Opinion

 

Growing Time

The time in church after celebration of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit is called growing time. We use green as a worship colour. 

Growing is what we do every day, bit by bit.  Some of us grow up and some of us grow old.  But all of us grow in some way or another. We also talk about growing in faith.  

We have stories in the Bible of how people grew in their faith in God.  Abraham and Sarah grew in faith and trust when they became part of a covenant with God. They moved with family, flocks and herds to new land.  They were tested in their faith as they wondered over time if God was going to keep the part of the covenant about descendants.  Sarah laughed.

Then there are the stories of Moses leading the people out of the land of Egypt to the promised land. If one looks on a map of the area of the wilderness and the wandering route the Israelites took, one asks why it took them 40 years to get to their destination. Well, they had to learn to trust God. They were growing in their faith, generation by generation.

Jesus’ disciples followed him as their teaching rabbi, learning and growing in their faith.  They learned that true discipleship was always about growing in their relationship with God.  They learned disciplines like praying and searching out folk in the margins of society in need of healing. They learned that a simple lifestyle and hospitality are part of growing and sharing their faith.  

Where do you grow in your faith? Does your faith provide the good soil for growth? Do you use your faith as the foundation for making life decisions?  Does your faith inform how you act every day of your life or is it reserved for Sunday only? Do your practice mercy and justice? Are you growing up in faith or are you just growing old in faith? There is a difference.

Faith needs to be used and nurtured. It needs to be able to vision as Abraham and Sarah, Moses, Paul, Priscilla, and Mary came to understand.  Faith needs to move you to a new place, a new reflection of where God is active in your life today. Faith opens your eyes to the opportunities that God places in front of you.

I was watching a baby bird at the base of one of the maple trees in the front of the house.  Its mother was close by.  I began to mow the lawn, keeping watch on the base of the tree as I rolled by. I did not want to frighten the little fledgling. I didn’t see the little bird after finishing the lawn. I didn’t know what became of it until I saw it again today.  The mother was close by to the fledgling on the ground.

I think God is like that when we start out in faith, close by and keeping us safe.  We slowly take a few flights, gather strength, and learn to fly.

We pray that our minds are fresh and open to growth; we pray that we can use each new day to explore new ways to grow in faith; we pray that we are able to nurture hope and humility to trust that God is always doing a new thing.  Let’s pray for eyes to see it and lives to live it.  We are not alone, God is with us, thanks be to God! 

A prayer shared, credit to its writer

God of new beginnings, 

we are walking into mystery. 

We face the future, not knowing what the days and months will bring us 

or how we will respond. 

Be love in us as we journey. 

May we welcome all who come our way. 

Deepen our faith to see all life through your eyes. 

Fill us with hope and an abiding trust that You dwell in us amidst all our joys and sorrows. 

Thank You for the treasure of our faith life. 

Thank You for the gift of being able to rise each day with the assurance of 

Your walking through the day with us. 

God of our past and future, 

we praise you. 

AMEN 

Thank you for your holy hospitality, comments and conversations generated over the nearly four years that I have served at Lakeshore Drive United Church, Morrisburg.  

As of July 1st, I will be growing by serving an interim ministry at Ashton-Munster Pastoral Charge. I have grown in my faith through service here and through the generous collegiality of the South Dundas Ministerial.  

Peace and Blessings, 

Rev. Arlyce Schiebout,

Lakeshore Drive United,

Morrisburg.

[…]

 

Welcome Home

If you’ve ever been away somewhere for a long time and come home, you will know what it’s like to have that “Ahh… I’m finally home!” feeling. 

I really enjoy getting away with Sarah, and it’s always nice to visit somewhere different. We have taken different holidays over the years and visited a number of places. Sometimes places that actually aren’t far away at all, but it always feels good to get home.

It was about eight years ago now that we were talking about getting a pet, and a short time later we came home with a little puppy named “Molly”. That puppy grew into a full sized dog. Who would have guessed that was going to happen? 

The joys of that dog besides the walks, picking up the left behinds and finding piles of golden retriever fur everywhere, is that we have a great family friend. 

It didn’t take us long to discover that Molly loved to have us home, and hated to see us leave. When we would leave the house she would sit by the door and wait for our return. 

Naturally, over the years she got used to the idea that if we left, we would soon return. The assurance Molly felt allowed her to live out her day, and do whatever dogs do while everyone is away. 

When we would return from either a day away at work, or even a vacation over a number of days, the response from Molly was always, and has always been the same. She would rush from whatever part of the house she was in, and greet us at the door with her tail wagging her whole body.  You don’t think twice about that greeting, until it doesn’t happen. 

There is something wonderful about being greeted when you arrive at a place and are made feel welcome. 

Sarah and I are thrilled to make our new home in Iroquois.  It didn’t take long for our neighbors to come and give us a warm welcome to our new community. 

Sarah and I have also been blessed by the kindness and love shared by our new church family at Morrisburg Pentecostal Tabernacle (M.P.T.). 

I’d like to extend a warm welcome to you to come and visit us on a Sunday morning. When you arrive, I’m sure you’ll be made feel right at home. 

Rev. James Tripp

Morrisburg Pentecostal 

Tabernacle

[…]

 

Do you know what actually proves spring is here? It’s not the robins, or the dandelions, or the leaves on the trees. 

It’s all those ambitious people, inside and outside of their homes, up to their elbows in that ritual known as “spring cleaning.”   

Actually to my mind, that’s really a misleading description. It seems to imply that people only scrub out their homesteads four times in an entire year: spring, summer, winter and fall. 

Oh, wait a minute. 

That is how I do it. And I may have inadvertently overlooked winter this year.

However, like everyone else, I do have my cleaning rituals. 

First, I line up all the magazines I have purchased and carefully pull out those cardboard “subscription” inserts either stapled or tucked into them. Then I throw them all out. Task done.

Second, I go through the refrigerator and decide what needs to be cleaned out. I always try to toss those products which have a “best before” date prior to the First Gulf War. I move from those to  containers filled with whatever I was trying to cook last week and also dump those into the garbage. Generally, I can’t identify the remains anyway. Task done.

I do dust. However, I must admit that the messages visitors regularly write on my tables and chairs are usually really amusing, and it seems a shame to use furniture polish to remove them. 

I tried cleaning the oven once. It was not a particularly successful undertaking. I won’t go into a lot of details, but that smell like charred tortoise lingered in the house for days. 

And really, I don’t cook that much anyway. Tasks done.

I painted the spare bedroom one spring in a poorly conceived plan to brighten up the walls. I dropped the gallon of paint, which wouldn’t have been that much of an issue had the can not been open at the time. I also had a little trouble with the ceiling. Seems that paint will splatter if you are using a long handled brush and I soon found myself trying to work through a confetti screen of paint dripping on my face and glasses. Consequently, I may have missed a few spots here and there. But if you put furniture or pictures over them, hardly anyone notices. Task done.

Yes, I think the Canadian ritual of spring cleaning is a wonderful one. 

When I see people scrubbing barbecues and patios, staining decks, beating rugs, painting walls, washing windows,  emptying the garage, weeding and hoeing and planting, I find it truly inspirational.

I go straight to my front porch.  

I find that after two hours in my deck chair, and maybe a drink, that urge to roll up my sleeves and get busy always passes. 

[…]

 

Putting a Face on God

Did you hear the one about the little girl busy making a picture? 

Mom asked, “So, what are you drawing?” 

“God,” she said. 

“How can you draw God? Nobody knows what he looks like” was mom’s reply. 

“Well, they will in a minute,” said the daughter. 

That may seem silly, but in reality this is what churches are called to do every day. 

To portray God. To show the world what he’s like. How good, loving, and kind he is. How big, wonderful, and powerful he is.

We try doing this as we serve the poor, as we work for justice, as we bring healing to the hurting. It’s all meant to mirror God.

One unique way that the churches of our area try to reflect God is by joining together in something called Love South Dundas. 

It’s two weeks (June 9 to 23) of doing service projects like washing cars, visiting seniors’ residences, doing chores for those in need, and handing out baked goods. 

Church members are also encouraged to do random acts of kindness. Things like cutting someone’s grass, paying for a stranger’s coffee, baking cookies for a neighbour or whatever.

Love South Dundas closes with a huge event on Sunday, June 23, at Earl Baker Park in Morrisburg. 

Beginning with a Children’s Fair at 2 p.m., there’ll be bouncy castles, clowns, and other fun stuff. New this year will be an amazing petting zoo and free pony rides. Then the kids and adults will be entertained by Michael Bourada, a magician and illusionist. 

At 4:30 p.m., it’s supper with barbequed burgers and hotdogs. It all ends with a huge outdoor worship time at 7 p.m.. 

Our guest speaker will be Ken MacLaren from Ottawa Inner-city Ministries.

All of this it to ‘put a face on God.’ Partly by saying that God is much more fun and full of life than some of us may think. 

But it’s also to show a bit of love, to serve, to give, and to do it all for free. We think that quite nicely reflects God. 

The Bible says he loved us and gave his only Son for us to die on a cross for our sins. 

It says Jesus came to serve us and to give us salvation and life all for free. And all of this is ours all for the asking. Simply by receiving it by faith.

More information will follow about Love South Dundas.

We do hope that you’ll come out and take advantage of our service projects, be blessed by some random act of kindness, and will join us at the Closing Event on June 23. 

We also hope that through it all you do get a glimpse of God. And that being loved and blessed you are drawn to him.

Pastor Clarence Witten

Community Christian 

Reformed Church

Dixon’s Corners

[…]

 

Impossibility does not validate unbelief

As Christians we do not reason that if something is naturally impossible it should not be believed. Indeed one becomes a Christian by believing that which is naturally impossible; and the promise and hope of Christianity is focused on that which is naturally impossible.

Nature itself is not naturally possible since it did not become of itself nor can it continue of itself. In this we understand that there is something outside of nature to which nature owes its existence and continuance. (Hebrews 1:2-3; 11:3)

The Gospel concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, which must be believed to become a Christian, is a naturally impossible proposition based on a naturally impossible claim. 

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, was born of a virgin; He is God, possessing all the qualities necessary to being God; while at the same time being a man and possessing all the qualities natural to man, yet without sin (having original righteousness). 

This Jesus died for the sins of His enemies and was raised from the dead after having been in the grave during three days. If you do not believe these things you are not a Christian in the Bible sense. (Matthew 1:23; Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-20) As Christians we believe these naturally impossible things.

Throughout the History of God’s dealings with mankind, God has made promises to men that could not be fulfilled naturally. The promises God has made to us as Christians are of the same sort. 

Jesus Himself promises and queries us saying, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26) Here Jesus is asking Martha, and consequently us, if we believe this naturally impossible proposition and promise.

Every proposition of truth made by God in scripture, though it be naturally impossible, is to be believed. This is the beginning of having faith in God.

To compare these propositions with natural possibility, and then choose not to believe them, is a non-Christian paradigm that separates a person from the promise and hope of Christianity.

During Jesus’ lifetime on earth He encountered a Jewish religious faction called the Sadducees, who did not believe in anything that was naturally impossible. 

Once when arguing with some of them about the reality of the resurrection, Jesus said to them, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29) In this statement Jesus identifies the Sadducees as religious unbelievers. (2 Timothy 3:5) As genuine believers we study to know the scriptures and the power of God. (2 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 11:6)

 Natural impossibility does not validate not believing God and His word, because neither God nor His word are subject to nature, since they rule nature. 

Our trust in God must not be naturally qualified, but rather qualified by God; who is before and outside of nature, as revealed in Scripture.

At this point we come to realize that such trust in God, is itself something more than natural, and we are thankful to Him for such a precious gift. (Ephesians 2:8; Romans 12:3)

Rev. George T. Frey, 

Faith Christian Center 

Morrisburg 

[…]

A Week of Sadness–Thank God for Prayer

This past Friday evening I was sitting in the kitchen having a cup of tea when it occurred to me that the week had been one of great sadness.

Who can explain the actions of the people responsible for the deaths and injuries that happened when two bombs exploded in Boston during the running of the annual marathon? Our lament of “Why?” can be heard around the world with no answer coming – at least not as soon as we would like. 

Yet through the tears and the pain we are called, by Jesus, to pray for those responsible and their families just as we are called to pray for the families of the people who died and who were injured. That is definitely not an easy thing for us to do.

That was Monday. Then there was Tuesday. 

Ironically, I was in Winchester when I heard the news of George Beverly Shea’s death. When I first moved into the area, many people told me about Winchester being the birthplace of George Beverly Shea with great pride. You can imagine the looks that I received when I asked “Who’s George Beverly Shea?” I was not long in finding out! 

A man of great faith; a man with a gentle soul; a man with a powerful voice that brought joy to the hearts of so very many people throughout the world – that was George Beverly Shea. The people of not only Winchester, but all of Dundas County claim him as their own. He will be missed and we pray for his family and friends as they mourn their loss.

On the drive home from Winchester I was listening to the radio and heard the report of the untimely death of Rita MacNeil. One of Canada’s rare gems, Ms. MacNeil sang her way into the hearts of many of us. 

She was a woman of faith. Her music came from the very core of her being and you could tell that about her.

I had the privilege of seeing Rita in concert in Kitchener several years ago, and I left the concert smiling, refreshed and ready to meet whatever came next – not something that happens regularly, I think. I know that I am truly saddened by her death as are the people of Cape Breton. Rita, too, will be sorely missed and we pray for her family and friends as they grieve.

And then there was Wednesday.

You never know when your world will rock. The people of the small community of West, Texas had theirs rock when a fertilizer plant exploded after a fire had started. The numbers of casualties from that horrible event numbers in the hundreds. The loss of life is staggering, not to mention the injuries sustained by people who live near the plant. People’s lives have been overturned in so many ways and yet they speak of when they will go back to their homes and do what they can to get their lives back to some sense of normal, grieving their dead and praying for the injured. 

We, too, pray for that community as the people struggle to come to terms with such an overwhelming disaster.

“Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord. And let light perpetual shine upon them. May their souls and the souls of all the departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.”

I wonder what next week will bring.

Blessings,

Sue+

Rev. Sue McCullough

Anglican Parish of Morrisburg, Iroquois & Riverside Heights

[…]

 

There was an alien substance on my living room floor this week.

I studied it intently, puzzled; deep down I had the feeling that I had seen something exactly like it once. Only that occasion had been months and months ago. The puddle-shaped outline was frustratingly familiar, yet it had been so long that I just couldn’t quite place it. 

I noticed the substance was coming through the window and actually beginning to spread. That’s when I had my moment of blinding revelation. I did know what this was!

It was sunlight.

Officially in Canada it has been spring for some weeks.

You could have fooled me.

With the plummeting night time temperatures, the downpours of ice rain, the sporadic snowfalls, the cutting, constant wind and the relentlessly grey skies every day – well, it’s felt like mid February for months.

Why just the other day I glanced out my window and spotted a robin, bundled in a wool scarf and toque, and the Mrs., loading three blue eggs into the back of a minivan with “Returning to Florida” plates on it. A couple of Canada geese were trying to hitch a ride.

I’ve put my winter coat and ear muffs away, then taken them back out of the closet again, six times. My lawn furniture remains tucked away behind bags of Ice Melt. The heating bill has not gone down.

I recently stumbled on to a website calling for the lynching of Wireton Willie and Punxsutawney Phil…and I didn’t report it.

We need spring. We really do. Physically and psychologically. It’s time already. After all, only spring can  trigger those special, experiences that we dream of in the deep, snowy depths of winter.

We crave the chance to once again spend hundreds of dollars buying flowers, with exotic names, that last about two months. We yearn to spend long sweaty hours scrubbing barbecue grills, picnic tables, driveways and patio sets. We eagerly anticipate the ritual of discovering the holes and brown patches under the melting snow where skunks and grubs have torn up our lawns. 

We thrill to the return of Kamikaze mosquitos.

Frankly, many of us are simply anxious to swing our golf clubs without wearing Arctic parkas; taking chip shots, not chips of ice off the greens.

Spring, it’s time to spring!

(I even found myself thinking nostalgically of shad flies last weekend. Scary.)

[…]

 

Do you know what the hardest part of dealing with a major holiday is? The extra goodies.

On so-called ordinary days of the year, I zero in on sweets with the tracking intensity of a smart bomb. (A two day old slice of commercial pecan pie locked inside an iron safe at the bottom of a concrete bunker would not escape me.) 

You can imagine how challenging it is for a perpetual dieter like me, therefore, to be confronted by major holidays. Surrounded on those days by dinner tables, bakery shelves and candy counters literally groaning  under loads of extra goodies.

It can make you crazy.

And there is no use pointing out that all I need to control my cravings is a good dose of will power. If that actually worked, I wouldn’t wake up the morning after a holiday,  my head throbbing, to discover a stained saw clutched in my hand and the frozen remains of a caramel fudge cake scattered around me.

Diet. One of the vilest four letter words in the English language. 

Yet for most of us, it is a word that we constantly use in even casual conversations. We openly discuss preparing for a diet,  being on a diet, recovering from a diet, or purchasing billions of dollars worth of books with titles like The Hollywood Dog Biscuit and Warm Tonic Water Diet.

Unfortunately, the warning signs of overindulgence are all too easily spotted. 

The inability to bend over in our jeans. Or do them up. Realizing the driver’s seat is already as far back as it can ever go. Pausing to check out one’s stomach profile on a bank of motion activated computers, only to see a sign pop up on the monitor which reads “continued on next screen.” 

Serial dieters confront  daily dilemmas. Brussels sprouts versus double chunk chocolate ice cream? A plain tossed salad, dressing on the side, versus five cheese lasagna with garlic bread? 

Some one actually shared with me her foolproof solution for coping with these issues.

She maintains that all she has to do is rigorously diet every single day of the year except for two hours on an official, designated, national holiday! In those two hours, she claimed she could dive into the forbidden goodies: but only for that fixed amount of time,  and only on specific holidays. 

I really think her designated holiday solution may have merit.

And may I take this opportunity, here and now, to remind everyone of the following lesser known holidays: National Tooth Decay Day (Oct. 20), Celebration of the Invention of Velcro Day (Aug. 18), International Yodelling Day (Jan. 13), Replacing Furnace Filters Day (April 16), Civic Take Down Your Christmas Decorations Day (July 27)…

[…]

 

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Grease

Soon after accepting the position of pastor at my last church, one of my seniors asked me to consider holding a community hymn sing once a month. Well, I was busy and had a lot on my plate and put her off. A few months later, she asked again, and then again. It took me quite a while to accept the thought of taking on one more commitment. 

Finally I gave in and we began a community hymn sing one Sunday evening of each month. That church is now into its fifth year of having these sings. The squeaky wheel does get the grease. I’m glad she kept at me.

I knew I would be heavily involved. I play the piano. I cut my teeth as far as piano playing goes on many of these old Gospel hymns. I actually love getting on the piano and bringing the old hymns of the church to life. 

Eventually a drummer came along, then a guitar player, even some singers to help lead – some from our own church and some from other area churches. We usually would spend an evening practicing before the big event on the Sunday night.

On the evening of the sing, someone would share an appropriate poem – sometimes humorous, sometimes serious – but always exactly what we needed. Another person would read a Scripture passage. Once in a while, we would have a special musical number. The vast majority of the time we sang. And how we sang!

Well here I am – interim pastor at the Morrisburg Pentecostal Church. Guess what? We’re having monthly hymn sings. And do we sing! I usually pick out fifteen or sixteen old hymns of the church and most of the time, we get through them all. We do it all in an hour! The church resounds with praises. 

The messages of the hymns minister to our hearts about the greatness of our God and about His ability to speak to our hearts and make us more like Him.

Johannes Sebastian Bach wrote, “Where there is devotional music, God is always at hand with His gracious presence.” That is true. God is present in these times.

We have fun. Who wouldn’t have fun singing, “There’s a church in the valley by the wildwood”, or “On the wings of a snow-white dove”, or “Because He Lives”, or any other of the old hymns and gospel songs of the last century?

One of my fun favorite ones from my early years is “This Ole House”. I remember going to the basement where there was an old gramophone. It was not electric and you had to crank it up so it would play a little 45-rpm record. These were leftovers from my grandmother’s furniture that were stored there. 

I’m sure my Dad became tired of hearing it as he did woodworking in his shop but he never complained. He knew his girls were having fun singing at the top of their lungs and laughing as they sang.

Surprisingly, not all the people who come to these evenings are seniors. Certainly the majority of them are, but I have discovered that people of all ages like hymns. 

After the hour-long sing is over, we share light refreshments together in our basement fellowship room. People stay to chat and just enjoy each other’s company.

Quoting again from Bach, “The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul”. How true is that statement! 

We find that at the end of the evening, we are tired but we have glorified God and our souls have been refreshed.

I am just beginning to put together the music selection for this month’s sing on Sunday, April 14th, at 6 p.m. Would you care to join in? Now playing, by Stuart Hamblen…

Ain’t a-gonna need this house no longer,

Ain’t a-gonna need this house no more.

Ain’t got time to fix the shingles,

Ain’t got time to fix the floor.

Ain’t got time to oil the hinges

Nor to mend the windowpane.

Ain’t gonna need this house no longer –

I’m a-gettin’ ready to meet the saints.

Rev. Lorna Casselman

Interim Pastor

Morrisburg Pentecostal 

Tabernacle

[…]

Easter People

What is Easter?  How does one explain it? What does it mean for you?  

Bunnies, chicks, eggs, cocoons and butterflies, flowering bulbs are all symbolic of new life and spring time in our part of the world.  They symbolize the cycle of life.  New life comes after a period of dormancy or preparation.  I don’t know much about the tradition of chocolate, but we sure do like to eat it.  

Christians are described as Easter people.  In this definitive act of Jesus’ resurrection, we find hope amidst despair.  We declare that death has lost its sting.  God’s love is stronger than death.  We declare that the world’s powers and principalities do not have the last word, God does.  God’s Word is alive and dwells among us as we follow Christ.  

What matters most to me in this Eastertide and every day really, is how we live into being Easter people.

Following are a few thoughts….Wayne Shaw writes, “God has promised to do for us what he did for Jesus, and he expects us to live like it.”  

James Massey says, “The resurrection means that God has broken into our old human order with a divine deed of utter newness; he has taken that closed situation we call death and shown us that it stands open at the other end–the door torn off at the hinges!”. 

John Stott writes, “no temptation is too strong to conquer by this resurrection power.  No task is too difficult to accomplish by this same power if God has called us to do it.  Are you defeated?  Burdened?  Overwhelmed with worries or fears or responsibilities?  Then think of the resurrection of Jesus.  Ask God to open your eyes to know the immeasurable greatness of his power that raised Jesus from the death, and then as you look to Him in quiet, steady confidence, you’ll find the same power made available for you.”  

Easter is not back there, nor is it out there; it is here and now, and you and I are the proof and experience of it.  Let’s live as Easter people with its attending grace and joy and with hearts and minds that are open to the new thing that God offers to us each day.  We are re-born, re-newed, and re-created each day.  

Awaken me, this new-created day,

 O God of love, of life.

O anxious soul, still wrapped in death, come out. 

Walk free. Walk free. 

 (S. Garnaas-Holmes)

Blessings for Eastertide

Rev. Arlyce Schiebout

Lakeshore United Church

Morrisburg

[…]