March 22, 2011

Peace to your mind, contentment to your heart, and serenity to your spirit. I think you will enjoy the beauty of these Sunday bulletins. I hope it touches you warmly that members of your church are offering their art to lift our spirits.

On the back of the March 13 order of service you will see a Bishop’s Chair. In the Middle Ages both bishops and judges traveled into communities where there was no place to sit, so they carried a chair that could easily be disassembled and packed into a case.

When the church I grew up in was rebuilt, wood from the pulpit was given to a member of the congregation, Don Bird. From the wood, Mr. Bird made two Bishop’s Chairs. One sits in Rosslyn Abbey, of recent Davinci Code fame. The other sits in my study. In the photograph you can see the pegs to take it apart.

The Bishop’s Chair reminds me that even when we lose something that we cherish, it is possible that someone with caring and trusted hands can craft something we can cherish in turn.

Life is like that. Well, faith is like that. Sometimes the trust and care of a friend in faith can reshape the bitterness of loss into the beauty of hope.

That’s a poignant truth. I leave you with it for the moment.

May you see beauty in this day. 

Blessings,

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

March 2, 2011

I trust this letter finds you in good spirits. How is winter treating you?

This week I had the privilege of attending a consultation in Kentucky. I am part of a selection panel with the Louisville Institute. We called grantees together after awarding them funds for study and sabbaticals.

As part of our time together we reflected on Sabbath. Practicing Sabbath lets us rest in the pleasure of the world and our lives as God intends. Interestingly, Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments: we are not merely invited, or welcomed, or even called to Sabbath: we are commanded. Rather than being hedonistic, pleasure is something expected of us!

Isn’t that refreshing?

And Sabbath is meant to refresh. I wonder what Sabbath practice might refresh you. What could you look forward to regularly? Waiting for the first two stars to appear in the evening, and then lighting candles with words of gratitude? Savouring a meal prepared in advance, with an elegant table all set? Unencumbered time to be with a loved one? Quiet prayer, uninterrupted by the demands of daily responsibilities?

It gives me pause simply to make that short list. I draw a breath, and hope that you may set aside time and prepare a place to let Sabbath come to you. Even the simple pleasure of acknowledging this life can be a prayer. I offer to God a prayer for you:

            that a breath drawn

            a pleasure felt

            and your spirit refreshed

            may be your realities.  Amen.

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

February 15, 2011

The light is longer these days. Early in the morning and late in the afternoon, our out-of-doors is bright. We can see where we are going.

Often the light brightens our dark thoughts and we find we are freed from worry. Sometimes the light illumines our troubles and they become stark. With that in mind I want to think with you about forgiveness this week. Do you ever feel that you have a cloud binding your heart, a dim shadow through which you can’t see clearly?  Have the hurts you have sustained driven you to a place where forgiveness seems impossible?

Regret, hurt, sorrow, anger and resentment can all surround our hearts with such shadow that we can’t see straight. Then it hurts even more, doesn’t it? Sometimes we find that there is a morning when we waken with our old light-hearted spirit. Then we remember the hurt, and the cloud settles again.

At this point I want to remind you about forgiveness and grace. Forgiveness doesn’t mean we condone the thing that hurt us. It doesn’t mean for a second that it didn’t happen. It does mean that we don’t have to live our lives directed by it. Forgiveness means we don’t always have to be peering under the cloud. We can be free.

Sometimes we have opportunities to speak to the person who caused our distress. Sometimes we don’t. That’s not my point today. My point is that we can be free. Sometimes it takes a long time. That’s where grace comes in, God’s constant company that is stronger, more deep, reliable and surprising than anything else, even than the reality of our pain. God can lift us out of the shadow when our own sense of right and wrong cannot. Good news: We are not alone. God is with us.

The light shines, and the darkness has not overcome it.

                                               

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

February 1, 2011

Good morning! I hope this letter finds you in good spirits.

Sunday after worship and lunch together we held our Annual Congregational Meeting. It was an opportunity to review the past year, and we had reports on congregational life, children’s programming, youth work, finances, property (including the leaky roof), ministerial transition, trust funds, music, the Paulettes, social justice, worship, the Foundation, a budget, our outreach at the university … everything that we are about as a congregation. We looked at some upcoming plans. We also had a memorial moment to honour people from St. Paul’s who passed away in 2010.

Do you pause occasionally to take stock in this manner? I mean in your personal life, and in the way you are part of the wider world. I take a great deal of encouragement from the words of affirmation we say in worship sometimes: We are not alone, we live in God’s world. Taking stock all on my own could be a heart-wrenching business: what difference can I make on my own? Well, some I know. But the world needs my efforts combined with yours. Together we bring hope.

I want you to know there were moments with questions in the meeting: people talked – and listened to – one another’s opinions. There were peals of happy laughter, and poignancy too as we remembered dear, departed friends. Most importantly, there was a sense that we are in this together, guided by God’s grace, and happy both to change our minds and to step up in leadership. This is an honest church, and you are part of it.

Blessings to you in this wonder-filled world,

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

January 27th, 2011

There is something for everyone this week! Bright blue skies for those who crave sunshine, mild afternoons for dog walkers, rainy sit-by-the-hearth mornings for the homebound, and enough snow to bring your delighted eight-year old self to mind: something for everyone.

There is something for every mood, too: wonder, excitement, contentment and of course grumbling.  A friend from the South observed to me that Canadians talk a lot about the weather: I guess it defines us.    

What defines us as a people of faith is the capacity for prayer. During a rough time we call on God for courage; in a moment of irritation we ask for compassion.

What would happen if while we are doing what we northern people do, which is to say wondering or grumbling about the weather, we paused in a moment of prayer? Noticing the sun over the river valley, we could pause with gratitude for beauty. Grumbling about the snow on the roof, we could offer a word of thanks for a home. Or: observing an anxious driver, we might offer a prayer for patience!

A habit of occasional prayer lifts the spirit. A moment of gratitude opens the spirit. A prayer for others connects us through the Holy Spirit, and that is blessing for all.

Peace to you on this wonder-filled day,

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

January 13, 2011

Dixon Carmichael passed away on New Year’s Day. His death was unexpected – complications from surgery – and the shock in the church at his memorial service Saturday was palpable.

You may have known Dixon. We will miss him.

Dixon loved the old hymns. He had friends, some of whom are very old and others are teenagers. He cared deeply about people, about the way things are done, about taking sufficient care for the future as well as the day at hand. He held several responsible positions here at St. Paul’s. I believe his leadership came from the relationships he had with us, and the trust that engendered.

I want you to know that at St. Paul’s we expect there to be many ideas about death and the afterlife. We expect lively conversations and openness to different opinions. And I believe that these days we share are part of an everlasting and ongoing life, a wonder beyond imagining. These words from Revelation 21 give me hope for the present and faith in the future: See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more,  for the first things have passed away.’

It is bitterly sad to lose friends. It is challenging and realistic to consider our own deaths. It is part and parcel of the wonder of living that we can hold these things in our souls. And it is the nature of the church that we can offer a spiritual home to collect and sit with these realities.  

Refreshing blessings to you in this wondrous life,

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

January 5th, 2011

2011! Here we are at a fresh point in our journey. Do you feel

refreshed? Sometimes these deep dark nights can bring us rest, but sometimes they intensify our anxieties. One way to look at the dark of the new year is a passage in a journey: and certainly a journey has a destination. Our destination is the wholeness promised to us by God, the personal wholeness and the wholeness of creation. Whew!

Yet here we are, plodding along or galloping through the days or feeling dragged into tomorrow – but in any case, we are traveling into the future, a future that is God’s promise.

For more than 1000 years, pilgrims have been walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, the Way of St James. It is a collection of old pilgrimage routes in Europe; some of our St. Paul’s friends tell

personal stories of it. The symbol for the pilgrim is a scallop shell.

Innkeepers could recognize religious travelers, and they in turn could identify safe welcoming places for rest and nourishment.

At St. Paul’s this Sunday, people received scallop shells after communion – bread for the journey, and a shell to put in pocket or purse as a reminder of God’s constant presence. I have one waiting for you, too.

I won’t mail it, but it is here waiting for you.

Refreshing blessings in this journey we make together,

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean