Sunday, January 14, 2024 bulletin

DANFORTH MENNONITE CHURCH
416-422-2406
Pastor Stephen Reist

We welcome all guests who have joined us.

 

Danforth Mennonite Church
January 14, 2024
Order of Service

Welcome

Land Acknowledgment

Opening Hymn: VT# 386 One is the Body

Announcements

Offering

Special Music: Come Away from Rush and Hurry

Congregational Prayer

Scripture:  Matthew 7: 7 – 11; Romans 12: 1 – 11

Hymn:  VT #395  The Church of Christ, in Every Age

Message: Gift Discernment

Closing Hymn: VT #722 Help Us to Help Each Other

Benediction

 

Leading Us in Worship
Message                              Stephen R.
Worship Leader              Mike D.
Song Leader                      Ed F.
Soloist                                  Don B.
Musicians                          Kathy W. (piano),  Ray W. (tuba)
Greeters                            Leslie & Fazal S.
Zoom Host                       Carol R.
A/V Technician              Roger H.

Hymn of the month: VT #395  The Church of Christ, in Every Age

 

Scripture Reading

Matthew 7: 7 – 11

Asking, seeking, knocking
“Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door is opened. Who among you will give your children a stone when they ask for bread? 10 Or give them a snake when they ask for fish? 11 If you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.

Romans 12: 1 – 11

Living sacrifice and transformed lives
12 So, brothers and sisters, because of God’s mercies, I encourage you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. This is your appropriate priestly service. Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can figure out what God’s will is—what is good and pleasing and mature.

Transformed relationships
Because of the grace that God gave me, I can say to each one of you: don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Instead, be reasonable since God has measured out a portion of faith to each one of you. We have many parts in one body, but the parts don’t all have the same function. In the same way, though there are many of us, we are one body in Christ, and individually we belong to each other. We have different gifts that are consistent with God’s grace that has been given to us. If your gift is prophecy, you should prophesy in proportion to your faith. If your gift is service, devote yourself to serving. If your gift is teaching, devote yourself to teaching. If your gift is encouragement, devote yourself to encouraging. The one giving should do it with no strings attached. The leader should lead with passion. The one showing mercy should be cheerful.

Love should be shown without pretending. Hate evil, and hold on to what is good. 10 Love each other like the members of your family. Be the best at showing honor to each other. 11 Don’t hesitate to be enthusiastic—be on fire in the Spirit as you serve the Lord!

 

DANFORTH ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Congregational ‘Dine and Discern’:

“Discerning what’s next”

After the service this Sunday morning, we will gather together from 12:30 to 3:00 for lunch, worship, and sharing.

This is our third session about inclusion of 2SLGTBQ+ persons in

Danforth Mennonite Church.

We will be reviewing the survey results and discerning next steps.

Please bring your own lunch.

Drinks will be provided.

 

 

Treasurer’s ReportIn December we received $14,770 in offerings. These generous year end donations, along with the steady ongoing support throughout the year, helped us finish 2023 with a $6,438 operating surplus. It is with much gratitude that the Finance Committee thanks our church family for their solid financial commitment and for their unwavering dedication to the work of Danforth Mennonite Church during 2023.

We also received an additional $200 in designated Food Bank donations in December and a $900 cheque was sent to The Neighbourhoood Group in support of the 40 Teesdale Food Bank.

 

 

Thanks to all who donated to our Christmas Giving Tree and food box. This week the food items went to Nourish East End Food Bank; Items for winter warmth (socks, scarves, mitts, toques, etc) went to Sanctuary Ministries, and the children and youth sized items were delivered in support of outreach to families in the Taylor Massey Neighbourhood.

These donations were a reflection of generous spirits and are deeply appreciated by recipients.

 

DMC
Annual Business Meeting
Sunday, February 4, 2024

Committee chairs:  Please submit your reports to Bonnie by January 17th.
 
For in-person people: Begin with a potluck lunch in the basement. Return upstairs for the meeting.

For Zoom people: Have lunch at home. The Zoom session will continue through lunch and for the meeting.

Agenda: Besides the normal AGM business of committee and financial reports, there will be updates from both the 2SLGBTQ+ process, and the Transition search for the next pastor. We plan to confirm some specific “next steps” from the 2SLGBTQ+ process, based on the January 14th meeting; but if we need more time for more discernment, we will take the time in the future.

Everyone is welcome to attend the Annual Business Meeting and participate in the discussion.  You are welcome to vote if you have been participating at DMC, and plan to continue doing so in the future.

 

A Thanks and Farewell

to Stephen, Carol, and Daniel Reist
on Sun. Jan. 28, after the service.

Our zoom guests will have an opportunity to thank Stephen at the end of the service.  We will bring down the projector screen and display our zoom guests.  We will also have a camera facing the congregation that morning so our congregation will be another guest on zoom.

Please join us for a
 Potluck lunch in the Fellowship Hall.

 

 

There is a sign up sheet on the bulletin board for volunteers to help with
 Messy Church

 

 

Men’s Choir

There will be ongoing practices for a men’s choir. The choir will be singing at Stephen’s last service with us on Jan. 28th. All men are welcome.  The short practices will continue after church until Jan. 28th. See Kathy Wert for further details

 

Ladies Walking group
starts up on January 16th.

On Tuesday, January 16 at 10:30 am (weather permitting), we will be walking in Taylor Creek Park.  The entrance is off of Dawes Road.

An email will go out on Monday January 15th to confirm the place and time.

If you need to be picked up or dropped off, please check in with fellow walkers or email Bonnie.

 

Our healthy eating cooking classes will start up again in March.

 

Church directory and
birthday list

We are updating the church directory and the birthday/anniversary list.

When you are at church, please review and initial the documents on the table outside the sanctuary that:

  • Information is correct AND
  • You give permission to publish.

I will contact via email those persons that don’t come in person to church.

The directory will only be distributed for those persons listed in it.

The birthday and anniversary information is used for notices in the bulletin.  I don’t put in the year unless it is requested.  We highlight (with your permission) birthdays ending in zero and five (e.g.  5. 50, 75, 80) in the church newsletter.

 

Worship Schedule reminder

January 21
Speaker                    5 speakers
Worship leader   Erma M.
Song Leader          Sue S.
Musicians              Jessie M. (piano), Ray W. (tuba)
Greeters                 Cindy R., Bethany W.
ZOOM host           Bonnie W.
A/V Tech                Murray L.

January 28
Speaker                     Stephen R.
Worship leader    Linda D.
Song Leader           Ed F.
Musicians                Roger H. (piano), Ray W. (tuba)
Greeters                  Cindy R., Bethany W.
ZOOM host           Bonnie W.
A/V Tech                 Fazal S.

 

WIDER CHURCH ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

You are invited to join the Mennonite New Life Centre of Toronto to celebrate 40 years of helping immigrants and refugees build a new life in the GTA. To mark this milestone we are hosting a multi-cultural celebration of food, music, and dancing, Saturday, Feb 10th. We hope you can join us. Book your tickets HERE 

[https://form.123formbuilder.com/6579066/holiday-event-40-anniversary]

 

CommonWord virtual book launch of Rudy Wiebe: Essays on His Works – Join us via livestream on Thursday, January 25 at 7:30 PM CST for a panel discussion with editor Bianca Lakoseljac and contributors Margaret Atwood, Paul Doerksen, and others about the literary influence of Rudy Wiebe. Visit commonword.ca/go/3730 for livestream link.

 CommonWord virtual book launch of Unburdened: A Lenton Journey Towards Forgiveness – Join us on Zoom on Thursday, February 1 at 7:30 PM CST for a conversation with author Carol Penner as she prepares us for Lent and a journey of forgiveness and healing. Visit commonword.ca/go/3610 to register for the Zoom link.

 

In summary, upcoming events

At Danforth

January
12  2SLGBTQ+ survey results
13  Men’s breakfast
14  2SLGBTQ+ Congregational meeting
16  Ladies walking group – Taylor Creek
17  AGM package reports due to Admin. Asst.
20  Messy Church
23  Ladies walking group
30 Ladies walking group

February
4  DMC AGM
24  Messy Church

Wider Church

January
25  book launch – Rudy Wiebe

February
1  book launch – Carol Penner
10  Mennonite New Life celebration

Sunday, January 7, 2024 bulletin

DANFORTH MENNONITE CHURCH
416-422-2406
Pastor Stephen Reist

 We welcome all guests who have joined us.

 

Danforth Mennonite Church
January 7, 2024
Order of Service

Welcome

 Land Acknowledgement:

Opening Prayer

Opening Hymn:  VT 277 As With Gladness

Call to worship

Offering and Offertory Prayer

Hymn: VT 275 O Beautiful Star of Bethlehem

Congregational Prayer

Hymn:  VT 761 I Love to Tell the Story

Scripture Reading: Matthew 2: 1-12

Message:  Follow The Light

Star Words and Closing Hymn:  VT 395 the Church Of Christ, in Every Age

Benediction/Candle Lighting

Leading Us in Worship
Message                             Carol O.
Worship Leader            Cindy R.
Scripture reading         Bethany W.
Song Leader                    Kathy W.
Musicians                         Roger H. (piano), Ray W. (tuba)
Greeters                           Leslie & Fazal S.
Zoom Host                      Mike D.
A/V Technician             Don B.

January hymn of the month:  VT #395  The Church of Christ, in Every Age

 

Hymn Sing – 10:00 a.m.
Everyone is welcome

 

Call to Worship

Leader: Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

People: Lift up your eyes and look around; they gather and come to you.

Women: You shall see and be radiant;

Men: your heart shall thrill and rejoice and proclaim the praise of the Lord.

Leader: The mystery of Christ has been revealed by the Spirit. We have become fellow heirs, members of the same
body, and sharers in the promise of Christ through the gospel.

People: We know this through faith in Christ. May our lights shine!

(pause)

All: Together we carry the light.

 

Scripture Reading
Matthew 2: 1-12

Coming of the magi
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the territory of Judea during the rule of King Herod, magi came from the east to Jerusalem. They asked, “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We’ve seen his star in the east, and we’ve come to honor him.”

When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and everyone in Jerusalem was troubled with him. He gathered all the chief priests and the legal experts and asked them where the Christ was to be born. They said, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what the prophet wrote:

You, Bethlehem, land of Judah, by no means are you least among the rulers of Judah, because from you will come one who governs, who will shepherd my people Israel.

Then Herod secretly called for the magi and found out from them the time when the star had first appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you’ve found him, report to me so that I too may go and honor him.” When they heard the king, they went; and look, the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stood over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy. 11 They entered the house and saw the child with Mary his mother. Falling to their knees, they honored him. Then they opened their treasure chests and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 Because they were warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route.

 

Candle lighting/benediction

Leader:                   Together we carry the light.

All:                             This is what we know.

Leader:                   Now go, basking in the glow of Christ! We have become God’s heirs, members of one body, and sharers of the promise. Amen!

 

DANFORTH ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

Congregational Survey: Inclusion of 2SLGBTQ+ at Danforth Mennonite Church

The survey is now available in your church mail slot and was also emailed to you.  Please complete the survey at your earliest convenience and either reply by email or place it in the box in the foyer no later than January 7th.  If you have questions, please contact Pastor Stephen.

 

Ladies Walking group
starts up on January 16th.

 

DMC
Annual Business Meeting
Sunday, February 4, 2024

Committee chairs:  Please submit your reports to Bonnie by January 17th.
 
Everyone is welcome to attend the Annual Business Meeting and participate in the discussion.  You are welcome to vote if you have been participating at DMC, and plan to continue doing so in the future.

 

Our healthy eating cooking classes
will start up again in March.

 

This week we will be delivering our collection of clothing suitable for the season (hats, scarves, mitts, socks) and non-perishable food items. These will be dropped off for distribution to struggling families in the Taylor/Massey community and shared as well with the Food Bank program at our nearby Salvation Army.  $$ donations will be forwarded to Nourish East End Food Bank in support of their program.

Let us think about food and clothing scarcity and how we can help to make a difference. 
Thank you for your generosity.

 

There is a sign up sheet on the bulletin board for volunteers to help with Messy Church

 

Treasurer’s ReportIn December we received $14,770 in offerings. These generous year end donations, along with the steady ongoing support throughout the year, helped us finish 2023 with a $6,438 operating surplus. It is with much gratitude that the Finance Committee thanks our church family for their solid financial commitment and for their unwavering dedication to the work of Danforth Mennonite Church during 2023.

We also received an additional $200 in designated Food Bank donations in December and a $900 cheque was sent to The Neighbourhoood Group in support of the 40 Teesdale Food Bank.

 

Men’s Choir

There will be ongoing practices for a men’s choir starting this Sunday. The choir will be singing at Stephen’s last service with us on Jan. 28th. All men are welcome. There will be a practice after the pre-service singing this Sunday (approx. 10:35) as well as a short practice after the service this Sunday. The short practices will continue after church until Jan. 28th. See Kathy Wert for further details

 

Worship Schedule reminder

January 14
Speaker                     Stephen R.
Worship leader    Mike D.
Song Leader           Ed F.
Musicians                Kathy W. (piano), Ray W. (tuba)
Greeters                  Fazal & Leslie S.
ZOOM host           Carol R.
A/V Tech                  Roger H.

January 21
Speaker                    Dalton J.
Worship leader   Erma M.
Song Leader          Sue S.
Musicians              Jessie M. (piano), Ray W. (tuba)
Greeters                 Cindy R., Bethany W.
ZOOM host           Bonnie W.
A/V Tech                 Murray L.

 

WIDER CHURCH ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

CommonWord virtual book launch of Rudy Wiebe: Essays on His Works – Join us via livestream on Thursday, January 25 at 7:30 PM CST for a panel discussion with editor Bianca Lakoseljac and contributors Margaret Atwood, Paul Doerksen, and others about the literary influence of Rudy Wiebe. Visit commonword.ca/go/3730 for livestream link.

 CommonWord virtual book launch of Unburdened: A Lenton Journey Towards Forgiveness – Join us on Zoom on Thursday, February 1 at 7:30 PM CST for a conversation with author Carol Penner as she prepares us for Lent and a journey of forgiveness and healing. Visit commonword.ca/go/3610 to register for the Zoom link.

 

A note from MCC

Thank you for your recent financial gift of $300.00 designated to where needed most. Your generosity and ongoing partnership in the work of MCC is deeply appreciated. We are so grateful that you have chosen to partner with MCC.

For more than 100 years, MCC has been working faithfully with partners all around the world, and it’s all thanks to generous and compassionate people like you. Your financial gifts are making an incredible impact across the globe and closer to home. This past year, you’ve helped provide critical items like relief supplies, warm blankets, and food to children and families in the most desperate situations around the world. You’ve also supported long-term projects like giving access to clean water, healthcare to women and children, agricultural training, and sustainable livelihoods and educational opportunities. You are creating change in Ontario as well by walking alongside people experiencing poverty, supporting those who are reintegrating into community, welcoming newcomers, and actively advocating for peace and reconciliation.

The ways in which you’ve helped bring joy and hope to so many lives. Thank you for all you do.
With much gratitude,
Stephen  R.

 

In summary, upcoming events

At Danforth

January
7    2SLGBTQ+ survey deadline
12  2SLGBTQ+ survey results
14  2SLGBTQ+ Congregational meeting
16  Ladies walking group
17  AGM package reports due to Admin. Asst.
20  Messy Church

February
4  DMC AGM
24  Messy Church

Wider Church

January
25  book launch – Rudy Wiebe

February
1  book launch – Carol Penner

Sunday, June 27, 2021 bulletin & Retirement service

DANFORTH MENNONITE CHURCH
416-422-2406
 
We welcome all guests who have joined us.

Order of Service
Farewell Worship Service for
Tim and LaVerna Reimer
Willowgrove
June 27, 2021
 

Acknowledgment                                                                     Sue

Introduction                                                                                Sue

Call to Worship                                                                Sue, All

Opening Hymn: Praise the Lord, sing hallelujah
Sue, Roger, All

Presentation from Christian Education            Becky

Poem                                                                                     Blessy

Greetings and blessings from guests
Pastor Ashenafi Fulase, Freedom Gospel Church
Pastor Michele Rizoli, Toronto United Mennonite Church
Al Rempel, MCEC

Hymn:  Our lives flow on                     Sue, Roger, All

Offering and Prayer                                                      Sue

Scripture:  Philippians 1:1-11                                Sue

Meditation                                              Muriel Bechtel

Blessing for Tim and LaVerna’s Departure             All

Closing Hymn:  God be with you till we meet again

Gift presentation                                                     Mike

Benediction                                                                   Sue

Instructions for lunch
Grace: Praise God from whom all blessings flow (606)                                                                                       Sue, Bonnie, Roger, All

 

 
Worship at Home Service
Farewell Worship Service
for Tim and LaVerna Reimer
Willowgrove
June 27, 2021

 

 Acknowledgment

As we worship together this morning, let me begin by sharing Willowgrove’s Land Acknowledgement.  “Willowgrove acknowledges the original caretakers of the land it is settled on: the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat Peoples. In honour of the history and the treaties, we pledge to care for and use this land respectfully.”

 

Introduction

Today is a day of thanksgiving and also of joy and celebration, not least because we are finally able to worship together in person after such a long time.  It is great to see everyone.  And it is a day with a certain amount of sadness, as we say farewell to Tim and LaVerna, at least for a time.

Our theme for this morning is ‘We thank God for you’.  In most of the letters from the Apostle Paul to the early churches, he begins with “I thank God for you”.  We don’t know how the churches to whom these letters were written replied, but I imagine they would have replied in the same vein saying, “We thank God for you”. The phrase recognizes the role of the Spirit in our relationships.  Last Sunday’s service opened with a video of the inside of a European cathedral with the organist playing the hymn I know as ‘Nun danket alle Gott’:

Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done, in whom the world rejoices.
Who from our mother’s arms hath blessed us on our way,
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

 

 Call to Worship

Leader:  Our God, we gather to worship you, the One who creates all things.

 People:  For the gift of creation we give thanks.

Leader:  We gather to worship you, the One who brings salvation through Jesus Christ.

 People:  For the give of redemption we give thanks.

Leader:  We gather to worship you, the One who sustains us by the Spirit.

 People:  For the give of your presence, we give thanks.

ALL:  We bring you our thanks and praise and worship you – our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer,

             AMEN

 

Opening Hymn:  Praise the Lord, sing hallelujah (#50 HWB)

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8w7SMNCwt0

 Praise the Lord, sing hallelujah, from the heavens praise his name!
Praise the Lord, our great Creator; all his angels, praise proclaim.
All his hosts, together praise him, sun and moon and stars on high.
Praise the Lord, you heav’ns of heavens and you floods above the sky.

Chorus
Praise the Lord, sing hallelujah, for his name alone is high,
and his glory is exalted, and his glory is exalted,
and his glory is exalted, far above the earth and sky.

Let them praise the Lord Creator; they were made at his command.
God established them forever, his decree shall ever stand.
From the earth O praise your Maker, raging seas, you creatures all,
fire and hail and snow and vapors, stormy winds that hear his call.

(Chorus)

All your fruitful trees and cedars, ev’ry hill and mountain high,
creeping things and beasts and cattle, birds that in the heavens fly,
kings of earth and all you people, rulers great, earth’s judges all;
praise his name, young men and women, aged ones and children small.

(Chorus)

 

Tim’s address to the congregation

Sunday service  June20, 2021

 

Watching the slideshow

Sunday service June 20, 2021

Hymn:  My life flows on

Our next hymn is ‘Our lives flow on’ which has been adapted from #580 in the blue hymnal.  Here’s a lovely arrangement sung by the NYC Virtual Choir.  The revised text used at Willowgrove is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLPP3XmYxXg

 Our lives flow on in endless song, above earth’s lamentation.
We catch the sweet, though far-off hymn that hails a new creation.
Chorus
No storm can shake our inmost calm while to the rock we’re clinging.
Since Love is Lord of heaven and earth, how can we keep from singing?

Through all the tumult and the strife, we hear that music ringing.
It finds an echo in our soul.  How can we keep from singing?
(Chorus)
What though our joys and comforts die?  The Lord our Saviour liveth.
What though the darkness gather ‘round?  Songs in the night he giveth.
(Chorus)
The peace of Christ makes fresh our hearts, a fountain ever springing.
All things are ours, since we are His!  How can we keep from singing?

(Chorus)

  

Congregational Prayer

It has been a difficult few weeks with the discovery of the unmarked children’s graves in Kamloops and Saskatchewan and the knowledge that there are more to come; the senseless killing of the Afzaal family in London and this week to collapse of the condo building in Miami.  We grieve with those who have lost loved ones and we commit ourselves anew to work to bring healing to the world.  Let us pray:          (HWB #711)

Jesus taught us to speak of hope as the coming of God’s kingdom.
We believe that God is at work in our world,
turning hopeless and evil situations into good.
We believe that goodness and justice and love
will triumph in the end
and that tyranny and oppression cannot last forever.
One day all tears will be wiped away
the lamb will lie down with the lion,
and justice will roll down like a mighty stream.
True peace and true reconciliation are not only desired,
they are assured and guaranteed in Christ.
This is our faith.
This is our hope.
AMEN

 

 Scripture

 As I mentioned in my introduction, our theme for today is ‘We thank God for you, Tim and LaVerna’.  In his letters to the early churches, Paul almost always included the phrase “I thank God for you” in some form or another.  We don’t have a record of it, but I imagine it was reciprocated, that the churches also thanked God for Paul and his ministry.  And so today we thank God for Tim and LaVerna, that we have been able to minister and worship and be church together for more than 20 years.

Our guest speaker today is Muriel Bechtel, someone who not only knows Tim very well, beginning with his time as Assistant Pastor at Warden Woods when Muriel was pastor, but also during her time with the conference.  She has also made transitions several times in her own life journey.  She has chosen Philippians 1:1-11 as her text today, which I will read now, after which she will bring her message.

Philippians 1:1-11

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons[a]:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

 

Message:
How Do We Thank You? “Let Me Count the Ways”
Graduation Day!

TEXT:               Philippians 1:1-11

Tim and Laverna, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Danforth Mennonite Church, with the Elders and Church Council and other leaders:

Grace to you and peace from God the Creator and our Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank my God every time I remember you,… and I am deeply honoured to be here on this special day.

It was a hot and steamy day in late May or early June, some 15 years ago. Way back when we could sit shoulder to shoulder to celebrate.  We were gathered got a friend’s graduation in a large un-airconditioned room in Hart House at U. of T. No masks! Lots of smiles, warm hugs and eager anticipation. It was there that I first heard this poem by Denise Levertov:

 A Certain Day

A certain day became a presence to me;
there it was, confronting me – a sky, air, light:
a being. And before it started to descend
from the height of noon, it leaned over and
struck my shoulder as if with
the flat of a sword, granting me
honor and a task. The day’s blow
rang out metallic – or it was I, a bell
awakened,
and what I heard was my whole self
saying and singing what it knew: I can.

  • Denise Levertov, in Earth Prayers from Around the World, 344

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Here we are, 15 years later, socially distanced, with a pleasant summer breeze, this time out in an open space with the sky for a ceiling. This is your graduation, Tim (and Laverna)! All around you are the friends and teachers who have supported, taught, and sometimes tolerated you as you learned how to be a pastor. After all, it is not the years of study and papers and workshops that make a pastor and pastor’s partner. It is a congregation that appreciates and demands, stretches and accepts, disappoints and forgives, challenges and encourages you to be more than you ever imagined you could be. It is friends and colleagues who lend a listening ear and speak wise words, who see (really see) when you are hurting and lend their hearts to share the pain. Those are the people who make us pastors.

Then one day you wake up to yourself – “an awakened bell” (to use Denise Levertov’s phrase), saying and singing with confidence what you have come to know deep inside: “I can!” I can be a pastor! I can be a pastor’s partner – fully myself in this dual role that we have been given. I heard over and over in the video tributes that the two of you have been and are a beloved and competent pastor and partner, and that tells me that the people of this congregation have been good teachers. That is what we are celebrating today. Celleebrating you; celebrating us!

In Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, he puts it this way:

  1. I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.” Even though he is writing from prison, Paul’s heart is overflowing with joy at what God has been doing in this ordinary congregation of ordinary people who sometimes think of themselves more highly than they ought or don’t agree or get along (if you read on in the letter).

The biggest temptation for pastors and leaders is to think that it is up to us to build the Church and to measure our success by an upward-moving line on a graph. It’s easy in the busy-ness and messiness of congregational life to forget to say “thank you.” Thank you for the little things and not just the big. Thank you to the little people and not just those who are usually up front.

Paul is profuse in thanking the whole community for their “partnership in the gospel.” That is what today is about – saying “thank you” – in as more ways than we can count.

  1. The second point that Paul makes in his letter is that God is the one who will bring to completion the good work that has begun. As you move through this transition, there will be things left unfinished and incomplete. Things you hoped to accomplish but never got around to. Complicated relationships you hoped would be resolved. Conversations and “sorry’s” that you hoped would happen but never did.

I remember sitting in on the final evaluation of a chaplaincy student after a three-month training program in a long-term care facility. The student, eager to impress and end well, proudly said he was diligently writing thank you notes to everyone he had visited during his time there to thank them for being part of his learning. Imagine the student’s surprise when his supervisor deflated his balloon and said: “I hope you aren’t able to get those thank you notes done. As a pastor you need to learn to live with incomplete tasks and unfinished business in relationships, or you will burn yourself out trying to play God.”

What God has begun at Danforth is a communal project, not just the work of a pastor and spouse or a few leaders. It is God who will bring it to completion.

  1. A third theme is found in v. 9. Paul writes: “This is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to determine what is best.” Paul confronts the believers with a challenge – to be discerning in setting priorities, in sorting out what is important from what is trivial. Some things matter; others are inconsequential.

For the past 22 years, you have done much of that discerning together as pastor and congregation. With retirement, that will change.

Tim and Laverna, each morning when you awake, instead of looking at your calendar of meetings, you have a new freedom and responsibility to ask yourself: What will I do with this one day that I am given? I like the way e.e. cummings says it:

“I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes.”

What a great way to start the day! Wonderful and also a bit disorienting at times.

On this graduation day, as you transition formally into retirement and part ways as pastor and congregation, it will take time to discover that “awakened bell,” to know when to say “I can” and when to say “I can’t.”

Another quote from e.e. Cummings: ‘It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.’

Also: “We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”

This coming season will be a time of learning once again, Tim and Laverna and Danforth church, to “become who you really are” and to “believe in yourselves” without each other. It will take time and courage. It will be a time to lean into Paul’s promise and to trust that “the one who began a good work will bring it to completion.” May it be so.

 

Blessing for Tim and LaVerna’s Departure

 Leader:  For everything there is a season,
and a time for every purpose under heaven.
There’s a time to arrive, and a time to go.
A time to work, and a time to rest.
A time to be called, and a time to say good-bye.
There is a time for pastoral ministry:
a time to visit the sick and grieving,
a time to lead worship and preach sermons,
a time to officiate at funerals and weddings,
a time to gather people together in meetings,
a time to lead and shepherd in all circumstances,
in the hurly-burly of congregational life.
And there is a time to let this all go,
and to give these roles to a new leader.

This is the moment, this is the transition,
the poised point when Tim moves
from being the pastor here, to not being the pastor.
When LaVerna moves from being married to a pastor to not being married to a pastor.  It’s a time to say thank you!

Congregation:  We thank God for you, Tim,
For your guiding presence in our community,
And for the way you have cared for us in every season, even when sometimes we have been hard to love.
 
Thank you for your diligence in studying scripture and discerning God’s word for us in this time and place.
Thank you for leading our worship team and encouraging them.
Thank you for your commitment to fairness and inclusiveness.
Thank you for your wisdom and for being a role model for us.
Thank you for your careful attention to the background details that helped hold us together.
We are so thankful for your years of service
and that God called you to be our pastor!
 
We thank God for you, LaVerna.
For all your work with Christian education,
And for teaching and guiding our children.
We thank you, too, for your gifts of hospitality, and for making newcomers feel welcome.
 
And as we say good-bye after this ministry well-done, it is a time to bless you on your way.
May you find time for rest and relaxation after all this work!
May you find time to reflect on what this ministry has meant in your life.
May you find new opportunities for living out your faith that use your gifts and give you joy.
Amen.

(Copyright Carol Penner  www.leadinginworship.com, adapted)

 
Closing Hymn: God be with you till we meet again
(HWB #430)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWIIpMDhRZw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXq3van1aOs

 God be with you till we meet again;
Loving counsels guide, uphold you,
May the Shepherd’s care enfold you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
Unseen wings, protecting, hide you,
Daily manna still provide you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
When life’s perils thick confound you,
Put unfailing arms around you;
God be with you till we meet again.

God be with you till we meet again;
Keep love’s banner floating o’er you,
Smite death’s threat’ning wave before you;
God be with you till we meet again.

 

Tim & LaVerna’s response to the congregation
Sunday service  June 20, 2021

No more Thursday evening sermon deadlines.

 

Benediction

 Tim and LaVerna,
God has blessed your coming here,
God is blessing this good-bye
and God will bless you as you go from here.
Go in peace with the love and gratefulness
of our whole congregation. Amen.

(Copyright Carol Penner www.leadinginworship.com)

 

In addition to the service included above, we also had contributions from the following:  Blessy R., who read a poem she and her sister Praisy had written; and greetings and best wishes from Pastor Ashenafi F. of the Freedom Gospel Church, Pastor Michele R. of the Toronto United Mennonite Church and Al R., Regional Minister, MCEC.  Becky B. presented a lovely basket of seeds and cards to LaVerna from the Sunday School children and Mike D. presented a gift from the church to Tim and LaVerna.

 

 

DANFORTH ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

 Dear church family,

Thank you so much for all your well wishes, caring comments, delicious food contributions and special treats.

Very much appreciated.

 With love,

Jim and Kathy

 

 

 

 To:       Our DMC community
From:  The Caring Network

It is our hope and prayer that everyone will enjoy a safe and healthy summer. As restrictions are lifted there will be new opportunities to be together and to care for each other. Our experience at Willowgrove this past Sunday was literally a ‘breath of fresh air’ and nicely set the stage for what we anticipate in the fall.

We, as a Caring Network will be available, and we encourage everyone to continue reaching out to one another in prayer and in random acts of kindness. If there is an occasion in the months ahead when your family has need to be in touch with a pastor, please do not hesitate to call. Our Church Council along with the Transition Team has made arrangements for coverage in the event that this ministry is required, and has asked Dalton as Caring Network Coordinator to receive and direct calls as needed. 

Sunday, April 17, 2011 Centennial Celebration Bulletin

 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION SERVICE 

 Danforth Mennonite Church

April 17, 2011

 

10:40 am  Pre-service singing

 11:00 am  Welcome             

 Call to Worship  (see insert)

 Hymn:             Hosanna, loud hosanna  No. 238

 Children’s Story:        Kim Bowman

 Hymn:             God’s family   No. 31 (in Sing and Rejoice)       

Scripture:       Matthew 21:1-11     John Epp

 Hymns:           To God be the glory   No. 102

                        Many gifts, one spirit No. 71 (in Sing and Rejoice)

Choir:              Holy, holy, holy

Psalm 100:    Responsive reading    No. 821

Sermon:         A New Kingdom: Faith or Fantasy?   Tim Reimer

Quartet:          His name is wonderful

Announcements

Official greetings

Congregational Prayer       Tim Reimer

Offering:        Offertory by Becky Bowman

Offertory prayer         No. 749

Hymn:             Great is thy faithfulness    No. 327

Benediction   (see insert)

Worship Leader:       Aubrey Wilkinso

Pianists:                     Jessica Martin and Roger Horst

Organist:                    Ron Brownsberger

Song Leaders:          Marg Beer and Bob Martin

Greeters:                   Dalton and Carol Jantzi

Ushers:                      Jennifer, Gary, Redd and Tanner Hayward; 

Quartet:                     Vic Guerin, Roger Horst, Bob Martin, Jim Wert.

Pianist:                       Kathy Wert

Choir:                        Members of the Congregation under the direction of Kathy Wert

 

Special thanks to the Centennial Committee, Marg Beer, Dalton Jantzi and Victor Guerin for their many hours of planning, preparation and delegating.

Thanks to Bill Bryson for the bulletin cover design.

. . . and may this entire weekend of celebration be our thanks to God and to one another for every contribution of time and effort in so many ways.

 

 ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

April 22, Good Friday Communion Service at 10:30am

Sunday, April 24 Easter Morning Potluck Breakfast at 9:30 am. Bring fruit, cheese, pastries and other finger foods.

The Mennonite Heritage Club presents… The Old Oak Tree and the Mennonite Crisis of Representation. An Illustrated Talk by Magdalene Redekop. Magdalene Redekop, professor emerita in the English Department, University of Toronto, will talk about the images and stories about the ancient oak tree, revered by Cossacks, that became a landmark for Russian Mennonites from the day their scouts arrived there in the late eighteenth century. Using the oak tree as a case study, Magdalene will attempt to present the kernel (or acorn?) of her forthcoming book, “The Crisis of Representation: Essays on Mennonites and Art”. Wednesday, April 27, 7:30 pm Meeting Room St. Clair-O’Connor Community. 

Open Congregational Leaders’ Forum – What is the Spirit Saying to the Churches? Engage our Mennonite Church leaders, David Martin (MCEC Executive Minister), Willard Metzger (Mennonite Church Canada General Secretary), and Ervin Stutzman (Mennonite Church USA Executive Secretary) as they share their vision with us, respond to your questions and concerns for the Church. Everyone is invited to participate in the public session on Friday evening of the MCEC Annual Church Gathering – April 29,  2011 7 – 9 p.m. at Steinmann Mennonite Church, 1316 Snyder’s Rd. W., Baden, ON. Refreshments will follow.

Saturday, May 14, 6 pm.   Lazarus Rising Dinner “Stories from the Street“.  All welcome!  Toronto United Mennonite Church, 1774 Queen Street E. RSVP appreciated (but not essential): 416-423-9229.  Leave message.

 Cycle the Century We will be doing a 100 kilometer cycle on Saturday, June 18, 2011 to celebrate  100 years of Danforth Mennonite Church. Please contact Richard Manz or Anne Reesor for more information about time and route. 

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August 8 – 12 Vacation Bible Camp!  The theme will be Taste and See!  God is Good!  We again look forward to working with Toronto Chinese Mennonite Church.

Mennonite Church Canada Annual Assembly. There will be many friends, a special Sarah Harmer concert,  awesome worship music, and inspiration overflowing at the Mennonite Church Canada Assembly 2011: It’s Epic: Remembering God’s Future, in Waterloo, Ont. this summer July 4 – 8. Everything you want to know about this event, including online registration, can be found at www.mennonitechurch.ca/tiny/1500, or by calling 1-866-888-6785.