TREE DEDICATION

Saturday 25th September


This afternoon I had the privilege of conducting a tree dedication for the Sisterhood of St John the Divine.  I'm here in North York for the weekend, leading the retreat for the Toronto Integrity group.  

Specifically the dedication was for Sister Thelma-Anne (now aged 82), who has served the church for many years as a well-known musician and composer of sacred music, as well as a sought-after retreat leader.  She has served on several committees of the Anglican Church in Canada, and was part of the task-force that produced Common Praise, the national Anglican hymn book.  

She was born in 1928, and excelled in music from an early age.  As a post grad student in 1950 she experienced 'the unmistakable, self-validating presence of the Divine', and was baptised and confirmed in the Anglican Church.  It was several years before she recognised her calling to the religious life, and was admitted as a postulant to the Sisterhood of St John the Divine on 31st August 1957 in Toronto (founded in 1884).

Thelma-Anne was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease on 11th October 2001.  In her book In Age Reborn, By Grace Sustained (Path Books, 2007) she describes her illness as "a stranger whom I had housed unwittingly for possibly a decade."

Its presence would make significant changes in my life, both in terms of having to adapt myself to limitations, and in the potential it offered for the healing of dysfunctional habits and attitudes that, unknown to me, had worked against my happiness and peace of mind and prevented me from giving myself generously to others.

Best of all, the "stranger" would bring me to a greater awareness of God's love, as I struggled not only with the heritage of my past, but also with the turmoil of the present and, given the progression of my illness, the uncertainty of the future. 

When she made her life profession at the community's former house in Willowdale in May 1964, Thelma-Anne's family planted a horse-chestnut tree in the grounds.  It became so well established that when the community moved to a newly built convent and retreat centre in 2005 there was no way it was going to move as well (see picture below!).  As a sign of gratitude for Sr Thelma-Anne's ministry and support over the years, members of Integrity planted another horse-chestnut as a tribute to her.  It was a double-privilege that she was well enough to join us - despite the wind and rain!

We gather in the presence of God,

In the midst of creation and one another,

And in the timeless company of saints and angels.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Psalm 1

Happy are they who have not walked 
in the counsel of the wicked, 
nor lingered in the way of sinners, 
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

Their delight is in the law of the Lord,

and they meditate on his law day and night.

They are like trees planted by streams of water,

bearing fruit in due season, 
with leaves that do not wither;

everything they do shall prosper.

It is not so with the wicked; 
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

Therefore the wicked shall not 
stand upright when judgement comes,

nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked is doomed.

Silence

COLLECT

Giver of life,

save us from the desert of faithlessness

and nourishus with the living water of your word,

that we may bring forth fruit that will last,

in the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour.

Amen

READING: Ephesians 3.16-21

I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. 

Listen for the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God

Silence

PRAYERS

In the power of the creative and wistful Spirit

We make our petitions and thanksgivings

Out loud, or in the silence of our hearts:

Prayers may follow

All gather around the tree

DEDICATION

Divine Creator,

you have blessed this tree with life:

nourished by sun, by rain

and by the richness of the soil.

In your goodness,

may it be a living sign

of your faithfulness in the past,

your enduring presence in years to come,

a life nurtured in community

and rooted in the depths

of your unfathomable love.

+ in the name of God,

Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer.

Amen

May we each be held

in the palm of God’s hand

now and always.

Thanks be to God.