Jan was a member of the United Church of Canada and the United Church Women's organization. She was a veteran of WWII, having served as a Sergeant with the Canadian Women's Army Corps. She was a long-time member of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch # 20, Red Hat Society, 2 Sussex Art Clubs and the Sussex and Area Senior Centre. Her love of art extended beyond her own painting, to an enjoyment of art museums, art making throughout history and emerging artists and makers. Jan volunteered with numerous organizations over the years and would immerse herself in organizing and participating in fundraising events.
Jan loved people and was always interested in their stories. She had a very inquisitive mind and lived life to its fullness.
Jan is survived by her son, David Barr (Ann); daughters, Joanne Barr (Ross Gammon), Joyce Young (Ray) and Judith Scott (John); grandchildren, Gwen, Shannon, Christopher, Renée, Evan, James, Geoffrey, Patrick, and Julia; sister, Faye Farnworth; and several nieces and nephews.
Visitation will take place at York Funeral Home, 302 Brookside Drive, Fredericton, NB on Thursday, September 9, 2021 from 2-4 pm. Masks will be required. A Private Family Graveside Service will take place in the Red Bank Cemetery, Chipman, NB.
For those who wish, donations may be made to the Royal Canadian Legion or to a favourite charity. Personal condolences may be offered through www.yorkfh.com
Published on September 7, 2021
