GOD IN ALL BEGINNINGS - TRINITY SUNDAY

Trinity Sunday is dedicated to the Christian belief in the Trinity and celebrates this Christian doctrine, the three Persons of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

As Rev. Dimock stated the concept of the Holy Trinity can never be completely understood. That is the mystery.  To understand the Trinity is to understand God more fully.  It would appear that I am still on that path.  It would also seem that this is the oldest journey for us in the church.

Who is God to us?  God is integral to who we are.  We do not need to barter for the love of God.  The one who made us loves us - even when we act or think otherwise.

Where is God when we are surrounded by chaos, disaster, sadness or loneliness?  He is still there.  I liked this quote: 'We never face chaotic situations alone. Chaos may reek havoc in our life situations, but it can never out maneuver God.'

Jeanie H.

... on all flesh did pour your Spirit...

I like the connection Karen made today between the scripture readings and our everyday lives. What does "Can these bones live?" mean for us today? Karen spoke of some of the darkness in our world today - shootings in schools, wars between peoples, dehumanizing God's children by thinking of them as labels instead of as people like us - and suggested that maybe we should think of God's spirit pouring out over all of God's children, putting flesh and blood back on generalizations that are hurtful and harmful.

I immediately thought of something I read recently on Facebook as our teaching and ruling elders prepare to gather in Waterloo for General Assembly in June. Whether or not the Presbyterian Church in Canada decides to include fully people who are homosexual will be discussed when the assembly gathers. Rev. Mark Chiang, who serves on the church's doctrine committee, asks us not to think of this as "the issue" but to remember that there are people - children of God - at the centre of this conversation. (You can read the whole post here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2346973826/permalink/10156360176683827/. This 'Presbyterian Church in Canada' group is 'closed', but I would encourage you to join to be part of this gathering place for Presbyterians from across the country.)

Laura S.

Ascension

Ascension of Christ, from the Drogo Sacramentary, Folio 71v, ca. 845-855, Bibliothèque Nationale de France

There have been many special moments that I have experienced at St. Andrew’s since I joined a few years ago. One of those special moments is the pastoral care special communion service that is held twice a year for our St. Andrean family who have difficulty making it out on Sundays.

The pastoral care team organizes so many aspects of this day to make it special for all. Many of those that attend share stories of St. Andrew’s past, and feel home when seeing old familiar faces and sitting in the pews listening to God’s words.

During the service, Karen spoke about the Ascension and how we look up in wonder though noting that Jesus is always walking beside us. When we think about life there are many times were we look in wonder and ask God why? though Jesus is always walking with us. Whether good or bad times of life, we may seek the why from God. Through all of life's joys and challenges, Jesus is with us and we see His face and love in the powerful ministry of our Pastoral Care team.

Colleen G.

Psalm 98

O sing to the Lord a new song,
    for he has done marvellous things.
His right hand and his holy arm
    have gained him victory.
The Lord has made known his victory;
    he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
    to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
    the victory of our God.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
    break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
    with the lyre and the sound of melody.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
    make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.

Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
    the world and those who live in it.
Let the floods clap their hands;
    let the hills sing together for joy
at the presence of the Lord, for he is coming
    to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
    and the peoples with equity.

I am the true vine

This morning during the sermon, Karen told a beautiful story about a little girl who wanted time alone with her new baby brother.  As her parents listened in on the baby monitor they heard her say "Tell me about God.  I've almost forgotten."  

I can relate to that little girl.  It's how I felt when I first started coming to St. Andrew's.  I had moved back to Ottawa after several years in Halifax and had been sporadic about church attendance for quite a while.  At the time St. Andrew's was in between ministers and many of the sermons were being preached by Huda.  I can't remember the first sermon I heard here at St. Andrew's but I do remember one sermon Huda preached very soon after I started attending.  She told a story about a man walking along a beach littered with hundreds of stranded starfish.  The man was throwing as many starfish back into the sea as he could and someone came up to him and asked, "Why are you doing this?  How can it make a difference?"  The man replied, "It mattered to that one."  This story moved me so profoundly that it has stayed with me all this time.  I began to attend church more regularly and to get a glimmer of what it is like to live a life in Christ, to live on the vine.    

It was an emotional day today at St. Andrew's as we said farewell to Huda and thanked her for all she has done for St. Andrew's.  Listening to the stories during the reception it was clear how much she has shaped the life of St. Andrew's and how much we will all miss her.  It was also clear that whatever her future endeavours entail she will continue to change the lives of those she meets. 

Melanie A.           

Visit to First Baptist with the children's choir

This Sunday, we attended First Baptist Church with the Children's Choir, who did a wonderful job singing with the children's choir from that church.  It was heartening, on a gorgeous spring morning, to hear and see the great energy of the two groups of children working, singing, and then playing, together.  The subject of the sermon there today was "The Good Shepherd", and it was a good reminder, for me, of that Psalm.  I remember well having learned it in Sunday School in grade six, which is about the age of my kids now, and this inspired me to order it as wall art.  It has been one of most significant parts of the bible to me on my faith journey. I have often said it softly to myself in times of trial, like long journeys on dark highways, or bumpy flights in heavy air.  Fun fact: on reading The Survivors Club, a book about how to live through worst-case scenarios, I learned that this Psalm, and a personal faith in accompaniment by a higher power who is acting as a "good shepherd", has a statistically proven benefit to those who hold the belief.  Regardless of whether or not it is true (and we have to take a leap of faith to share in the belief), the belief itself is protective. It gives people confidence and strengthens their resolve, cultivating resilience where, as is often the case, some determinants of survival depend upon individual choice.  So, it is an important Psalm.  I reproduce it here as a gesture to any reader that I hope it helps them. A blessing.

Rebecca B.

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

"Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you..."

I found myself getting stuck today between Karen's description of Jeremiah's guidance to those in exile - to "seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile... for in its welfare you will find your welfare" - and the comparison with the early settlers of Ottawa coming together in the midst of much hardship to start our city. Where do Indigenous people fit into this narrative?

I'm not sure that early European settlement in what we now know as North America is the best example of Jeremiah's message to those rebuilding lives in new places. I don't deny that it must have been hard for Europeans to leave everything they had known, to travel across the Atlantic, to make a new home in present-day Ottawa. But did they "seek the welfare of the city" where they had been sent? They might have thought so - they came together and built a new place... but did they pray for those who were already here? Or did they seek their own welfare at the expense of Indigenous peoples? We are now having to backtrack, to apologize, to work for reconciliation.

I like the image of heaven as a city, of all peoples coming together and of God dwelling with us. And we all need to work together to live in communion - those of us who have been here for generations and those of us who are more recent arrivals. I pray that we would first seek the welfare of others and, in so doing, find our own.

"I've been considering the phrase "all my relations" for some time now. It's hugely important. It's our saving grace in the end. It points to the truth that we are all related, that we are all connected, that we all belong to each other. The most important word is "all". Not just those who look like me, sing like me, dance like me, speak like me, pray like me or behave like me. ALL my relations. That means every person, as every rock, mineral, blade of grass, and creature. We live because everything else does. If we were to choose collectively to live that teaching, the energy of our change of consciousness would heal each of us - and would heal the planet." Richard Wagamese, Embers

Laura S.