December 1, 2011

We’re coming up to Christmas and all the festivities we expect. Perhaps there are new things in your life and this year will be different. Maybe you are anticipating traditional events.

For many it is a time to reflect on family. Through Sundays in November we read the stories of Ruth from the Old Testament. She is famous for leaving her homeland, saying to her mother-in-law:

Do not press me to leave you


   or to turn back from following you!


Where you go, I will go;


   where you lodge, I will lodge;


your people shall be my people,


   and your God my God.


Where you die, I will die - there will I be buried.

It is a marvelous expression of commitment. Ruth was an outsider, a woman from a hostile country, and had nothing to offer but herself. 

Did you know that Ruth was an ancestor of Jesus? So it is that Jesus came from a family that had a tradition of welcoming the outsider.

Do you suppose that means we as Christians inherit that tradition of welcoming the outsider? Indeed. And truly, the best we can offer to each other is ourselves: in hope, peace, joy and love. Our true selves are reflections of our deepest gift, the gift God makes in Jesus. 

Blessings on you, as you look forward to the festivities of Christmas, and welcome the outsiders around you with the gift of your truest self.

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

October 27, 2011

“Need an ark? I Noah guy.” So reads one of the cartoons on the bulletin board in the Friendship Room. There are lots of Noah cartoons posted there. The story of Noah and the Ark is familiar and we chuckle over jokes about it; we also think of it when we board the ferry to Nanaimo, or pause for a minute after a storm as we search the skies for a rainbow.

The covenant God makes with Noah – and the promise God makes to God’s very self – are of course the main point of the story. We can trust God not to destroy us, or the world. Even when times are rough, or things are falling apart around us, or we feel completely “at sea”, God promises to love us and support us.

It’s intriguing, though, to look for the less familiar parts of the story. Do you remember the raven? God sends a dove that returns with an olive leaf, a sign of dry land appearing. But the raven simply flies to and fro, to and fro. We never hear if she returns, or nests, or gets lost. I think the raven reminds us that many people flit to and fro, to and fro, looking or nesting or lost. How do we reach out to one who is looking or nesting or lost? That is our challenge, our calling, and God’s mission.  

Blessings on you, as you bring your compassion to the looking or nesting or lost.

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

October 13, 2011

These autumn weeks we have been thinking about creation stories. Did you know there are two creation stories at the beginning of the Bible?

The earlier-written story features Adam, Eve and the Tree of Life. As we heard it in worship, we were crunching on apples that church members had brought. Who knows what the fruit in the tree was? But we can taste the story!

“Let there be light,” God says in the other story, and as creation progresses, God sees that it is good. That story was written when people were in exile, forced into labour in the Babylonian Empire. It was a time of despair. “Let there be light” reminded them that God does not plan oppressive things for people; after all, God intended that life would be good! And God is with us through the rough patches. Those ancient people wrote the story to give praise to God, despite hard times.

Trusting God when times are bad can be a challenge. We are not alone, however, in that experience. Certainly it’s not that it’s all good, but truly it is God’s spirit who is with us, no matter what. Our ancestors knew that. We can trust in that promise, too.

Blessings to you, no matter what,

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

September 7, 2011

There is a large cotton wood tree out my living room window. Summer mornings it shades my neighbour’s lawn. During our brief autumn it is crowned with yellows and golds. Winter afternoons it seems to hold the storm clouds in its branches. In the early spring it glows with luminous light emerald colours, which deepen to richer tones of green as the leaves mature.

The tree leans a bit when strong winds blow, and it reminds me that God holds us, rooting us firmly so we are never separated from God’s love.

It takes some imagination to see the tree-lined street the way it was before someone planted all these cottonwoods, ash trees and elms. Forty years ago, at least, people in my neighbourhood dreamed of shady summer afternoons and pretty winter evenings.  Some of them contributed expertise in forestry, gardening and our local parkland climate. Others were willing to weed, water and prune.

We are a part of this, aren’t we? Certainly as gardeners and stewards of the earth, but clearly as an organic part of it. Sometime it’s easier to see our footprint on the earth than our place in the world.

The youth are leading the congregation in a song by Linnea Good this Sunday, “You are a Part of Everything”. And so we are: this blessed earth is not merely ours to tread, but a created whole of which we are a living, breathing, loving part.

The symbol of the Tree of Life reminds us of deep roots, cool shade and our part in everything. As we enter this season together, let’s rest in that blessing.

Blessings to you,

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

August 30, 2011

Have you been to Drumheller? This summer I was driving through canola fields and then – presto! – the roads dipped and we were surrounded by badlands. It was dramatic.

In the Royal Tyrrell Museum I met a 90 year-old man who was fairly dancing with glee. I saw young children with eyes big as saucers. And I expect they looked at me, and saw the same wonder and awe in my face.

Something happened when the dinosaurs died. A meteor landed in Mexico, and dust hid the light for long enough to change the world. A two centimeter beige line in the rock marks the boundary between the age of the dinosaurs and ours; the geological term is the K-T line. It separates the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods.

I was mesmerized by this striation of time.

Sometimes in our lives, an event separates that which was familiar in our younger days from the reality that we know in the present. We come through a momentous event and we are never the same. It changes our world.

In the new world, life went on. Flora and fauna evolved, beauty took hold, new challenges emerged. We can often say the same about our lives. In faith, we trust that life will bloom with pleasures again.

The symbol of the Tree of Life reminds us of deep roots, cool shade and growth beyond our present limitations. As we enter this season together, let’s rest in that blessing.

Blessings to you,

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

July 12, 2011

Blest be the Tie that binds

our hearts in Christian love.

This summer we are gathering with neighbours for summer worship again. A week ago Dennis Filips led worship at St Paul’s and this Sunday it was Cathy Martin and Camille Kamphuis. They have taken us out of ourselves and centered us on God and each other. For the next two Sundays, the leader will be Rev. Steven Johann. Warren Mack is at our organ. All these people are part of Knox-Metropolitan United Church. Ensuing Sundays, we of St. Paul’s will lead worship at Knox-Met.

It’s a pleasure to get to know the neighbours. We are already becoming acquainted with some of their habits, such as a greeting time, a regular sung benediction and large-print bulletins. Of course we discover old friends, and see cousins, and share each others’ joys and sorrows. We have much in common.

As always, we make DVD’s of Sunday worship, and you may have a copy if you drop in. Feel free to call Joan and Lesli in the church office and ask them to mail one to you.

On the last weekend of July we will move to our neighbours’ spiritual home for four weeks. David Oberholtzer will be on the bench over there. I will lead worship July 31 on a theme of Sabbath. Frank Robinson, Allan VanderWell and Lee Foote are preparing the subsequent weeks.

We share many ties, and it is good to be connected in our city this way.

Blessings on you, neighbour.

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean

June 9, 2011

Sunday we honoured the St. Paul’s Foundation. Almost forty years ago the congregation agreed to purchase the apartments next door. Part of the seller’s intention was that they would continue to be operated without consideration of race, colour or creed, and that rents would continue to be income dependant. St Paul’s was faithful to that understanding. Several members of the church gave tremendously in time and energy to manage and maintain the apartments well.

In 1999 St Paul’s sold the aging buildings and found a way to continue the mission. Proceeds from the sale were invested, and interest is used each year to fund housing initiatives around the city. The Foundation honours the original intention by supporting charitable agencies such as Habitat for Humanity, the Boys and Girls Club, L'arche, shelters for children and women, and our Benevolent Fund.

Churches make a statement in a community simply by architecture:  buildings “tell” people we house spiritual events, study and worship. In a quieter way, the outreach we offer to housing needs speaks about the faith we share: that God cares, that a place to hang your hat is important, and that safely and security are a right we respect.

This is our heritage, and we are proud of it. 

    

Blessings to your home from your church, your spiritual home.

The Rev. Dr. Catherine Faith MacLean