July 23, 2021

TheWee Voice Newsletter THE SUMMER DAY Mary Oliver Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean - the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down - who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

Mary Oliver 1935 - 2019 Mary’s work is inspired by nature, rather than Cover Photo the human world, “Sunrise, Policeman’s Creek, stemming from her Canmore AB” lifelong passion for solitary walks in Mireille Gray the wild. “One who Forgives” or HARD SAYINGS “One who is Forgiven”? - SUMMER SERIES The “Hard Sayings” from last Sunday Matthew 5: 29 ~ 30 generated a lot of “musings” this week! I guess that means it was a successful sermon! “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off!” As I reached the “middle years” I found it easier This week we tackle another hard saying of to forgive. The childhood “it’s not fair” faded Jesus. Every week I think to myself “this is the away as I took heed of the advice from “learned” hardest one yet!” but then next week I say the counsel that the only way for me to “heal” was to very same thing! “forgive and forget”. It is not always easy, but it This one may not be the most well known of does bring peace. The “forgetting” part is the Jesus’ sayings but it may well be the most hardest as I was reminded that if past injustice troubling. Of course, if we took it literally, we is ever brought up, it really hasn’t been forgiven! would all be walking around with only one hand! Forgiving we have control over, so it is possible to I am sure you are wondering what I will be saying learn how to do it. about this one, as gruesome as it is. I invite you Seeking “forgiveness” is much, much harder. It to come and find out! Join us this Sunday on starts by admitting we were wrong, then asking to Zoom. be forgiven. We all know people who seem to be Rev. Vivian Yarwood incapable of admitting they could be wrong - but are we one of those? If we do admit to being in The the wrong, sincerely say “we’re sorry”, and ask for forgiveness, and it is not granted to us, “Lily Trail” what can we do? We are not in control. Do we simply, sadly, walk away? Is committing ourselves to trying to do better in future enough? Lots of tough questions! Tom Joyce Just a Reminder!! Rev. Jennifer Palin is on vacation (staycation?) This is a trail that my friends and I walked She will be returning to us Sunday, August 8th. today. It is just south of the DM tennis club, in the Happy reading, Jennifer! park to the east of Duncairn Road. A gentleman, called Chris, has cleared the brush and planted over 5,000 lilies over the span of five years. The trail stretches to a bit north of the tennis courts PLEASE NOTE and has some interesting During July and August the stones along the way. Anne Anderson Church Office will be closed on FRIDAYS For the summer our church office is now open: Monday to Thursday, 9:30 am to 1:30 pm. Please help keep No one but Emily is allowed access into the office. everyone safe Offering cheques can be dropped in the mailbox (call by doing your Emily and let her know). Please help support Emily as we live the new life of self-distancing. part !! WANT TO STAY Follow us and Like us on Facebook UP TO DATE? Donway Covenant United Church SUMMER Oh, How I Love Summer “The HARD SAYINGS SERIES Susan M. Gilbert of JESUS” Though May did bring her deepest grey And June did bring her gloom, I woke this morn in a glorious way Rev. Vivian Yarwood will be leading us To Sunshine in my room. in worship (ZOOM services) from July 4th to August 1st while Rev. Jennifer Palin is Quick, get up, on vacation. Rev. Vivian will be available It's time to rise. for emergency pastoral care (through Greet the day. physical distancing) I started to cry. Join us for Worship on ZOOM. For today, It has begun. Call the church office to be It's finally here, put on our email list, The summer sun! or use the link below. Feel her warmth, Jul 25 “If Your Hand Causes You To Sin, See my garden grow, 10:30 am Cut It Off” Taste the sweetest fruits, Watch the butterflies flow. Aug 1 “The Kingdom of Heaven Is 10:30 am Like...... ” Hear the squirrels chatter And my orioles swoon It doesn’t matter where you are - Till the evening comes in Don Mills, or across the country, With the summer moon. or around the world, you can join us on ZOOM! It seems like I've waited The Worship Committee Such a very long time, Longing for the light of Your rays of sunshine. (MORE) So please stay a while. Bring your long, lazy days. SAYINGS SHARED I'll cherish each blue sky Cleaning up your own backyard first And ride every wave. Oh, how I love summer Pouring like cold molasses And all of her songs, Happy summer to all, Making a mountain out of a mole hill And may it be long! Carolyn Reashore

July 25, 2021 10:30 am PLEASE JOIN US Eastern Daylight Time To join the service with audio only using your ZOOM WILL OPEN AT 10:00 am phone please dial: To join the service with online video please (647) 374 - 4685 or (647) 558 - 0588 CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW You will be prompted to enter the following https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85971302160?pwd=K2RMVURudndoYTBpOVR1YkgvWnBJdz09 information: This link should take you directly to the meeting, Meeting ID you enter 859 7130 2160# however if asked for the Meeting ID and Participant ID you enter # Password, they are as follows: (there is no participant ID for us) Password you enter 940587# Meeting ID: 859 7130 2160 If you need help to get connected Password: 940587 please call Ruth Kenny at (416) 832-9709 To the Ladies’ Fellowship to enlist on a British man-of-war ship. The conditions on board were intolerable to him, so he DEVOTIONS deserted, but was soon recaptured, publicly flogged and demoted to common seaman. Finally I'm always amazed how the mind works! at his own request he was exchanged into service Especially when I am thinking of something to on a slave ship bound for Africa. He then became write. So...this morning, while doing laundry of all the servant of a slave trader and was brutally things, I thought of a future Devotion, or abused. Early in 1748 he was rescued by a sea Devotions! captain who had known his father. John Newton I would like to propose that each of you send ultimately became captain of his own ship, one me the title of one of your favourite Hymns and I which plied the slave trade. will feature my Devotion on that! Since not all Hymns are listed in my reference book, I would Although he had some early religious request your sending two (2) titles. It would give instruction from his mother, he had long since me pleasure to include your request in my given up any religious convictions. However, on Devotions throughout the summer months, a homeward voyage, while he was attempting to perhaps even into the fall. steer the ship through a violent storm, he experienced what he was to refer to later as his Incidentally, one of Udo's favourites is a Hymn “great deliverance.” He recorded in his journal from his Lutheran Days, called DAY BY DAY. that when all seemed lost and the ship would I look forward to your requests! surely sink, he exclaimed: “LORD HAVE MERCY Roberta UPON US”. Later in his cabin he reflected on I imagine that you, like me, have a favourite what he had said and began to believe that God Hymn. I decided to do a bit of research on one had addressed him through the storm and that that means a great deal to me, but first a quote grace had begun to work for him. from 1 Chronicles 17, verse 16: He decided to become a minister and “And David the King came and sat before eventually was ordained by the Bishop of Lincoln the Lord and said, Who am I O Lord God, and accepted the curacy of Olney, and what is mine house, that thou hast Buckinghamshire. Newton's church became so brought me hitherto” crowded during services that it had to be enlarged. Newton was a prolific Hymn writer, many of which That passage from the Bible became reflected are still sung today, but AMAZING GRACE is in the third verse of a song originally titled probably the most popular hymn in the English “Faith's Review”. This is how it reads: “Thro’ language! many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come, ‘tis Grace has brought me safe thus far, AMAZING GRACE, and Grace will lead me home”. Perhaps you HOW SWEET THE SOUND! recognize the Hymn we now know as “Amazing Roberta Walker-Ernst Grace”! Ladies’ Fellowship Devotion July 8, 2021 Amazing Grace was written by a man named John Newton and he was the self-proclaimed A Concert held in 2017 at the Sagrada “wretch” that appears in the first stanza: Familia Church (Basilica) in Barcelona, in “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound memory of the victims of terrorism. Even more that saved a wretch like me! I once was interesting is that the song is being sung in lost, but now am found; was blind, but CATALAN. This is the language of the "Moors" or now I see.” Muslims and it is being sung in a Catholic church. Also interersting to see Gaudi's (architect, 1883) John Newton was born in 1725, the son of a Masterpiece Cathedral...begun in 1883, and commander of a merchant ship which sailed the now scheduled to be completed by 2026. Mediterranean. His mother died just before his seventh birthday. He took her death hard and CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW to listen became bitter at God over his circumstance. At to the performance - AMAZING GRACE eleven years of age he went to sea with his father https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1e9Y8LOOcQ and made six voyages with him before the elder Newton retired. Seven years later he was forced submitted by Sigrid Angell EXPERIENCES AT DCUC UPDATE WHAT MAKES DCUC SPECIAL TO ME? from the I first came to The Donway United Church (as it was known OUTREACH then) in 1958 when my family COMMITTEE moved to Don Mills when I was 10. I also attended C.G.I.T. at the Amnesty International church when I was young, and got married at The Donway Fundraiser United Church - when I was older! I am very pleased to report that through your generous donations in June, we have raised For many years I did not attend church. My father passed away in 2009 and my mother in 2011. They both had Alzheimer’s $820.- disease. I had always visited them at their nursing for the ongoing good work of Amnesty home on Sunday and another day during the week. International. Don Wright of Amnesty spoke to (I took turns with my 2 brothers). After my mother us in June about their work of justice and passed away in 2011 I thought I should honour her advocacy in the world which inspired many of us by attending church so I came and visited DCUC. I to donate. I emailed Don to tell him about the was really welcomed by Roberta, Marie, Marian donation and he was very pleased and thanks us and Norm, and Barb and Don. I decided to join the church soon after. for our generosity! Vivian Yarwood, Outreach Chair I have helped out Marian at the fall sale in the cafe working at first with Mary Beaton. Since I do not live in the area I do not help out MAMBO as much as other people but I enjoy being part of The Donway Covenant United Church. ANYONE? Diane Boyd Mambo is a Latin dance of Cuba which was developed in the 1940s AH!! when the music genre of the same name became popular throughout Latin THE SWEETNESS America. The original ballroom dance which emerged in Cuba and Mexico was related to the OF HONEY..... danzón, albeit faster and less rigid. In the United Here is a photo of our Bee Hive States, it replaced rhumba as the most fashionable on the roof of 187 Wynford Drive. Latin dance. One of the chefs is Dámaso Pérez Prado was a Cuban bandleader, the instigator of this project. Marie Harvey pianist, composer and arranger who popularized the mambo in the 1950s. His big band adaptation of the danzón-mambo proved to be a worldwide success with hits such as “Mambo No. 5”, earning him the nickname “King of the Mambo”. The mambo rhythm became very popular in 1955. At that time I was a teenager and with my friends we danced this all the time. I still enjoy listening to this rhythm. CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW for an amazing music “mash” - Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and Perez Prado’s Mambo 5! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukKW4SR-wxk Sigrid Angell Photo taken by Sal Di Matteo CHECK IT OUT...... ThisThis WWeekeek onon SOMETHING NEW thethe VVinylinyl CaféCafé ON OUR WEB SITE Last Sunday, July 18th, CBC CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW, and scroll Radio One, 99.1 FM in Toronto, down to Experiences at DCUC played a recording of Stuart https://www.donwaycovenant.com/about-us McLean’s Vinyl Café. This episode was taped These past few years have shown how special from North Hatley, DCUC is, for both new and long-term members. QC. It features the music of Joe Grass WHAT MAKES DCUC SPECIAL TO YOU? and Katie Moore If you would like to share your experiences and the story - in The Wee Voice, it would make for inspiring “Hello Monster”. summer reading. We might even gather some of the highlights to post on our Website to showcase So, grab a coffee what makes DCUC special. For example: or a glass of wine, • What brought you to DCUC? How long ago CLICK ON THE was that? LINK BELOW and you will be magically • What have you liked most about your time whisked to the The Piggery Theatre in North with DCUC? Hatley for an hour of entertainment that will • What would you most like others to know refresh the soul, as only Stuart can deliver! about DCUC? https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-71-vinyl-cafe/clip/15855143-hello-monster-eastern-townships-qc Send me an e-mail ([email protected]), drop a note to the church office, or e-mail the church office ([email protected]) Whatcha Tell me and I forget. Readin’ ?? Teach me and I remember. Thanks to Cathy for sending along a book Involve me and I learn. she enjoyed. I’m sure there other great ones Xunzi you’ve been reading. If you would like to share Drop us a note and let us know. We’re always looking for suggestions to answer “what should I read?” Send me an e-mail ([email protected]) or give me a call (416-244-6953) and tell me what you’re reading. Give me a brief idea as to what kind of book it is - you know - historical fiction, romance, suspense, humour...... the title and the author, and I’ll put it on our list.

“Madhouse at the End of the Earth” The Belgica’s journey into the dark Antarctic night. by Julian Sancton This is a book I have just read. It was perfect for the hot weather we’re having. It took me on board a ship 125 An interesting planting of Nasturtiums, adding years ago that got trapped over winter in the some bright colour to someone's garden in our Antarctic. It’s a new book just published in 2021, neighbourhood. Anne Anderson historical non-fiction. Cathy Rand Refugee Sponsorship Program UPDATE Last summer we were raising funds for the Because of Covid, things were shut down and sponsorship of two young Somalian siblings, they had to wait three months for an appointment. Xawalul Ainte and Cabdulahi Ainte. They are Then they found out their United Nations refugee presently in Uganda where they have been papers were expired……..needed renewal…… granted safety. We surpassed our goal and waited another 2 months! Then the renewed raised over $36,000, completing our fundraising refugee papers arrived! last fall, 2020! Their Refugee Applications arrived in my The next step was to fill in the Government’s email, with some back and forth for corrections. I many Sponsorship Forms and submit them to sent in their Application Forms, and had to fill the Refugee desk of the United Church. That out our church forms again and resubmit them to happened in October of 2020. (The United the UCC. Church is a faith partner with the Canadian Government in sponsoring refugees. The UCC is Here is the good news…….. granted a specific number of spots each year.) So the UCC is sending our application to the we got in queue for 2021 with no promises. Canadian Government for consideration this year, 2021. However, for our application to be complete, the two refugees must fill out their application Yeah!! Now we wait……! forms. These forms looked very daunting and were to be filled out in English. They needed help! Vivian Yarwood, Finally they found a representative to help them. Outreach Chair

UNFORGETTABLE IAN As I have often wondered what it might be like I have the good fortune of being a participant if I, or a loved one, developed dementia I watched in the Don Mills Business Connections, a with interest this caring and touching video. networking group sponsored by Revera Inc., which meets once a month (before COVID, and hopefully starting again in the fall!) over coffee and breakfast! While not restricted to organizations dealing with seniors, many of the participants are active in “seniors’ related” programs. I am continuously amazed at the variety and quantity of support that is available in Don Mills, when you know where to look - Seniors’ Apartments, and Seniors’ Assisted Living Accommodation. - Moving, and “Decluttering” services - Financial and Legal services - Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW - Programs - Better Living, Café 65, to share Ian’s and Kathie’s story. Community Share Food Bank. https://youtu.be/Au8Xfr2yLEQ Recently, Mary Bray, Community Coordinator for Revera Retirement Living, Donway Place shared with me a video produced by Verity It is uplifting to know that whatever befalls us Creative, sponsored by Revera Inc. telling of the in our aging journey, help is available both for us struggles of a man, Ian Doig, and his wife, Kathie and for our loved ones. Reid, in the early stages of dementia. Tom Joyce I have a soft spot for FROM DAYS LONG AGO poet/song writers of the In the summer of 1969 I was fortunate to mid twentieth century - secure a summer job as a bus boy at the L’Opera Bob Dylan, Leonard Dining Room in the newly opened National Arts Cohen, Paul Simon, Centre in Ottawa. Opening the Studio Theatre at Charles Trenet, Cole the NAC was the musical performance “Jacques Porter, Stephan Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris”. Sondheim, and Jacques Brel. I like to read the Over the summer I would hear snippets of lyrics first as poetry, and the music, but it wasn’t until I went to a then listen to the melody. performance at the Bayview Theatre in 1970 that two things happened. I fell in love with the I also have a soft spot for French music and voice of Elly Stone, and I fell in love with the poetry, even if I don’t fully understand the words! poetry of Jacques Brel. Tom Joyce

“Amsterdam”, “Madeleine”, “Les Vieux” (“The JACQUES BREL Old Ones”), and “La Chanson des vieux 1929 ~ 1978 amants” (“Song of Old Lovers”), were translated Jacques Brel, was born in and recorded by numerous singers in other Schaerbeeck, Belgium in 1929. languages. Notable American recordings of Brel’s The Belgian singer and songs included Damita Jo’s “If You Go Away” songwriter, composed literate, (1966), a translation by Rod McKuen of “Ne me passionate songs which made quitte pas”; Judy Collins’s “The Dove” (1963), an him one of the most popular English-language version of “La Colombe”; French-language musicians in David Bowie’s “Amsterdam” (1973) and “My Europe, and gained him a Death” (1983), the latter a translation of Brel’s worldwide following. “La Mort” (1959); and Terry Jacks’s “Seasons in the Sun” (1974), McKuen’s rather cloying Brel began writing stories and poems as a translation of Brel’s 1961 song “Le Moribond” teen, but he was an indifferent student, and after (“The Dying Man”). Brel became best known in his final year of secondary school he took a job the United States, however, through the 1968 Off- with his father’s packaging company. While there Broadway revue Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well he became involved with a philanthropic youth and Living in Paris, which was revived on organization, and he started performing and Broadway in 1972 and filmed in 1975, featuring writing songs as a member of that group. Brel translations by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman. began singing his compositions in Brussels cabarets in 1952, and the following year he Brel also acted in 10 films from 1967 to 1973, released his first recording, a single that featured two of which he directed. In addition, he adapted the songs “Il y a” (“There Is” or “There Are”) and and translated the stage musical Man of La “La Foire” (“The Fair”) on its two sides. Although Mancha as the single was only modestly successful, it caught L’Homme de la the attention of a French recording executive, who Mancha, and he invited Brel to move to Paris. both directed and In 1953 Brel began singing in French cafés. played the lead in He did not meet with immediate success, but he 1968 in Brussels persevered, and his first album, Jacques Brel et and in a 1968–69 ses chansons (“Jacques Brel and His Songs”) staging in Paris. appeared in 1955. He finally broke through with Brel died of lung the title song of his second album, Quand on n’a cancer, in 1978, que l’amour (1957; “If We Only Have Love”), and at Bobigny, near by the end of the decade he was a star in France. Paris, at the (too) His songs, frequently sharply satirical and often young age of 49. implicitly religious, also became hugely popular in much of Europe. His best-known songs, including Jacques Brel Statue “Ne me quitte pas” (“Do Not Leave Me”), Place Vieille Halle aux Blés, Brussels. QUAND ON A QUE L’AMOUR (IF WE ONLY HAVE LOVE) Jacques Brel adapted by Eric Blau and Mort Shuman for the musical revue “Jacques Brel Is Aive and Well and Living in Paris” Quand on a que l’amour If we only have love À s'offrir en partage Then tomorrow will dawn Au jour du grand voyage And the days of our years Qu'est notre grand amour Will rise on that morn Quand on a que l'amour If we only have love Mon amour toi et moi To embrace without fears Pour qu'éclate de joie We will kiss with our eyes Chaque heure et chaque jour We will sleep without tears Quand on a que l'amour If we only have love Pour vivre nos promesses With our arms open wide Sans nulle autre richesse Then the young and the old Que d'y croire toujours Will stand at our side Quand on a que l'amour If we only have love Pour meubler de merveilles Love that's falling like rain Et couvrir de soleil Then the parched desert earth La laideur des faubourgs Will grow green again Quand on a que l'amour If we only have love Pour unique raison For the hymn that we shout Pour unique chanson For the song that we sing Et unique secours Then we'll have a way out Quand on a que l'amour If we only have love Pour habiller matin We can reach those in pain Pauvres et malandrins We can heal all our wounds De manteaux de velours We can use our own names Quand on a que l'amour If we only have love À offrir en prière We can melt all the guns Pour les maux de la terre And then give the new world En simple troubadour To our daughters and sons Quand on a que l'amour If we only have love À offrir à ceux-là Then Jerusalem stands Dont l'unique combat And then death has no shadow Et de chercher le jour There are no foreign lands Quand on a que l'amour If we only have love Pour tracer un chemin We will never bow down Et forcer le destin We'll be tall as the pines À chaque carrefour Neither heroes nor clowns Quand on a que l'amour If we only have love Pour parler aux canons Then we'll only be men Et rien qu'une chanson And we'll drink from the Grail Pour convaincre un tambour To be born once again Alors sans avoir rien Then with nothing at all Que la force d'aimer But the little we are Nous aurons dans nos mains We'll have conquered all time Amis, le monde entier All space, the sun, and the stars.

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW to listen CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW to listen to Jacques Brel (in French) to the cast sing the adaptation (in English) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl3k5cwQ94Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ILw3D5yrU

Church office is staffed for Minister: Rev. Jennifer Palin ‘phone calls and e-mails. Please no visits while we Minister: Rev. Vivian Yarwood weather the pandemic storm. (Month of July) Music Tina Faye Facilitator: Church Emily McLean Administrator: Szekely Custodian: Kim Morgan Together in spirit while we practice physical distancing.

Celebrating almost 7 years of being an Affirming Congregation 230 The Donway West, Toronto, ON M3B 2V8 ‘phone (416) 444 - 8444 e-mail: [email protected] website: www.donwaycovenant.com