April 13, 2011

Is there a building where your soul finds shelter?

That is a spiritual question for you to ponder. For some of us there is a place where we feel most free, most generous and most blessed. It may be St Paul’s. Have you noticed that when you look up into the rafters, the ceiling looks like an upside-down ship? That is an intentional reference to the biblical metaphor of Jesus with the disciples on the sea, calming the storm. Your church is a shelter in the storms of life.

Perhaps it is a community building like the art gallery pictured on the front of the bulletin. The AGA houses works that are transformational. It is a place to be moved in the depth of your spirit by art that is on view for everyone.

For others it may be a place in memory: a childhood church, a cottage, or a grandparent’s home. The back cover of the enclosed bulletin is a hundred year-old log cabin, with new stained glass windows. It has been a home from which people were nurtured to go into the world and into the generations, and now it speaks both of that heritage and the lively reality of a family at play.

Whether architecture speaks to you in awe or in comfort, I hope you will take a few minutes this week to consider how your soul finds shelter. Sheltered, we become strengthened to venture outside once again and face the storms.

And through the storm, Jesus sits with us in the boat, and keeps us intact.

Blessings,

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

April 5, 2011

I trust you are enjoying the sunshine this week, and the delightful sounds of running water as the ice melts away from the sidewalks.

This week in worship we celebrated Spiritual Transformation through Cloth and Fabric. Maureen MacMillan weaves colour with texture, and leave us breathless. Lyle Wiebe cross stitches west-coast symbols, and we can see the running salmon. Margo Fiddes pieces fabric and her quilt is so vibrant, is as though spring melt echoes around us.  

It occurs to me that you may have something special near you as you read this letter. It might be an heirloom cross-stitch. Perhaps it is a quilt made from dress scraps by a great-grandmother; created for a function, it becomes a treasure over the generations. 

Faith can be like that. What we need from faith – a function of courage, comfort, companionship – becomes the treasure of a lifetime’s spiritual experience. Those initial deep encounters with the Holy expand into something we trust.

I hope you have routine that you trust in your day, and that you know we hold you in prayer in your church.

May you feel warmth of blessing today.

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

March 29, 2011

A song of joy accompanies this wee note. I trust I find you in good spirits – or if not, that this letter lifts your subdued spirits.

This week in worship we celebrated Spiritual Transformation through Instrumental Music and Song. Psalm 100 begins: Make a joyful noise, all the earth! Christopher Fast played his saxophone, Linda Jacklin her recorder, Willi Fast guitar and djembe, John was at piano and organ, the choir had an anthem – and we sang our hearts out.

When your heart sings with joy, what is the song? When times are rough, is there a piece of music that comes to your mind? Do you have a favourite hymn? We try to sing everybodies’ favourites over time – the variety speaks to the wide-ranging spiritual community we are.

In various kinds of music, we hear the voice of God in diverse ways, too. Thanks to those who love drumming, we hear the heartbeat of creation. From those who love the old hymns, we hear the solid foundation of our heritage. Learning from those who love hymns in foreign languages, we hear grace that is beyond our comprehension, yet real.

This is life in a spiritual community: sharing favourites, learning new things, embracing a world of possibility, and trusting that the love of God holds it all together. Trust, spoken and sung, brings a reality of not just possibility but healing and renewal. Easter is coming!

May you hear words of blessing and melodies of peace today.

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

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