A few weeks ago, I walked into the sanctuary for the UCW’s annual evening Service of Lights, Carols and Memories, and stood in awe at the beauty of the decorated space.  The ambiance set the tone for the lovely service that followed, and I found myself paying particular attention to the candles that shone at the front of the sanctuary, and by the side windows.  That night, they helped make the church seem especially warm, inviting and peaceful.

Of course, churches have lit candles for centuries to symbolize that Jesus is the “light of the World” who offers hope, faith and guidance through times of  darkness.  But the practice of placing lit candles in windows has its own particular history. Indeed, it’s rooted in Irish and New England history, and was intended to do more than simply bring light and peace to a home or church.  Placing a lit candle in a window also told those who were passing by that “you are welcome here” – and that “there is room at our table for you.” 

Indeed, historian Kate Bowler writes that this message of welcome and inclusivity was especially important to the early immigrants on the Atlantic coast who found themselves alone in a strange land.  It reminded them that there were people in their new community who cared, and that they weren’t alone.  Some traditions also connected this practice to Mary and Joseph’s search for lodging after following the light of the Bethlehem star, as if to say, “if the Holy Family knocks here, they will not be turned away.”  So in this part of the world, the joy and love of Christmas has long been connected to the practice of hospitality.

Therefore, when we glimpse the candles that light our sanctuary or that shine in our windows, may we be reminded that the love and joy of Christmas is to be shared – freely and generously – with all.  May we be open to receiving the gifts that come our way, do our part to share the blessings that we’ve been given, and know the joy and peace that comes from embracing Christ’s spirit during this holy season.

Earlier this week, I visited a local store to buy some new Christmas lights for our outside deck.  To my initial delight, the shelves were full.  But I was soon overwhelmed by the range of options that were before me.  There were big lights and small lights – long multi-coloured rolls or shorter strands of blue, red or white bulbs – and assorted brands and prices.  Choices abounded – and I found it really hard to make a decision.

In the overall scheme of things, choosing the type and colour of Christmas lights is a minor matter. But many of us have to make lots of other decisions during the Christmas season that are of far greater consequence.  What should I get for those special but hard-to-buy-for people who  already have everything they need?  What upcoming concerts and events are at the top of my list to attend, and what ones aren’t a priority?  What charities will I support, and how much time and energy can I afford to give?  

This coming Sunday the church celebrates the “Reign of Christ”, and makes the claim that a focus on Jesus’ life and work can provide us with a template that can help inform the choices we make.  He was a “king” who served and sacrificed, so what can we learn from his example?  Can focusing more attention on his call to love and care for those around us help us make decisions that are wise and faithful?  What might the coming weeks look like if we remembered that the season is really about sharing the gifts of hope, peace, joy and love – not only with family and friends – but with those who are struggling and alone?

Through Jesus, God’s love for the world is made real.  And his reign is revealed whenever we listen to the truth of God, and put God’s truth into action.  May we all do our best to do that in the days and weeks to come. 

Have you walked into the grocery store in recent days and been shocked by the prices?  Would you like to do something to lower your food bills?  If so, you might be interested in an initiative that we’re thinking of offering here at St. Mark’s.  And we’d love to know what you think.

The idea is to join the “Saint John Food Purchasing Club” – an organization that helps people like you and me stretch our food dollars by offering access to good quality vegetables and fruit at affordable prices.  Debbie McLeod, Lora Snead and I attended a meeting about it this past week, and learned that it’s a non-profit, volunteer-based group that buys produce in bulk from reputable wholesalers and then distributes it to various depots across the city.  Then the members who’ve placed orders can pick up their food – and enjoy their fruits and vegetables! 

A produce pack is available once a month at the cost of $25.  The orders vary from month to month depending on the season, but here’s an example of the vegetable and fruit order for September 2024.

5 Apples, 2 lbs Bananas, 2 lbs. Carrots, 1 Celery, 1 English Cucumber. 2 lbs. onions. 5 lbs. Potatoes. 1 lb Red Grapes, 2 Avocados, 1 Green Pepper, 1 Red Pepper, 1 Romaine Lettuce, 1 lb Tomatoes.  

What’s more, recipes are offered every month as well!

Debbie, Lora and I think this is a great idea that’s worth pursuing, as the program could offer some tangible and important benefits to us and to others in the wider community.  So we’d like to know what you think. 

Would you consider participating in such an initiative? 

Do you think others in the surrounding community might find it helpful? 

Please reach out to Lora, Debbie McLeod (debmcleod10@gmail.com), or me (revianmanson@gmail.com,) with any thoughts, questions and feedback you might have.
In these and other ways, we at St. Mark’s are committed to doing what we can to help meet the spiritual, social, and physical needs of those in the community, and to being Jesus’ hands and feet in West Saint John

Since I was ordained a few decades ago, a lot of changes have taken place with respect to how end-of-life decisions are made.  And the legalization of MAID (Medical Assistance in Dying) in June of 2016 has been an especially significant development.  MAID allows an eligible person to request assistance from a doctor or nurse practitioner to end their life, and the criteria was expanded in March 2021 to include individuals whose natural death is not reasonably foreseeable.  Since 2016, over 50,000 MAID death have been recorded in Canada, and the number of individuals who choose MAID continues to rise every year. 

While I know of several people who have chosen MAID over the last few years, there’s still a lot I don’t know about the protocols and procedures that govern it.  Thus I think that the information session we’re hosting on “MAID and Advanced Directives” this coming Friday, October 17 at 10 am is especially timely.  It’s part of the “Coffee and Conversation” series that the St. Mark’s “55+ program” is offering in conjunction with Horizon Health and UNB, and that is being organized by the three nursing students who are with us this term.  Our guest speaker is Chantal Arseneault, and I’m sure it will be an informative and interesting session. 

I hope you can join us on Friday at 10 am.

At our “Blessing of the Animals” service this past Saturday, we had the opportunity to meet a number of friends and neighbours who dropped by with a beloved dog or cat (or with some special photos) for a special blessing.  Services like this are inspired by St. Francis of Assisi and his deep love and respect for all animals (his actual feast Day is October 4), and a lovely spirit abounded. Kelly has produced a delightful little video capturing some of what happened – and here’s the link.  Special thanks to Ralph, Dayle, Debbie and Kelly for all their great work.

As Kelly and I have five critters ourselves, I’m acutely aware of the important place that pets can play in our lives. They really do become part of the family.  So, when one of them becomes ill and has to be put down, the sorrow, and tears, are real.  Therefore, I was especially touched that two different families brought the ashes of a their beloved pet with them for a final blessing.   One family actually drove down from Fredericton with the remains of a special dog that had died several years ago, and it was clear that they still hadn’t recovered from this loss.  Another couple had just had their dog put down the night before, so were also rather raw with grief.  But they all needed to talk – they needed a safe place to tell stories and to have a chance to give thanks for all the love they’d both given and received. It was a real privilege to meet them on Saturday, and to be able to offer some comfort and solace. 

In the wider scheme of things, the importance of little encounters such as these can easily be overlooked.  But in this week’s reading from Luke gospel, Jesus’ uses the image of a tiny mustard seed to remind us that even small acts of compassion and kindness do matter, and can mean more than we might ever know.

I look forward to seeing you this coming Sunday morning as we celebrate Worldwide Communion, and give thanks for the opportunities for love and service that come our way.   

Like many of you, I am absolutely appalled by the havoc that Donald Trump and his acolytes are wrecking south of the border.  Analysis abounds, but what it clear is that the President seems intent stifling all dissent, destroying free speech, and establishing a dictatorship in which he rules with omnipotent power.

It’s hard not to feel powerless.  But this week I found a helpful response to situations like this in a most unexpected source – namely in Chapter 2 of the little book of 1 Timothy.  I hadn’t looked at this book in some time.  It’s usually considered to be one of the “Pastoral Epistles” that addresses questions of how Christians are to live together.  But to my surprise, the book actually contains some cogent and powerful advice about how Christians can faithfully cope with the realities of tyranny and dictatorship.  So we’ll explore some of Paul’s message from this oft-neglected book, and (hopefully) find some guidance and wisdom for the living of our days.

I look forward to seeing you Sunday morning at 10:30 am.

Despite what the calendar may say, I’ve always regarded the beginning of September as the “real” start of the new year.  For this is the season when school starts, when regular programs and activities resume, and when things return to “normal” after a summer hiatus.  Depending on our life situations, the advent of fall may or may not be welcome.  And I confess that there have been years when I’ve found it challenging to get enthused about the coming year. 

But this is NOT one of those years.  Indeed, I’m delighted to be returning to St. Mark’s after being away for July and August.  I’ve certainly missed being with you over these past weeks.  And I’m especially excited by the great new initiatives that are on tap for the fall.  Over the summer, our new 55+ Coordinator Debbie McLeod organized two delightful evenings of “Music on the Lawn” and a lively Walking Group that continues to meet on Wednesdays.  As well, she’s also done a great job of lining up a terrific range of programs and activities for the months to come – which look great!  I sense a new spirit and energy around the place – and am really happy to be part of this new chapter of ministry here.

So I look forward to seeing you this coming Sunday as we launch our Fall Programming and join together for a “welcome back lunch.”  In worship we’ll also be focusing on Paul’s short letter to Philemon in the New Testament and on what a welcoming and inclusive church community can look like.  This topic, I think, is especially timely.  Over the coming year, we’ll have a unique opportunity to build some new relationships with the wider community and provide some important opportunities for grace and care to be experienced and shared.  According to Paul, that’s what the life of faith is all about – and benefits abound for everyone when this wisdom is heard and heeded.  In the weeks and months to come, may we seek to do just that. 

I hope to see you this Sunday morning at 10:30.

On Sunday June 15, about 250 United Church members from St. Stephens to Sussex gathered at the Saint John High School to celebrate the 100^th Anniversary of the United Church of Canada.  It was a memorable occasion. 

And the preacher for the day, Rev. Faith March-MacCuish, posed two questions that have stayed with me.  “What from the past do we want to leave behind,” she wondered?  “And what do we want to carry forward with us into the future?”

In all likelihood, each of us would answer those questions differently.  But one of the pieces of wisdom that I’d like to see carried forward comes from a comment I heard a former United Church moderator, the late Rev. Lois Wilson, make on several occasions.  “The future of the church lies in re-connecting itself with the surrounding community and being a positive and constructive presence in the wider world,” she’d often state.  “It’s all about the community.”

If anyone understood the United Church, it was Lois.  I first met her when I was writing a paper on her father, E.G.D. Freeman, a longtime Dean of Theology at the University of Winnipeg.  Our paths crossed several times in later years, and I saw that a commitment to community was central to her understanding of the church and its ministry..  Over her decades of work as a congregational minister, UCC Moderator, and President of the World Council of Churches, she’d seen many churches and organizations become insular, focus primarily on themselves, and lose their potency.  So she constantly encouraged and challenged the church to resist this temptation and engage the realities that people outside congregational walls were really facing – even when doing so could be difficult.

I’ve come to believe that Lois put her finger on a key challenge facing many churches.  So I’m delighted that a plan is now in place for our congregation to work at connecting with the people of Saint John West in some new ways.  This initiative is important.  But I also know that I’m writing this message at a time when many of us are thinking a lot more about taking a break from our regular routines than we are about embracing a new piece of work.  Truth be told, that’s true for me right now.  Therefore, I really do hope that the coming weeks of summer will offer lots of opportunities for you to enjoy the season, have some fun, and recharge your batteries.   But I also hope that, whenever possible, you’ll support the great “55+” programs that Debbie McLeod is organizing for July and August.  And I also hope that we’ll all be ready to embrace the fall with energy, enthusiasm and conviction.  The Spirit is alive and at work at St. Mark’s United Church – we have much for which to be thankful – and I’m very much looking forward to being back in the fall!

This Sunday we’ll be focusing on two significant milestones in the life of our church – the day of Pentecost when, some 2000 years ago, the Holy Spirit descended on Christ’s early followers and gave them new purpose and energy – and the establishment of St. Mark’s United Church in 1859. Both are important occasions, and have more in common than one might assume. Even though countless changes occurred in the 1900 years between these two events, God was at work in both religious communities in ways that caused all kinds of creative and spirit-filled things to happen. And this work continues.

At the first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gave the early church the energy and passion it needed to break free from its fears and risk sharing the Christian message with the world. In a similar way, in 1859 the Spirit descended on a small group of Canadian Methodists who’d had their hearts “strangely warmed” through a series of local revivals, and who were moved to establish a Wesleyan Methodist congregation in West Saint John that eventually became St. Mark’s. Of course, the Pentecost experience changed the entire world, while what happened here only changed one part of one city in southern New Brunswick. But both occasions remind us of the Holy Spirit’s power to transform and renew the life of Christian communities, wherever they may be.

So, on Sunday, we’ll have a chance to give thanks for the countless individuals, here and abroad, who have served God so faithfully and well. And we’ll also reflect on how that same Spirit may be at work today, and where it may be leading our congregation. So I’m looking forward to this special anniversary celebration, and very much hope to see you on Sunday morning.