Week of Aug 16-22

Grief-soaked Hope

This past Sunday, Joy shared with us four pieces of art she created while grieving the loss of her husband, Dennis. There is the interplay in each piece between grief and hope. She gives this a name: grief-soaked hope.

Grief, as the deep, gut-wrenching loss of someone treasured and loved.

Hope, found in unexpected glimpses of a God who seeks out, draws near, and brings comfort to us in our affliction, even when we have lost the will to reach out to him.

This Sunday is Outdoor Church, and we will be continuing to look at and talk about Joy’s art and this experience of grief-soaked hope. We hope you can make it. If you missed Joy’s meditation you can listen here.

For those who will meet by small group zoom instead of in-person, the zoom invitation is here.

The summer liturgy is here.

 

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Throwback to last week:

Anne’s blog post from the week of Aug 9-15: Hope is like…

This summer we’ve been listening to one another’s thoughts and experience of hope. In the process, we’ve been expanding our language around hope. I wonder how your language for hope has broadened?  For me, words that stick are God’s radical “with-ness” and “for-ness” in the present moment, and the next, and the next, for eternity. Hope like a feather in the heart, like an anchor in deep waters.

We had our church camp this weekend, covid-style, which means physically-distanced. It was glorious to move from conversation to conversation, drinking in the sounds of children laughing, sitting in the hot sun. During outdoor church, I showed the children the dawn redwood pine cone that Gerry had given Craig and I when we visited with him and with Janet, last week. This tree, thought to be extinct for 1 1/2 million years, was re-discovered by a forester in China during World War II while the Chinese army was fleeing from the Japanese. Puzzled as to what species this unknown tree might be, he sent specimens to Beijing. When the tree was identified as  the “extinct”  Dawn Redwood,  cones were sent to various botanists around the world for propagation. In the middle of the horrific war, this tree was rediscovered, its seeds scattered around the globe, so it could be frutiful and multiply. It’s a story of hope: amidst destruction, renewal.

We then went our own way into creation to search for symbols of hope to bring back and share with one another. Hope is like a nursing log, a daisy, seeds, juniper and saskatoon berries, stones and dirt. We placed our symbols around the edge of the firepit. A chair was placed in the middle of these symbols. Tim took a seat, and we prayed for him. He has recently been told he has a non malignant brain tumour that will require surgery if it continues to grow, a surgery that might affect Tim’s quality of life. They will wait four months for the next MRI to decide. We prayed. We placed others on the chair in our mind’s eye in need of hope. We prayed some more. Hope is a circle of people who are ‘with you’ and ‘for you’ such a way that they contain God.

On our way back from camp, Craig and I learned that our dear 25-year old niece, Lisa, died on Sunday while putting a key in her front door. The autopsy has yet to identify a cause of death. As I write, my mind cannot grasp this reality that Lisa is not with us anymore. Suddenly we find ourselves in the firepit, in need of the prayers of people who are with you and for you. My my. How we need each other’s love and prayers, two things which Covid can’t take away from us.

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Wednesdays in the Garden

512 172 Street, Surrey
3:00-4:30 pm

TODAY – Painting with Anne
Bring your own materials!

An RSVP is welcome (778-878-4352? or email).

A Quiet Garden  – Anne has returned from her vacation. She spent some of her summer creating a Quiet Garden for reflection, rest, and contemplative practices. If you would like a quiet place to be for an hour or two, please contact Anne (email) to schedule a time. She’s happy to sit, listen, and pray with you, or simply leave you be.

If you are interested, you can read more about the Quiet Garden Movement here.

 

 

Together@Southpoint 

 

Worship 

Aug 23: Outdoors / small group zoom
Aug 30: Zoom Sunday

 

Connect

Wednesdays
Wednesdays in the Orchard 
3:00-4:30 pm with host Anne
Please bring your own creative supplies

Aug 19 – Painting
Aug 26 – Nature scavenger hunt

 

Care

Prayer Chain
If you have a confidential prayer need, please contact John (email).

Pastoral Support
If you’re needing to talk or to pray, please call Anne (778-878-4352?).

 

 

 

Supporting the Work of Southpoint

Thank you for considering your giving during this unusual time. Options include:

– via Pre-authorized debit (repeating or one-time) with this form (link). Cost to Southpoint is only $0.50.

– via Paypal to The Church at Southpoint. Cost is 3% of the donation.

– via the Charitable Impact Foundation (link). Cost is 2.8% of the donation.