Minister's Easter Message, 2022

Luke 24:1-8 - The Message
Looking for the Living One in a Cemetery

24 1-3 At the crack of dawn on Sunday, the women came to the tomb carrying the burial spices they had prepared. They found the entrance stone rolled back from the tomb, so they walked in. But once inside, they couldn’t find the body of the Master Jesus.

4-8 They were puzzled, wondering what to make of this. Then, out of nowhere it seemed, two men, light cascading over them, stood there. The women were awestruck and bowed down in worship. The men said, “Why are you looking for the Living One in a cemetery? He is not here, but raised up. Remember how he told you when you were still back in Galilee that he had to be handed over to sinners, be killed on a cross, and in three days rise up?” Then they remembered Jesus’ words.

As a child, I loved to spend time in a small cemetery in Earl’s Ville, NY, just over the border crossing at Hardman.

Now, some might have thought it was a strange thing for a child to do; loll about among old tomb stones, moss covered and long forgotten.  But, for me, it was a place of great peace and wonder, not a place of death. 

Sitting under the pine trees, the air was filled with the chatter of chipmunks as they argued amongst themselves, scampering up and down the trees.  The constant buzzing of bees, so busy in the overgrown wild flowers filled me with the urge to go and smell what they were smelling.  If there was a breeze that day, I tried hard to decipher the secret, whispered messages the pines shared with one another.  And there was a constant background drone of unseen insects, going about their daily lives in spite of my uninvited presence.

In a place of death and decay, there was life in abundance!  And that is what Easter is all about.

Resurrection – new and abundant life!  Resurrection each and every day in so many ways!  The cycle of life, death and rebirth! That is the Easter Message.

In these still uncertain days, on yet another Easter on the edges of a pandemic, I wish each and every one of you Happy Easter for he is risen, he is truly risen.

In peace

Pastor Beryl, DLM

 

Of Cups, and Flowers, and Home Runs!

In the photographs that exist from the early 20th century, people are nearly always posed in groups. Exposures were slow, so even children appear uncharacteristically still in old pictures. Sometimes, simple objects can help animate those static figures. These two silver cups, each over a hundred years old, conjure up the gardeners and Sunday School baseball players of over a century ago in Verdun.

The image below shows a cup awarded by the Verdun Horticultural Society in 1916 for the “best kept flower garden” in Verdun. It was posted on Facebook by someone who had found it in an antique shop. I was able to obtain a bit of background about the society’s activities at the time by visiting their website. The following is my translation of part of their History page from French to English:

“The Verdun Horticultural Society is among the oldest, if not the oldest association of its kind that is still active. Situated in the borough of Verdun, it was founded by a group of amateur gardeners in 1915. Among the founding members was Edward Wilson, who would later become the mayor of Verdun.

From the beginning, the Society was devoted to the development and beautification of the city, which at the time had many vacant lots. In 1916, the Society met with members of city council to inform it of their desire to cultivate flowers on these lots. In the growing seasons of 1916 and the ensuing years, the talent and passion of these gardeners could be observed in several lots, including the one at the intersection of Lasalle, Mullarkey and Wellington*, on the waterfront near Argyle and Woodland avenues, as well as on the plot where the Verdun borough hall stands today!

In the autumn of 1916, the town of Verdun in France offered our municipality seeds of chestnut trees to plant on our territory. The Verdun Horticultural Society took charge of germinating them, in collaboration with the Verdun Protestant Hospital (now the Douglas), which had a greenhouse.

During the First World War, the Society also encouraged citizens of Verdun to cultivate vegetable gardens on vacant lots in the municipality.”

* You may recall we have mentioned this intersection before. The bit of Lasalle Boulevard after it crosses Wellington in eastern Verdun and heads toward Point St-Charles, used to be called Mullarkey street. There is still a triangular park at that intersection.

The inscription on the cup reads: "Verdun Horticultural Society, First Prize 1916 presented by Geo. A. Ward Esqr. for Best Kept Flower Garden Won by J. White.” This would have been the first year a prize was awarded.

Seeing that cup reminded me of a similar one we have at the church. It has engravings on both sides that read:


Baseball Competition
won by
Class No. 4
Verdun Methodist Sunday School
July 1911

and:

Baseball Competition
won by
Class No. 5
Verdun Methodist Sunday School
July 1913

Verdun Methodist Church is of course the precursor to Verdun United. I imagine these baseball competitions were part of a Sunday School picnic. I wonder what happened in 1912!

The prints below (from glass slides) are from very much the same period as the cup. Some of these same children, or even the teachers, may have been sliding into home plate on a July day in 1913!

Blog: Palm Sunday 2022

Pre-pandemic, you will remember how we celebrated Palm Sunday; either with palm leaves folded into the shape of a cross, or palm branches which we joyfully waved as a sign of our support of Jesus as he entered Jerusalem.

I have always liked this service; it is visual and interactive and makes this a special Sunday in the year.  For many, it brings back childhood memories of children joyfully processing up and down the aisles of the church.

These days, when so much else is happening, I realize how important it is that we keep as many traditions alive as we can – especially this one as we are bridging a gap of almost 2,000 years.

But we are living in a different time.  In fact, this year (as we did during partial lock-down of 2021) we will be waving cedar branches.  The uncertainty of whether or not we would be holding in-person worship led to the decision not to order palms this year, thinking that the money would be wasted should we be in lockdown.

Cedars have significance in biblical text, as noted hereunder:

The cedar tree is a tree planted by God (Psalm 104:16, Isaiah 41:19). It is considered to be the first of trees (1 Kings 4:33). The Bible describes the cedar tree as strong and durable (Isaiah 9:10), graceful and beautiful (Psalm 80:10, Ezekiel 17:23), high and tall (Amos 2:9, Ezekiel 17:22), fragrant (Song of Songs 4:11) and spreading wide (Psalm 80:10-11). The eagle makes its nest and perches in the high branches of the cedar trees (Jeremiah 22:23, Ezekiel 17:3-5).

Cedar trees were considered the strongest: Job spoke of the great leviathan as thrashing his huge tail “like a cedar” (Job 40:17). Cedar trees were regarded as the most beautiful and the best: King David lived in a house made from cedar (2 Samuel 7:2), and his son, Solomon, built his house, “and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar” (I Kings 6:9). The great temple built by Solomon was also enclosed with boards of cedar (I Kings 7).

So, this coming Sunday, we will honor Jesus with something which is local and familiar, for the evergreen cedar is a symbol of endurance, eternal life and immortality.

Can there be a more fitting way celebrate Jesus and to enter Jerusalem with him?

In peace

Pastor Beryl

 

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