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Memories and Mysteries

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We have begun the somewhat melancholy task of going through all the moveable objects in the church (newsflash: there are a lot of them) and making decisions about where they will go. As mentioned before, if you or your family have dedicated hymn books or anything else to the church and would like to have them back as keepsakes, contact the office.

Other things are coming to light that have dedications, but the names don’t ring a bell. Pictured below is a silver vase for a flower arrangement with the following dedication: in loving memory of Mum and Dad, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Stevenson, from daughter, Mrs. G. Gellately, Crawford Park United Church. If anyone knows this family and has any idea how to contact them, please let the office know. 

There are also several original pieces of art on the walls that will be offered back to the artists, if we know them. There is a lovely scene with a sailboat that always makes me think of Newfoundland. The painting, which has been in the church for decades, is signed Dot McInnis. Does that name mean anything to anyone?

So much for the mysteries. Here’s a memory for anyone who once attended Chalmers United on Church Street. I found this photo of a stained glass window on the Facebook page of the Montreal Korean United Church, which of course is the current owner of that building. I love the brilliant reds and golds. It reads, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business”

 

Amy

A Song of Faith, 3

This, our third and final journey through A Song of Faith, we explore what the church is and our relationship to it.  The words speak truth to the past and hold hope for the future.  May they be comforting as we continue our journey.

 

We sing of a church
  seeking to continue the story of Jesus
  by embodying Christ’s presence in the world.
We are called together by Christ
  as a community of broken but hopeful believers,
  loving what he loved,
  living what he taught,
  striving to be faithful servants of God
  in our time and place.
Our ancestors in faith
  bequeath to us experiences of their faithful living;
  upon their lives our lives are built.
Our living of the gospel makes us a part of this communion of saints,
  experiencing the fulfillment of God’s reign
  even as we actively anticipate a new heaven and a new earth.

 The church has not always lived up to its vision.
It requires the Spirit to reorient it,
  helping it to live an emerging faith while honoring tradition,
  challenging it to live by grace rather than entitlement,
for we are called to be a blessing to the earth.

We sing of God’s good news lived out,
a church with purpose:
  faith nurtured and hearts comforted,
  gifts shared for the good of all,
  resistance to the forces that exploit and marginalize,
  fierce love in the face of violence,
  human dignity defended,
  members of a community held and inspired by God,
     corrected and comforted,
  instrument of the loving Spirit of Christ,
  creation’s mending.
We sing of God’s mission.

We are each given particular gifts of the Spirit.
For the sake of the world,
  God calls all followers of Jesus to Christian ministry.
In the church,
  some are called to specific ministries of leadership,
  both lay and ordered;
  some witness to the good news;
  some uphold the art of worship;
  some comfort the grieving and guide the wandering;
  some build up the community of wisdom;
  some stand with the oppressed and work for justice.
To embody God’s love in the world,
  the work of the church requires the ministry and discipleship
  of all believers.

 In grateful response to God’s abundant love,
  we bear in mind our integral connection
  to the earth and one another;
we participate in God’s work of healing and mending creation.
To point to the presence of the holy in the world,
  the church receives, consecrates, and shares
  visible signs of the grace of God.
In company with the churches
  of the Reformed and Methodist traditions,
we celebrate two sacraments as gifts of Christ:
baptism and holy communion.
In these sacraments the ordinary things of life
—water, bread, wine—
point beyond themselves to God and God’s love,
  teaching us to be alert
  to the sacred in the midst of life.

 

Yes, the church has not always lived up to its vision.  We have and will probably continue to make errors in judgment, follow paths which, in hindsight, are discriminatory and polarizing, contrary to the teachings of the one we profess to follow.

But we cannot lose sight of the core message of Jesus – to love God and to love neighbor as we would be loved.  If we can hang onto at least that one thing, I believe that there will always be light in the world.

 

In peace

Pastor Beryl

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Updates: The Pipe Organ

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As mentioned last week, the church has been sold to another congregation. As the buyer was not interested in our wooden pipe organ, we wanted to find it a good home.
You will recall the organ was built for us between 2008 and 2010 by Wolf Kater of Rockburn, Quebec, (with some blood sweat and tears contributed by Dennis Brown and other SouthWest people). Rockburn is just a hop and a skip from the U.S. border, south of Ormstown. There is a little stone Presbyterian church there which dates from 1856. These days it is less denominational, seeing itself as a “Village church.” On Sundays they welcome a rotating cast of worship leaders including Stewart Burrows. You remember Stewart: he led worship at SouthWest several times, guitar in hand, back before the pandemic.

Anyway, it was decided to offer them the pipe organ, with the understanding that taking it down, transporting it and reassembling it in their church would be entirely up to them. Those present at the meeting following worship last Sunday voted unanimously in support of this plan. Wolf has been made aware and, what with living just down the road, he should be a great help in getting this done. No money will change hands between our two congregations (unless it’s a symbolic dollar) but we at SouthWest will have the peace of knowing that our organ, which we have enjoyed some twelve years, is still making a joyful noise unto the Lord. Sarah Fraser, who lives in that part of the world herself, says we should all go down for a service one Sunday once the organ has been installed. Chances are she will still have occasion to play it from time to time in its new home, which, when you think about it, is also its old home.

Rockburn Presbyterian Church

A Song of Faith, 2

This week we explore the attributes of God as well as who we are in relation to God and to each other. 

 

God is creative and self-giving,

generously moving

in all the near and distant corners of the universe.

Nothing exists that does not find its source in God.

Our first response to God’s providence is gratitude.

We sing thanksgiving.

 

Finding ourselves in a world of beauty and mystery,

of living things, diverse and interdependent,

of complex patterns of growth and evolution,

of subatomic particles and cosmic swirls,

we sing of God the Creator,

the Maker and Source of all that is.

 

Each part of creation reveals unique aspects of God the Creator,

who is both in creation and beyond it.

All parts of creation, animate and inanimate, are related.

All creation is good.

We sing of the Creator,

who made humans to live and move

and have their being in God.

In and with God,

we can direct our lives toward right relationship

with each other and with God.

We can discover our place as one strand in the web of life.

We can grow in wisdom and compassion.

We can recognize all people as kin.

We can accept our mortality and finitude, not as a curse,

but as a challenge to make our lives and choices matter.

 

Made in the image of God,

we yearn for the fulfillment that is life in God.

 

I sincerely hope you enjoy the excerpts from A Song of Faith and I will continue to provide excerpts over the next few weeks.

 

In peace,

Pastor Beryl

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