April 26, 2011

Happy Easter!

I trust the pictures on these worship bulletins will help you feel connected to your church. The Easter bulletin displays the painting at the front of our sanctuary, which been inspiring people since it was dedicated a generation ago. The image on the back shows you what we did during Lent. The coloured fabric drew our attention to what was missing, and on Easter morning we saw it: the empty cross.

The Good Friday bulletin features the cross in the Friendship Room, which replicates the image in Elva Frederking’s chancel painting. Hold it next to the Easter bulletin and you’ll see what I mean. Dave McNabb made it a few years ago. As you know, through Lent we have been considering Spiritual Transformation through the Arts, and this cross was one of the images in our very first week, Wood and Sculpture.

The empty cross reminds us that all the fears we have will be defeated, overcome, removed, eradicated by the fulfillment of our Christian hope. The whole inhabited world is transformed. That’s pretty hard to believe when we are in difficult times, but that is the point. God cares enough to be with us, cares enough even to empty the cross and the tomb, and carry on with us beyond our fears. Christ is risen! 

     

Please know that your hopes, fears and concerns are important to your church, and that we pray for you. A blessed Easter season to you.

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

April 20, 2011

Finally Easter is arriving!

Palm Sunday we heard familiar words, and considered how we speak or hear phrases that have the power to change lives: I know. Forgive me.  I understand. I love you. You can trust me. Goodbye. Welcome home. Hosanna. And of course, Jesus is the Word made flesh.

In this most sacred week of the Christian year, here are words to pray:

Thank you, God, because through your holy Easter mystery, 

it is as though we stumble out of a tomb,

as though we come out of the shadow, rubbing our eyes,

as though mystery unveils before us, and takes our breath away:

and we see, right before our very eyes:

All our loss and sorrow is turning back

     Turning back from the edge of death

            Death is not the last word

                 The last word is from the heart

                        From the heart comes pain

                             Pain carried by movement, like waves on the ocean

                                    Waves on the ocean rise and fall

                                        Rising and falling we trip again

                                                Trip again and fall on our face

                                                     Fall flat on your face

                                                            Face the truth

                                                                 Truth comes from the heart

                                                                        Heart of the Word

                                                                             The Word.

                                                                                    Amen.      

We pray for you, and the world.

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

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