Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

July 29th - Keeping a Healthy Perspective

 

We finally had a family outing last week. On Tuesday afternoon, all three of us drove together to Paris for our family outing. The funny thing was our family outing was to get our second vaccination shots. We laughed about it in the car when I brought it up. It really was a reminder of the times we have been going through when getting our vaccine shots together constituted a family outing. Being able to laugh and keep a healthy perspective like this has helped us deal with the disappointments of not being able to do as many family outings due to COVID.

 

We have had to change our views or perspective of things as a result of this pandemic. It has been a reminder to us of:

* how fragile life is and how quick things can change,

* how it is a fallen and scary world in which we live,

* how we should never take for granted the everyday things in life,

* how we need to think about what things are truly important to us,

*  how our lives were perhaps too busy and out of control prior to this.

Our lives have been turned so upside down by this pandemic it has forced us to change our perspective about these and many other things.

It is so important to be able to maintain a proper and healthy perspective when we go through stressful times like this. Sometimes however, the stress of the situation may take away from our ability to maintain that healthy perspective. David found himself struggling with this very problem in Psalm 13. Read more

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

July 21st - Keeping Our Promises

 

I had the honour of officiating a wedding this past Saturday. It was an outdoor wedding and thankfully the rain stopped just before the ceremony. When my wife and I got married thirty-two years ago we chose to write our own vows. Since becoming a minister, I have never had a couple decide to write their own vows until this last wedding. Most couples choose the traditional vows to make at their wedding.

 

When it came time for the vows on Saturday, both the bride and groom read their vows to one another from the cue cards they had prepared. Each of them put so much thought into their vows. Naturally, they got very emotional as they read. The words they expressed to one another were personal, heartfelt, meaningful, and touching. I think everybody there was truly touched by the meaningful vows the bride and groom made to each other that day. Marriage vows are very special ones that are made before God and those present at the ceremony and are meant to be kept and honoured by both the husband and wife.

 

During the past sixteen months of living through this pandemic, perhaps we have made various promises or vows to others. My mother experienced both her 90th and 91st birthdays during this time frame. Many people called her on these birthdays to say as soon as it was safe to do so they would take my mom out for lunch to celebrate her milestone. As we have moved as a province into Step 2 and now Step 3, some of the people who made this promise to my mom have followed through. A certain restaurant in St. George seems to be profiting from these people keeping their promise to my mother.

 

Have we made promises or vows to others during this time like these people made to my mother? Have we promised a family member or friend:

* to get back together for weekly coffee chats,

* to celebrate an event we were not able to during the pandemic,

* to take them out for lunch or dinner,

* to have them over for a visit? Read more

 

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

July 14th - My Recent Experience in Hell

 

Last week I had to endure what I consider to be hell for a nine-hour span. On the Tuesday I had to drive my mother-in-law to a hospital in the heart of downtown Toronto for a medical procedure. I always consider driving in Toronto hell, but to have to go right into the heart of the downtown makes it even worse. I know some people do not mind driving in Toronto, but I am not such a person. To make this experience of driving to Toronto even worse, I had to do it both ways in rush hour traffic. Google maps said it should take me 90 minutes to get to the hospital from my house. On the way there in the morning we experienced four major traffic delays that stretched the time of the drive to just over two hours. Coming home we experienced the same number of slow downs with traffic. Driving to and from Toronto is bad enough, but to have to do so in rush hour traffic makes it even worse.

 

Driving in Toronto was not my only experience with hell that day. It was also very hot and humid. I was not allowed in the hospital, and because the Province of Ontario was still in Step 2 of reopening, I could not go inside a McDonalds or a Tim Hortons to get a coffee, sit at a table, and do work. Instead, I had to find a bench outside the hospital and endure the heat and humidity from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. It felt like hell waiting in the humidity that day, especially when my mother-in-law texted me to say they were running behind with day surgeries and her procedure would be about an hour or more later than scheduled.

 

I was not the only one experiencing my version of hell that day. Late in the morning I was approached by a man who was pushing a shopping cart. He started talking with me, and when he learned I was a minister he began to tell me his life story. Read more

 

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

July 8th - Two Virtues the Pandemic Has Taught Us

 

My next-door neighbour, besides being a Montreal Canadiens fan, is also an avid fisherman. He has a boat that he takes out fishing quite often. I ran into him last Thursday and asked if he would be fishing on the weekend. He told me that he had put an offer on a new boat and was hoping to hear back on the weekend if the seller would accept. As a result, he was planning to wait around in anticipation of getting the call.

 

I was in the backyard cleaning our pool on Saturday afternoon and noticed his vehicle was gone. I wondered if he had gotten the call to pick up the new boat. He pulled into his driveway while I was still in the pool, so I yelled over to him and asked if he had been out to pick up his new boat. He looked over at me and said, No, they are being so slow in getting back to me. If this pandemic hasn't taught me patience, I don't think anything will!

 

Perhaps you had the gift of patience prior to this pandemic, but if not, I think there is truth in his comment that this ordeal has hopefully taught us this trait. We have had to display patience in so many ways during this time. Read more

 

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

June 30th - A Timely Examination of My Eyes

 

This past Thursday was the 20th anniversary of my ordination as a minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church in Canada. The ceremony began around 3:30 p.m. that day and it was around 4:15 p.m. when I kneeled and had hands laid upon me for my ordination. Around the same time in the afternoon last Thursday, I was having my eyes examined at the optometrist office. I thought it was rather fitting to have my eyes examined around the exact moment of the 20th anniversary of my ordination. The reason why I say this is because I have seen many things during the first 20 years of ordained ministry. For instance:

* I have seen several times when God placed me in the midst of difficult situations in order to restore peace and order.

* I have seen a lot of death, grief, and loss as I have officiated almost 400 funerals during this time.

* I have seen God develop so many gifts in me during this time that I did not have for ministry when He first called me.

* I have seen God perform a miracle before my eyes when a person who was determined as being brain dead was about to be taken off life support but as I prayed with the family at his bed side all of a sudden, he opened his eyes and was able to move his limbs on his own. Even the doctor and nurse who were nearby as I prayed admitted it was a miracle. Read more

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

June 22nd - He Actually Listened to Me

 

There is a colleague of mine in ministry who dresses far more casually than I do when it comes to leading worship. While I still wear a dress shirt and tie each Sunday, this particular minister might be seen wearing a t-shirt and jeans, or a toque, or some other casual dress attire. Every Mothers Day however, this minister does put on a suit and tie to lead worship in order to please and honour his mother.

 

After this recent Mothers Day when I saw that he actually wore a bow tie for the service, I decided to send an e-mail to give him some advice for Fathers Day. I know that his father is a Toronto Maple Leafs fan. This minister is a New York Islanders fan. So, in the e-mail, that I copied his father on, I encouraged this minister to honour his father on Fathers Day by preaching while wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey. I reminded the minister how the commandment is not just to honour your mother but your father as well.

 

The father e-mailed me back and thought it was a great idea. His son however thought it was the craziest idea ever. Read more

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

 

June 16th - My Father and My Faith Journey

 

When Mothers Day approached, I shared in my mid-week message how my mother played a significant role in my faith journey. My father did not attend church, but he also did not discourage my mother from taking me to church. Even though my father did not have a direct impact on my faith, he did have an indirect effect. I will always remember his response when I shared with him for the first time that God had called me to become a minister. He swore, breaking a commandment as he did so, but said, It is your life!

 

Even though he was not gushing with excitement about my call, my dad was very supportive once I started taking divinity classes at Knox College. Every week my dad would give me $50 to help cover my costs. I never asked him for this, he would just hand me $50 every Friday night when we visited the house. That money covered the cost of the three return trips I would take each week to Toronto by train. Contributing this money was one way that my father had an indirect impact on my faith journey and studies.

 

My father died from cancer after my first year at Knox College. His death also impacted my faith journey in an indirect way. My father died the day before I started my second year. Read more

A Mid-Week Message from Rev. Dean

June 8th - Let Us Get Back to Showing Compassion

 

On Saturday night Nadine saw a story appear on social media about an eight-year-old boy who was missing after swimming at Turkey Point earlier that day. This boy was last seen around 5:30 p.m. when he abandoned his floating raft and began swimming back to shore. Sadly, he did not make it. Once the parents realized their boy was missing a frantic search began. The Norfolk O.P.P. was called to look for the boy. Some people who spotted this story on social media offered their assistance and help as well. Unfortunately, late Sunday, Nadine saw on social media that the boy had indeed drowned trying to swim back to shore.

 

Saturday night saw some of the good things that can happen from social media when so many people responded by offering help when they saw the story. Sunday night however, reflected some of the bad things we see happening on social media. Several people on social media voiced their opinions judging and criticizing the parents for not watching their son more carefully. Some of these critics showed no care and compassion for what the parents were going through having lost their son.

 

My immediate response was empathy and compassion for the parents. I have not lost a child personally, but I was immediately brought back to a moment when my father did. Read more

 

More: Mid-Week Messages

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Website updated: August 3, 2021

 

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The church will hold its annual garage sale on Saturday, August 28th from 8:00 a.m. until noon. Click the photo to enlarge the poster and learn more.